On April 26, 2022, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Pham Thanh had a virtual meeting with Mr. Mohd Hassan Ahmad, World Bank (WB) Executive Director for the East Asia and Pacific Group Office.
Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha at the meeting
At the meeting, Mr. Mohd Hassan Ahmad shared about the topics that had been discussed at the 2022 Spring Meetings (April 18-24, 2022). Besides, Mr. Mohd Hassan Ahmad also briefed of the WB’s assessments of the world and regional economic situations and outlooks, the current difficulties and challenges; the WB policy on the developments in Myanmar, Russia, and Ukraine. He spoke highly of the Government of Vietnam’s policy on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerating the economic recovery. In addition, he also expressed his optimism about the WB's forecast for Vietnam’s growth rate of 5.3% in 2022, a high growth rate in the context that many countries in the region are facing high inflation pressure and low economic growth. Mr. Mohd Hassan Ahmad also expressed his impression at the fact that the Government of Vietnam had controlled successfully the public debt ceiling, maintaining it at a safe level.
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha highly appreciated the cooperation and support of the WB/Group Office in general, as well as Mr. Mohd Hassan Ahmad in particular to Vietnam’s achievements in the socio-economic development, as well as in the finance and banking sector in the recent years. The SBV Deputy Governor hoped for further effective cooperation with the WB/Group Office in the coming time, with the immediate priority given to supporting the Government in order to effectively implement the Socio-economic Recovery and Development Program, contributing to helping the economy to overcome the current difficulties, catching up with the global economic recovery process, creating a foundation and favorable conditions for the socio-economic development in the 2021-2025 period and the following years.
The SBV Deputy Governor also briefed of Vietnam's economic situation over the past months; the challenges, difficulties and orientations of the Government; the monetary policy management and the SBV orientations in the coming time. Besides, the SBV Deputy Governor requested the WB to share its analytic reports on the impacts of the complicated political developments in Russia and Ukraine on the global financial and monetary systems, and the implications for developing markets like Vietnam, which can provide some references for the SBV in the process of monetary policy management and advising the Government.
The SBV Deputy Governor also suggested that the WB and Vietnam maintain regularly high-level policy dialogues and exchanges to update the WB’s new orientations and policies. Regarding the programs and projects in the WB’s loan portfolio, the SBV Deputy Governor also updated about the borrowing plan in the fiscal year of 2022–2023, and Vietnam’s preparations for accelerating the negotiation progress of the proposed programs/projects.
Le Hang