On July 2, 2019 at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Governor Le Minh Hung had a meeting with Mr. Ahmed Saeed, Vice President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
At the meeting, Governor Le Minh Hung congratulated Mr. Ahmed Saeed on being appointed as the ADB Vice President responsible for the Southeast Asia Department and the Pacific Department.
Governor Le Minh Hung briefed the guests of Vietnam’s socio-economic situations in the first six months of 2019. Despite the adverse impacts in the international and domestic markets, Vietnam has obtained encouraging results, such as an economic growth rate of 6.76%, stable macro-economy, controlled inflation, low CPI with the average level of 2.64% for the first six months, lower than the target level of 4% set by the Government. The SBV’s monetary policy management has contributed greatly to stabilizing the macro-economy, creating confidence for foreign investors to enhance their operations, supporting domestic enterprises and taking advantages of the benefits from the international integration.
Governor Le Minh Hung congratulated Mr. Ahmed Saeed on being appointed as the ADB Vice President
The Governor also shared that Vietnamese banks have been improved intensively and would continue the reforms in the coming time. The SBV is determined to continue with the restructuring of the banking sector in accordance with the Scheme of “restructuring the credit institution system in coordination with the NPL resolution in the 2016-2020 period, focusing on improving the financial capabilities and governance of the credit institutions in appropriate forms and means, in line with the specific features of each credit institution, and in accordance with the market mechanism…
The SBV Governor stated that the cooperative relationship between the ADB and Vietnam has been developing strongly over the past time. Vietnam always attaches high importance to the cooperation with the ADB, and considers the ADB as one of the leading donors in providing funds, technical assistance and consultancy to Vietnam. The ADB’s support has contributed greatly to the socio-economic development in Vietnam.
In the context of Vietnam’s graduation from the ADF, Governor Le Minh Hung expressed his hope that the ADB would continue with the policies to support Vietnam as stated in the ADB’s Strategy 2030, and provide assistance to soften the requirements for OCR loans in order to make projects more feasible, and to help Vietnam gradually adapt to new lending conditions, which are less concessional.
For his part, ADB Vice President Ahmed Saeed thanked Governor Le Minh Hung for his hospitality, and congratulated Vietnam on its achievements in poverty reduction, macro-economic stability and inflation control. The ADB Vice President said that Vietnam is one of the countries with high economic growths in the region, and noted the importance of continuing to pursue the objective of macro-economic stability, which is a critical factor for comprehensive and sustainable growth. He also said that the cooperative relationship between the ADB and Vietnam has been enhanced and developed. Vietnam, as an ADB’s member country, plays an important role in the ADB’s cooperation strategy, and always receives the ADB’s favor and support for the attainment of the socio-economic development objectives.
The ADB Vice President speaks at the meeting
According to the ADB Vice President, Vietnam’s graduation from the ADF is an important element for the ADB’s review and formulation of the 2030 Strategy. In the coming time, the ADB would consider and develop appropriate mechanisms to support Vietnam in the context of Vietnam’s graduation from the ADF in order to continue to assist Vietnam to implement effectively the restructuring of the economy and the objective of sustainable poverty reduction.
Moreover, the two sides also exchanged their views about the economic situations and the current priority orientations of Vietnam’s Government; the risks that may affect economic growth and stability; measures of developing and enhancing the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and the ADB; the ADB’s Strategy 2030; the progress of restructuring and implementing Basel II of Vietnamese banks; financing for the private sector; the ADB’s programs and projects for Vietnam in the coming time, etc.
Le Hang