Vietnam’s five-month credit growth falls to six-year low at 1.96% on virus

The economy’s money supply at the end of May rose 3.4% against the end of 2019, while the State Bank of Vietnam posted credit growth of 1.96% in the same period.

Earlier, as of May 20, capital mobilization increased by 1.85% while credit grew by 1.32%. The credit growth seen improved recently but is still quite low compared to the 7.33% growth of the first half of 2019.

 Regarding the exchange rate, by the end of May, the central rate increased by 0.46%, the interbank exchange rate increased by 0.49% compared to the beginning of the year.

 The regulator said it will continue to pursue flexible monetary policy to control inflation and stabilize forex market amid the complexity of the coronavirus pandemic.

 On the other hand, to support people and businesses affected by Covid-19 epidemic, credit institutions have lowered lending interest rates by 0.5-2.5 percentage points, especially in some places, they have decreased by 3-4 percentage points.

 During the period, local credit institutions rescheduled loan repayments for 224,000 customers with a loan balance of VND152,000 billion.