On April 24, 2020, in the framework of the Spring Meetings 2020 of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG), Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, chaired a Virtual Roundtable Meeting with the ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) attended and spoke at the Meeting.
At the meeting, the IMF Managing Director listened to the reports on the situations of the coronavirus pandemic in the ASEAN countries, the difficulties and challenges faced by those countries and their proposals to the IMF for its support and assistance during the process of responding to the pandemic and recovering the economic growths after the pandemic. The IMF Managing Director made high evaluation for the ASEAN member countries’ quick and drastic efforts on both fiscal and monetary policies in order to prevent and mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, strengthen the healthcare system, support SMEs, families and individuals, especially the vulnerable groups.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong expressed high evaluation for the role of the IMF in supporting countries in response to the Covid-19 pandemic through the emergency finance support packages, from the Fund's commitments to using the 1 trillion USD loan resources as well as debt relief initiatives for low-income countries in collaboration with the World Bank and other multilateral development banks.
Informing about the efforts of the ASEAN countries in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, the SBV Deputy Governor shared that, at the Special ASEAN Summit on Coronavirus Disease 2019 on April 14, 2020, the ASEAN leaders had emphasized that solidarity and mutual assistance among countries are the key to success to overcome the difficult period and put the interests of the people as the top priority, ensuring people’s well-being and livelihoods, promptly supporting and treating equally the citizens of the affected countries within and outside the ASEAN, including migrant workers, ensuring that “no one is left behind”. The SBV Deputy Governor had previously conveyed this message of the ASEAN leaders to the Virtual Meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on April 15, 2020, which received strong and wide support at that Meeting.
An overview of the meeting
On Vietnam’s side, the SBV Deputy Governor shared that the drastic measures of the Government and the SBV for controlling the pandemic and supporting the affected people and businesses have been making positive effects, helping to control the spread and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, strengthening the confidence of the businesses and the people. In light of the coronavirus still going on complicatedly in the world and in the region, Vietnam has been consistently pursuing its policy to strengthen the resilience of the healthcare system, ensure food security and the supply of essential commodities, ensure the liquidity in the banking sector, strengthen the social security, and turn the Covid-19 challenges into opportunities to restructure the economy and the business system.
The SBV Deputy Governor proposed that the IMF, as the center of the global financial network, further enhance its consultancy and coordination activities in order to coordinate the global policy responses to assist countries with their contingency plans if the situation gets worse. She also requested the IMF to strengthen its policy advice and technical assistance in order to help countries and regions in leveraging and optimizing the available tools such as capital flow management (CFM), foreign exchange intervention (FXI), and regional liquidity support mechanisms such as CMIM to cope with the disease, ensure liquidity, maintain and strengthen the financial stability. The SBV Deputy Governor further proposed that the IMF, in coordination with other international institutions, set up a policy framework, measures and solutions to recover the economic growths in the ASEAN countries after the pandemic.
Le Hang