On March 16, 2022, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha had a meeting with Mrs. Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam, together with senior experts of the World Bank (WB) in Vietnam. At the meeting, the two sides discussed the mutual cooperation between the SBV and the WB in recent years, the WB support for the development of the financial sector in Vietnam, the WB assistance to support the Government in implementing the commitments at COP26, and the on-going WB-funded projects being implemented by the SBV.
Attending the meeting, on the WB side, there was Mrs. Carolyn Turk, Country Director; Mrs. Steffi Stallmeister, Operations Manager; and a number of senior experts from the WB Country Office. On the side of the SBV, there was Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha, together with the leaders of the International Cooperation Department, the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors, and the Banking Strategy Institute.
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha expressed his pleasure to welcome and meet Mrs. Carolyn Turk, WB Country Director. The Deputy Governor also made high appreciation for the good cooperation and effective support from the WB in general and Mrs. Carolyn Turk in particular in the process and achievements of the socio-economic development in Vietnam, as well as in the field of finance and banking over the past years. The SBV Governor also acknowledged the WB's valuable support to the SBV in the formulation and implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, the Technical Assistance Project of Vietnam: Strengthening Banking Sector Soundness and Development, the sharing of evaluation reports, in-depth analyses on the financial and monetary situations, etc.
Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha speaks at the meeting.
Regarding the recent monetary policy management, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha shared that the SBV had implemented synchronous solutions in order to manage the monetary policy and the banking operations, and to regulate the liquidity appropriately, ensuring the money market stability, supporting the Government’s control of the inflation, contributing to maintaining the macro-economic stability. In addition, the SBV had also promptly reviewed, revised and supplemented multiple mechanisms and policies in order to focus financial resources on solving the difficulties for production and business operations, supporting the people and enterprises that had been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to the recovery of the economic growth. As a result, the inflation in 2021 was controlled below the target level of 4%, the core inflation was also low, helping to maintain the macro-economic stability. Among the key tasks of the banking industry in the coming time, the SBV would focus on improving the legal framework (reviewing and considering to amend the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam, the Law on Credit Institutions, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Money Laundering, the Scheme on restructuring the system of credit institutions in association with handling with bad debts in the period of 2021–2026, etc.), implementing the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, the digital transformation of the banking sector, and green growth (green credit, green banking), and supporting the Government to implement Vietnam's commitments for climate change responses in line with the Paris Agreement and COP26. In this regard, the SBV Governor expressed his hope that the SBV would continue to receive the strong support from the WB in implementing the identified tasks.
The WB Country Director made high evaluation for the SBV's policy of proactive and flexible monetary management, managing the exchange rate stability, contributing to building trust among domestic and foreign investors. Talking about the complicated developments in the recent months, such as the rising fuel prices, the Russia - Ukraine conflict, the risks of hiking inflation and other potential risks in the coming time (political instability, unpredictable developments of the global financial market,...), Mrs. Carolyn Turk emphasized that strengthening the national financial and monetary system in order to increase the economy's resilience to those impacts should be a top priority of the Government, as well as the financial and banking industry. The WB is willing to share and provide the needed resources, such as capital, policy advice, and the international best practices with the Government and the SBV for consideration, development and implementation of future policies. In addition, Mrs. Carolyn also discussed a number of areas of interest to the WB, such as: the role of the capital markets, the coordination among the different Ministries and agencies in developing the capital markets, green growth (green banking, green credit, green bonds), the provision of funding resources for the commercial banks, the acceleration of the progress of the programs and projects being implemented by the SBV. The WB Country Director also made some recommendations, including: organizing an annual forum on the capital markets, a mechanism for periodic meetings between the senior leaders of the two sides, the engagement of the SBV in the Global Green Network.
Mrs. Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam, speaks at the meeting.
Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha acknowledged the WB's assessments, comments and recommendations, and assigned the International Cooperation Department and other relevant entities in the SBV to continue working closely with the WB on the specific solutions and report to the leaders of the SBV.
LK