On April 20, 2022, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Governor Nguyen Thi Hong had a meeting with the Article IV Mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headed by Ms. Era Dabla-Norris.
At the meeting, Ms. Era Dabla-Norris, Head of the IMF's Article IV Mission, shared with the SBV Governor the results of the Mission’s meetings with the various authorities, businesses, commercial banks and investment funds from both public and private sectors. Ms. Era Dabla-Norris expressed her pleasure at Vietnam’s encouraging economic achievements in 2021 and during the first months of 2022, among which the biggest ever vaccination campaign and the support policies for economic growth have contributed to boosting Vietnam’s economic recovery after the severe outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic during the final months of 2021.
In addition, the Head of the IMF's Article IV Mission also talked about the IMF’s economic outlooks in the coming time, with many significant risks affecting the economic recovery and inflation, including the geopolitical tensions from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the slowdown in China, the tightening of the global financial terms, and the developments in the domestic real estate and corporate bond markets. Therefore, the IMF's Mission suggested that the Government of Vietnam urgently formulate necessary policies, balance and adjust the scale and structure of the policy support package in a proactive and flexible manner in line with the economic recovery pace. The fiscal policy should play the key role among all support policies because the current room for the monetary policy is limited.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the meeting
Agreeing with the Mission’s assessments, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong stated that the SBV highly appreciated the Mission for its assessments on Vietnam's economic situation, especially for the IMF’s recognition of Vietnam’s achievements in accelerating the vaccination campaign nationwide and the policies on supporting the people and the businesses, which have contributed significantly to the economic recovery. The SBV Governor also agreed with the Mission’s outlook on the difficulties and challenges, as well as unpredictable developments that the SBV in particular and Vietnam in general would have to address in the near future. In that context, the SBV would be consistent with its objectives of controlling the inflation and maintaining the macroeconomic stability, contributing to the economic recovery.
In addition, the Governor also stated that in the coming time, the SBV plans to further improve the legal corridors by formulating and amending a number of laws in the banking sector, such as the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam, the Law on Credit Institutions, the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, and the Law on Deposit Insurance,… With the IMF’s extensive database and professional expertise, the SBV Governor hoped that the SBV would continue to receive more attention from the Mission and the IMF in reviewing and consulting the experience of other countries, helping Vietnam to narrow the gap with the international standards.
Regarding the cooperative relationship between the two sides, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong spoke highly of the increasingly close and effective coordination through the joint efforts to implement the technical assistance projects according to the plans, despite the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ms. Era Dabla-Norris, Head of the IMF's Article IV Mission, speaks at the meeting.
Toward the end of the meeting, the SBV Governor expressed her sincere thanks for the cooperation of the IMF’s Article IV Mission in particular and the IMF in general, and hoped that the SBV would continue to receive strong cooperation, meaningful assessment and practical policy recommendations from the Mission, especially in light of the fact that the economic recovery in Vietnam and around the world is facing potential risks.
Le Hang