Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (centre) speaks at the meeting with chairpersons and CEOs of commercial banks in Hanoi on October 16. (Photo: VNA)The event took place on the occasionof 77 years since late President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to the industryand trade sector and the 18th Vietnam Entrepreneurs Day (October13).
Nguyen Thi Hong, Governor of theState Bank of Vietnam (SBV), reported that in the first nine months of 2022, theSBV has steered the monetary policy in a proactive and flexible manner while closelycoordinating it with the fiscal and other macro policies to help with theeconomy's recovery. It has also stayed vigilant to inflationary risks to help maintainmacro-economic stability.
The SBV has submitted to the Government for approval and implement a policy on 2% interest rate support for businesses through commercial banks. Cashless payment has been rising stronglywhile the restructuring of credit institutions in tandem with the settlement ofnon-performing loans has been promoted, inspection and supervision conductedfrequently and strictly, she noted.
The PM applauded efforts by the entirebanking sector, saying that the sector has made important contributions to the country’s achievements. He said the sector has concurrentlyfulfilled two tasks – helping curb inflation and stabilise the macro-economy,and providing credit for the economy.
He cited statistics as showing thatas of the end of September, total credit supplies had reached 11.55 quadrillion VND (478.5 billion USD) , up 10.8% from the end of 2021. Commercial banks have been growing unceasinglyin terms of size, quality, and financial capacity. Total asset of joint stockbanks now amounts to about 7.5 quadrillion VND, including over 7 quadrillion VNDof the four state commercial banks.
In particular, commercial banks havealso exercised their social responsibility by actively engaging in povertyreduction, natural disaster response, and donation of medical supplies andmoney to the COVID-19 vaccine fund.
At the meeting, the Government leaderalso pointed out certain shortcomings, difficulties, and challenges facing the banking sector, including fast and complex changes in the global situation, soaringinflation and interest rates in the world, and the sharp depreciation of manycurrencies. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese economy is still small and has big opennessbut limited resilience; people and enterprises have been hit hard by the COVID-19pandemic; the stock, corporate bond, and real estate markets have revealed someproblems; and the financial strength, quality, management capacity, andtechnology of commercial banks remain modest.
PM Chinh instructed the SBV to maintain a strict, prudent but proactive, flexibleand effective monetary policy while harmoniously combining it with the fiscalpolicy and others to keep inflation under control, stabilise the macro-economy,boost growth, and guarantee major balances of the economy.
He also told the central bank to effectively carry out the plan on credit institution restructuring and bad debtsettlement; step up the handling of poor-performing commercial banks; overhauland align the legal framework on monetary, credit, and banking issues withinternational practices and the Vietnamese situation; increase inspection andsupervision; improve personnel’s capacity; ensure the system’s safety; and presson with digital transformation in the sector.
For commercial banks, he requestedthem to enhance their governance, management, andfinancial capacity; improve service and credit quality and efficiency; ensuretransparency; modernise operations and better competitiveness; develop digitalbanking and cashless payment; expand their networks; improve the efficiency ofcredit distribution; boost non-credit services and green credit; and continue performingsocial responsibility.
The PM also demanded ministries andsectors work closely with the SBV to deal with relevant issues, especiallyopinions and proposals from commercial banks, so that the sector can developstrongly and sustainably to further contribute to national development./.
VNA
