However, persistent liquidity pressures have kept market interest rates elevated, increasing borrowing costs and making it harder for businesses to access capital.
Businesses face rising financing costs
Persistently high deposit rates have translated into higher lending costs, leaving many businesses struggling to obtain affordable financing.
N.V.D., director of a petroleum distribution company, said his firm's VND23 billion (US$874,701) loan at Bank L., carrying an annual interest rate of 10.4 percent, matured at the end of June. When the company sought to renew the loan, the bank raised the interest rate to 15 percent per year.
With profit margins in the petroleum distribution business remaining thin, higher borrowing costs threaten to force the company to scale back operations.
Beyond higher interest rates, many businesses are also facing disruptions in access to credit.
P.H.Q., director of B.T Petroleum Company, said the firm's working capital loan of more than VND30 billion (US$1.1 million) matured in May, but Bank H. suspended both debt collection and loan renewal procedures.
The loan was subsequently classified as overdue, resulting in the company's downgrade in the National Credit Information Center (CIC) system. The downgrade also affected its borrowing relationships with several other banks.
Duong Kim Quan, CEO of Bcons Investment Construction Joint Stock Company, said the company has recently had to borrow at annual interest rates of 14-15 percent, significantly increasing financial costs, placing pressure on business operations and limiting investment expansion.
Meanwhile, competition among commercial banks to attract deposits has intensified. Several lenders are offering deposit rates of 8.5-9 percent annually for terms of six months or longer. Including bonuses, gifts and promotional incentives, customers' effective returns can reach as high as 12 percent annually.
According to analysts at VDSC Securities, banks are under mounting pressure to raise deposits as credit growth continues to outpace deposit mobilization. The widening gap has forced lenders to increase funding costs to maintain liquidity, making it difficult for deposit rates to decline in the short term.
Authorities seek to stabilize lending rates
Pham Chi Quang, Director General of the Monetary Policy Department at the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said credit expanded 6.38 percent by mid-June 2026, while deposits increased by only about 4.3 percent, creating a gap of roughly two percentage points.
The imbalance has kept the loan-to-deposit ratio at a relatively high level.
Although liquidity across the banking system remains adequate, pressure to balance funding sources is considerable. This has contributed to the recent upward trend in interest rates, he said.
To help businesses and individuals access capital at more affordable costs, SBV Governor Pham Duc An again instructed banks in early July to lower lending rates.
It marked the fourth such directive in the past three months, even though the central bank has maintained low policy rates while market lending rates have shown little sign of easing.
The Government has also issued Resolution No. 168/NQ-CP, outlining updated growth scenarios and policy measures for the remainder of 2026. The resolution directs the Ministry of Finance and the SBV to implement measures to ease liquidity pressures, stabilize interest rates, ensure sufficient liquidity, maintain stability in the money and foreign exchange markets, control inflation and support the country's double-digit economic growth target.
Banks have also been instructed to reduce operating costs and adopt measures to stabilize market interest rates.
Nguyen Minh Tuan, CEO of AFA Capital, said Resolution 168, together with recent SBV policies, including raising limits on the use of short-term funds for medium- and long-term lending and exempting major infrastructure and social housing projects from credit growth quotas, demonstrates increasingly close coordination between monetary and fiscal policies.
However, he said lending rates are unlikely to decline sharply during the second half of the year, although they are expected to gradually ease. The key issue is not only how much interest rates fall, but whether capital is directed to priority sectors to improve the efficiency of capital allocation and support economic growth.
According to SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha, as credit demand is expected to continue rising in the second half of 2026, the central bank will closely monitor market developments to ensure credit flows to appropriate sectors, maintain credit quality and keep interest rates at reasonable levels to support businesses while preserving macroeconomic stability.
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