BIDV to cut dong lending rates from Feb 1
State-run BIDV, Vietnam’s second largest bank by assets, said it will reduce dong lending rates next month to help boost domestic production and support exports.
The Hanoi-based bank said in a statement late on Friday it would slash the three-month rate by half a percentage point to 8% as of Feb. 1 for exporters who have direct export contracts and committed to selling foreign currency back to BIDV.
BIDV’s rate cut is the first announced by a big bank in Vietnam following central bank interest rate cuts in effect from Feb. 1 after inflation in January was the lowest in almost a year while industrial production slumped.
Interbank rates for dong loans of up to three months were fixed between 6.1% and 8.1% on Friday, down from a range of 7% to 8.2% a week ago, according to Reuters data.
Vietnam has forecast that export growth this year will slow to 13%, after a rise of 29.5% in 2008, due to the economic downturn in important markets in the United States, Europe and Japan.
The State Bank of Viet Nam, the central bank, is aiming to keep credit growth in the banking system at around 20% in 2009 after a rise of 21-22% last year. (Reuters)
