Within the framework of the IMF/WBG 2023 Spring Meetings, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) had meetings with Ms. Antoinette Sayeh, IMF Deputy Managing Director; Mr. Krishna Srinivasan, IMF Director of the Asia and Pacific Department (APD); and Mr. Dominique Desruelle, Director of the Institute for Capacity Development (ICD) at the IMF.
At the meeting with Ms. Antoinette Sayeh, IMF Deputy Managing Director, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha expressed high appreciation for the IMF’s support to and cooperation with Vietnam over the past years through the policy assessments and recommendations provided to the Government of Vietnam regarding the management of the macro-economic policy.
Sharing about the macro-economic results in 2022 and in the first months of 2023 in Vietnam, the SBV Deputy Governor mentioned that the economic growth in 2022 had been relatively positive; the GDP growth had increased by over 8%; the inflation had been controlled at 3.75%, lower than the target set by the Government for 2022. However, the difficulties caused by the impacts of the global economic and geo-political developments had affected the domestic economy in the first Quarter of 2023, with the growth rate of only 3.32% (which is only higher than that of the first Quarter of 2020 due to the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic); the inflation increased by 4.18% as compared to that of the same previous period of 2022.
Facing those difficulties and challenges to the economy, in the pursuit of an economic growth target of 6.5% and the inflation at 4.5% or below for 2023 as set by the National Assembly, the SBV has continued to manage the monetary instruments in a flexible and consistent manner in order to control the inflation, contributing to maintaining the macro-economic stability, stabilizing the forex and money markets; manage the interest rates in harmony with the macro balances, the inflation and the objectives of the monetary policy, encouraging the credit institutions to cut down their operational costs in order to create more space for reducing the common lending rates; regulate the credit growth at an appropriate level in order to contribute to controlling the inflation, supporting the economic growth, focusing credit on production and business activities as well as the priority sectors as directed by the Government; strictly control the credit for potentially risky areas.
For her part, Ms. Antoinette Sayeh, IMF Deputy Managing Director, asserted that the IMF would continue to support the Government of Vietnam and the SBV in the socio-economic development process, provide policy consultancy and training programs to enhance the capacity for the Vietnamese authorities in order to achieve the objectives as set by the National Assembly and the Government.
At the meeting with Mr. Krishna Srinivasan, IMF APD Director, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha welcomed the APD contributions through the activities of the IMF’s Article IV Mission and the IMF’s representative office in Vietnam over the past time. The SBV Deputy Governor said that the reports and recommendations from the IMF’s Article IV Mission were very helpful inputs for the Government of Vietnam and the SBV in the process of policy-making and implementation.
For his part, Mr. Krishna Srinivasan spoke highly of the leading role and the active support of the SBV during the working sessions with the IMF’s Article IV Mission and the IMF’s representative office in Vietnam. He affirmed that the IMF would continue to research and monitor the macro-economic developments in order to provide prompt and useful policy consultancy to the Government of Vietnam.
Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha meet the ICD officers
Meeting Mr. Dominique Desruelle, Director of the Institute for Capacity Development (ICD) at the IMF, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha expressed his sincere thanks to the IMF for its support in training and capacity development regarding the macro-economic management, the operation of the monetary and fiscal policies, as well as other macro policies.
The SBV Deputy Governor proposed that the IMF continue to enhance its close cooperation with the SBV to implement effectively the on-going technical assistance activities, and to consider new capacity development projects in order to meet the needs of the Vietnamese authorities, including the SBV.
In addition to the traditional forms of capacity development such as training courses and workshops, the two sides also agreed to expand the cooperation to cover new forms such as internship or fellowship programs for Vietnamese banking officers at the ICD in order to allow Vietnam to share and learn more knowledge and experience with other countries.
Mr. Dominique Desruelle committed to implement more training and capacity development activities for the SBV as well as for other Vietnamese authorities in the fields of interest to Vietnam.
Le Hang