Continuing the program during her business trip to the United States, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has attended a virtual meeting between Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Ms. Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The SBV Governor also had a working session with Ms. Manuela V.Ferro, Vice President for East Asia and Pacific of the World Bank (WB).
At the virtual meeting between Mr. Pham Minh Chinh with Ms. Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, IMF Deputy Managing Director, the Vietnamese Prime Minister expressed his deep gratitude for the IMF’s analyses, assessments and policy advice provided to Vietnam in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in the process of improving the resilience and ensuring the economic recovery. He emphasized that the IMF’s 11th allocation of the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to the member countries in October 2021 had allowed Vietnam to enhance its reserves, thereby increasing the resilience of the economy to both external and internal shocks. The Prime Minister also highly appreciated the IMF’s support for Vietnam’s socio-economic development and the formulation of macro-economic policies, and affirmed that Vietnam had been utilizing the IMF’s support in an effective manner for the right purposes.
The Prime Minister further shared that Vietnam has been implementing the Plan for Socio-Economic Recovery and Development with a support package equivalent to 4% of the GDP. Therefore, the Prime Minister requested the IMF to support Vietnam in the implementation of this Plan, and advise Vietnam with a view to ensuring the macro-economic stability, developing the capital market toward transparency and sustainability, controlling the inflation, developing the logistics services and reducing transportation costs, renovating technologies and promoting the digitization, diversifying the supply chains, adapting to and mitigating climate change impacts, etc.
Overview of the virtual meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Ms. Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, IMF’s Deputy Managing Director
The IMF Deputy Managing Director made high evaluation for the efforts and measures of the Government of Vietnam in controlling the pandemic. She agreed that, thanks to the effective vaccination campaign nationwide, Vietnam now has big potential for post-pandemic economic recovery and development, and confirmed that Vietnam has been going in the right direction, especially with the Government’s Plan for Socio-Economic Recovery and Development.
On the previous day, also within the framework of the official visit of the Vietnamese Government’s Delegation to the US, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong had a working session with Ms. Manuela V.Ferro, the World Bank (WB) Vice President for East Asia and Pacific. At the meeting, the SBV Governor congratulated Ms. Manuela V.Ferro on her appointment as the WB Vice President for East Asia and Pacific, and her successful working visit to Vietnam in April 2022.
Overview of the meeting between SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and Ms. Manuela V.Ferro, WB Vice President for East Asia and Pacific
Sharing about Vietnam's macroeconomic situation, the SBV Governor mentioned that Vietnam is currently 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 has been 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, as well as the restructuring of the credit institutions, the resolution of non-performing loans (NPLs), and green credit.
The SBV Governor acknowledged the effective support by the WB for the Government of Vietnam in general and the banking industry in particular. The WB’s significant support in the areas of financial resources, policy recommendations, sharing of good practices, etc., has contributed to helping the Government of Vietnam to obtain various achievements in the socio-economic development, increasing the people’s incomes and improving their living standards, thereby allowing Vietnam to make a big step towards the goal of becoming a modern industrial and upper-middle income country by 2035, and a developed and high-income country by 2045. In the context of unpredictable developments in the world and regional markets, the SBV Governor hoped to continue to receive more policy recommendations from the WB in the coming time, especially related to the amendment and improvement of legal frameworks for baking operations, digital and green banking, financial inclusion, etc.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and WB Vice President for East Asia and Pacific Manuela V.Ferro exchange souvenirs
For her part, Ms. Manuela V. Ferro assessed that Vietnam’s economy has been recovering pretty well, and acknowledged that Vietnam’s monetary policy management has been conducted in an effective and consistent manner, contributing to maintaining the forex and money market stability and the inflation control. The WB Vice President for East Asia and Pacific affirmed that the WB would continue to communicate frequently with the SBV in the process of formulating the new Country Partnership Framework. She emphasized that it is necessary to exchange and share information in this period in order to leverage Vietnam’s capital demand with the WB’s lending capacity.
Le Hang