On April 12, 2022, in Hanoi, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong had a meeting with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) mission headed by Mr. Alfonso Garcia Mora, the IFC’s Regional Vice President for Asia and Pacific.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the meeting
At the meeting, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong spoke highly of the IFC’s support for Vietnam over the past years. Vietnam is one of the eight biggest beneficiary countries of the IFC’s investment capital, with a total portfolio of USD 2.7 billion as of December 2021. The IFC's investments are fully in line with Vietnam's development policy, and have focused on the Government’s priority areas for investment, such as finance, banking, energy, agriculture, manufacturing and private sector development. For the banking sector, the IFC has been a big investor, a companion, and a significant contributor to the development of the whole banking system through practical and effective activities such as support for reviewing the legal frameworks, provision of expertise and consultancy, and sharing experience sharing aboutand good practices on of banking inspection and supervision, green credit, as well as technical assistance. The SBV Governor also thanked the IFC for its valuable support to the SBV during the past years.
Sharing Speaking about Vietnam's macroeconomic situation, the SBV Governor mentioned that Vietnam is in the process of post-pandemic economic recovery, with some positive signs, such as: the GDP growth in the first quarter of 2022 was estimated at 5.03% as compared to that of the same period last year; the money market is stable; the average inflation in the first quarter of 2022 was controlled at 1.92%. The SBV Governor also shared about the challenges that the SBV has been facing in the management of the monetary policy and the key interest rates in the new context.
Mr. Alfonso Garcia Mora, the IFC’s Regional Vice President for Asia and Pacific, speaks at the meeting
For his part, Mr. Alfonso Garcia Mora, the IFC’s Regional Vice President for Asia and Pacific, acknowledged and appreciated the SBV’s efforts to promote the cooperation between the two sides, and sopkespoke highly of the SBV’s management of the monetary policy tools in an active and flexible manner, thereby maintaining the stability of the money and the forex markets, as well as controlling the inflation in line with the target.
On this occasion, the SBV Governor requested the IFC to continue to support the SBV in the key and priority areas of the banking sector, such as the improvement of the banking legal frameworks, i.e. the codification of the regulations on NPLs; support for the study and formulation of legal documents on green credit and sustainable development; the implementation of activities to promote gender equality in the banking sector, etc.
An overview of the meeting
Toward the end of the meeting, the two sides affirmed to continue the bilateral communication to share each other’s perspectives on any arising issues, and committed to maintaining the close cooperative relationship in the coming time.
Le Hang