On March 21, 2023, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha had a virtual meeting with Ms. Maria Goravanchi, Regional Managing Director for the Lower Mekong at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
Overview of the meeting.
At the meeting, the DFC side introduced the SBV about the DFC’s activities, as well as some of the priorities and commitments of the DFC in Vietnam, focusing on the financial area.
In Vietnam, the DFC has also been providing loans related to the cooperation in promoting higher education and workforce development. In November 2022, the DFC signed a financing agreement worth 200 million USD with the Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank) to facilitate the access to finance for women-owned small and medium enterprises (WSMEs), as well as to address some climate change issues.
Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha expressed his thanks and high evaluation for the DFC’s support to Vietnam. The Deputy Governor also shared about the macroeconomic developments and the banking operations in Vietnam, as well as some of the SBV’s orientations for 2023, including:
(i) Continuing to review and amend the legal frameworks, the mechanisms and the policies on the monetary and banking operations, ensuring a safe, healthy, smooth and sustainable monetary and financial market;
(ii) Continuing to implement strongly the administrative reform, focusing on improving the business environment, improving the credit rankings and the confidence of the people and enterprises on the mechanisms, the policies and the operations of the banking sector;
(iii) Cooperating and integrating proactively and robustly with the international partners; promoting both bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the field of banking, thereby creating a favorable and stable environment to attract foreign investors.
Toward the end of the meeting, the DFC Regional Managing Director for the Lower Mekong thanked the SBV for the cooperation throughout the past years. In response, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha also thanked for the DFC’s information and assigned the relevant SBV’s entities to further engage and promote the cooperation with the DFC, focusing on the economic recovery and the creation of favorable conditions for foreign investors in Vietnam.
LK