Vietnamese banks presently have a total usable capital of VND30 trillion (US$1.58 billion) due to increasing deposits after Tet (the Lunar New Year), said Nguyen Van Giau, governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).
Informing press agencies on March 2, he said commercial banks usually face difficulties in liquidity during the time ahead of Tet. Therefore, this year the SBV helped banks increase funds to ensure their liquidity capacity and provide further loans, especially to agricultural and rural sectors.
Banks had VND13 trillion available before Tet, he added.
In order to ensure the bank system’s payment capacity and the economy’s liquidity, the SBV has cut the required foreign-currency reserve ratio from 7 percent to 4 percent for terms of 12 months or less, and from 3 percent to 2 percent for terms of over 12 moths, Mr. Giau said.
He said the cut has helped increase funds by about US$500 million, decrease fund-mobilizing expenses by about 0.1 percent, and stabilize exchange rates.
Prices of goods have been high during the early months, but have not seen a sudden, sharp hike compared to recent years, he said, adding that the main reasons for the growing consumer price index are increasing global prices and local demands during Tet, and the price adjustment of some essential goods.
In order to balance supply and demand of foreign currencies, curb the trade gap, and stabilize the macro economy, the Central Bank has fixed the interest rate cap for US dollar deposit accounts at 1 percent and raised the average inter-bank exchange rate by 3.36 percent.
Mr. Giau said the Central Bank will continue to manage monetary policies flexibly and cautiously in the coming months to make total payment means and credits increase by 25 percent and ensure appropriate interest and exchange rates.
