In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic occurring complicatedly and affecting the economies of the ASEAN+3 countries, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), as the co-Chair of the process of ASEAN financial and monetary cooperation with Japan, has promptly called for a meeting between the Deputy Governors of the Central Banks and the Deputy Finance Ministers of the ASEAN+3 to discuss and update on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Governments’ response mechanisms/policies in the field of money - finance - banking in Vietnam and the ASEAN+3 region.
At the meeting, Mr. Khor Hoe Ee - Chief Economist of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) presented the organization's assessment of the Covid-19 pandemic and the disease impacts on growths, stock markets, tourism, services, production, etc. of major economies such as the United States, the European Union and the ASEAN+3 member economies. According to AMRO's assessment at the end of March 2020, ASEAN and the ASEAN+3 economic growth in 2020 will decline significantly by 1.1% (against the 4.6% in 2019) and by 2.0% (against the 4.8% in 2019) respectively. AMRO expects its member economies to recover gradually from the second half of 2020 and to achieve an average growth rate of 5.5% across the ASEAN+3 in 2021. The main risks for the economies in 2020 continue to come from the development of the Covid-19 pandemic, the sluggish growths of the world's four largest economies (the United States, China, the European Union and Japan). In the face of the recent coronavirus developments, AMRO is continuing to update and adjust its economic outlook projections for the member states (expected to be in a downward trend compared to the current assessment).
The Central Banks and the Ministries of Finance of the ASEAN+3 nations made presentations on the impacts on each member economy, the policies in place to minimize the risks to the finance-banking systems, as well as measures to support businesses and workers facing production and service disruptions. The SBV, as a state management agency in the field of currency and banking, has updated the countries on the management efforts of the SBV and the Vietnamese banking system in the recent time to ensure the system security and maximum support for the businesses, banks and families through a number of measures, such as: rescheduling debts, reducing and waiving the interest rates, remaining the debt categories, supporting customers affected by Covid-19, waiving and reducing switching fees, reducing credit information service charges in order to help reduce the transaction fees for customers, and promoting cashless payments.
As the co-Chair of the ASEAN+3 monetary and financial cooperation process in 2020 (together with Japan), Vietnam has proposed to enhance the coordination among the Central Banks and the Ministries of Finance within the ASEAN+3 in sharing and handling issues related to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region. Additionally, the SBV has also emphasized on the significance of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) as a regional financial safety net. Vietnam and Japan both requested the countries to make efforts to quickly finalise some technical substances within the framework of CMIM in order to enhance the "readiness" of the Agreement, promptly helping the ASEAN+3 countries in responding to crisis situations, specifically the need for ASEAN+3 countries to urgently finalise and sign the CMIM amendments; finalise the guidelines on the application of the CMIM framework... The SBV will continue to coordinate with Japan and AMRO in monitoring and supervising the regional economy in order to take timely and appropriate actions.
VA