On October 29, 2019 at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Governor Le Minh Hung had a meeting with Mr. Grant Robertson, New Zealand’s Minister of Finance.
Also attending the meeting, on the SBV’s side, there were Mr. Pham Thanh Ha, Director General of the Monetary Policy Department; Mr. Nguyen Van Thach, Director General of the Organization and Personnel Department; Mr. Pham Duc An, Chief of the SBV Office; Mr. To Huy Vu, Director General of the Internal Cooperation Department. On the New Zealand’s side, there were Ms. Wendy Matthews, Ambassador of New Zealand to Vietnam; Mr. Keith Conway, Deputy Head of Mission at the New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam, and specialists from New Zealand’s Ministry of Finance.
At the meeting, the SBV Governor welcomed the delegation of New Zealand’s Ministry of Finance to visit and work with the SBV. The two sides shared their views about the world and regional situations as well as discussed potentials for bilateral cooperation in the finance and banking areas, contributing to further developing the cooperative relations between Vietnam and New Zealand.
Governor Le Minh Hung briefed the guests of Vietnam’s achievements in the socio-economic development in general and in the finance and banking sector in particular over the past time. He shared that Vietnam is an export-oriented economy, so the Government of Vietnam always focuses on forecasting and analyzing the world economic situations in order to manage the monetary policy in a prudent and flexible manner, aiming at minimizing external effects.
Governor Le Minh Hung speaks at the meeting
Regarding the monetary policy, the SBV has continued to closely monitor the developments of the world economic situations, the macro-economic balances and domestic market developments, serving as a basis for managing the monetary policy, the key interest rates, and the exchange rates; controlling the average inflation below 4% for the whole of 2019; maintaining stable money and forex markets; at the same time, continuing to enhance the State foreign currency reserves. About the credit policy, the SBV has been continuing to manage and ensure the credit growth in line with the macro balances and the absorbability of the economy; improving the credit quality; promptly dealing with the difficulties and obstacles related to the mechanisms and policies to create favorable conditions for the credit institution system to expand credit effectively, focusing capital on production areas and priority fields, together with strengthening the effectiveness of the policy credit, strictly controlling credit for potentially risky areas such as real estate and securities.
SBV Governor Le Minh Hung spoke highly of the effective cooperation between the two sides in the process of negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) between the ASEAN and the six partners who have FTAs with ASEAN. In addition, the SBV and Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance have also preliminarily discussed with their counterparts in New Zealand and Australia about the possibilities of upgrading the ASEAN - Australia - New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.
The SBV Governor said that in terms of bilateral cooperation in the banking sector, although the monetary authorities of the two countries have not yet signed a cooperation arrangment, Vietnamese commercial banks have so far established 61 agency relations with New Zealand’s partners, which are ready to support the promotion of trade and investment relations between the businesses and traders of the two countries.
Regarding the 2020-2021 tenure of the Group Directorship, as the representative of Vietnam's capital contribution at the AIIB, the SBV has very high evaluation for the cooperation within the consensus mechanism at the AIIB’s Shareholders Group, at which Vietnam and New Zealand are both members. In 2020, when Vietnam assumes the position of the Group Director, the SBV believes that the sides will continue to promote the spirit of consensus to solve arising issues, contributing to a successful term of Vietnam as Group Director.
Mr. Grant Robertson, New Zealand’s Minister of Finance
For his part, Mr. Grant Robertson, New Zealand’s Minister of Finance, thanked Governor Le Minh Hung for his hospitality. He also provided some information on the world and New Zealand’s economic situations, as well as discussed about the bilateral cooperation in the context of Vietnam and New Zealand heading towards establishing a Strategic Partnership, as well as Vietnam - New Zealand cooperation within the framework of the Shareholders Group at the AIIB.
Le Hang