The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has just held a meeting announcing the banking performance in the first six months of 2019.
At the meeting, director of the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors Nguyen Quoc Hung said that as of May 31st 2019, the outstanding credit to the economy increased by 5.74 percent compared to the end of 2018. The credit for most priority areas increased fairly well. Specifically, the credit growth was 13 percent for export sector, 14.22 percent for high-tech application enterprises, 5.04 percent for small and medium-sized enterprises, five percent for agriculture and rural areas, and 4.11 percent for supporting industry area.
Regarding the results of monetary policy management, according to director of the SBV’s Monetary Policy Department Pham Thanh Ha, in the context of more and more factors causing pressure to raise interest rates, the SBV managed the interest rates appropriately with macroeconomic developments and capital market, stabilising the operating interest rate levels. The agency also directed credit institutions (CIs) to review, balance finance, reduce costs to apply reasonable lending interest rates and try to reduce lending rates when possible on the basis of ensuring financial security.
The central exchange rate continued to be flexible operated by the SBV, in line with domestic and foreign market movements, with macroeconomic and monetary balances, and the monetary policy objectives. The SBV also synchronously coordinated monetary policy instruments and took advantage of favourable market conditions to purchase a large amount of foreign currency to supplement the national foreign exchange reserves. The market was relatively stable, exchange rates fluctuated closely to market conditions, liquidity was ensured, foreign currency transactions were smooth, and legitimate foreign currency needs were fully and promptly met.
In addition to the above results, payment activities in the economy also achieved positive results.
According to director of the SBV’s Payment Department Pham Tien Dung, in Q1 2019, the total number of domestic payment transactions via bank cards increased by 18.45 percent compared to the same period of 2018 with a total transaction value of over 171 trillion dong. The number if financial transactions via Internet Channel increased by about 66 percent with transaction value increasing by 13.46 percent over the same period of 2018.
Particularly, year 2018 and the early months of 2019 witnessed the strong development of electronic payment, especially via mobile phones. The number of financial transactions via mobile phone channel reached more than 76 million transactions with a value of over 924 trillion dong (up by respectively 97.75 percent and 232.3 percent over the same period of 2018).
