According to Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Pham Thanh Ha, in the first 6 months of the year, the SBV has operated monetary policy proactively, flexibly and promptly, closely coordinating with fiscal policy to facilitate economic recovery.
Keeping interest rates low, promoting strong credit growth
In the first half of the year, the SBV continued to maintain operating interest rates, creating conditions for credit institutions (CIs) to access capital at low costs, thereby supporting the economy. Under close guidance, credit institutions have actively reduced costs, applied technology, and promoted digital transformation to reduce lending interest rates. Thanks to that, the average lending interest rate of the whole system has decreased by about 0.6 percentage points compared to the end of 2024.
Credit management is also carried out methodically and transparently. The SBV has assigned credit growth targets to banks since the beginning of the year with a full-year target of about 16%, and at the same time required capital focusing on production and business sectors, priority sectors, limiting credit flows into areas with potential risks.
By the end of June 2025, credit in the whole economy reached over VND 17.2 million billion, up 9.9% compared to the end of 2024 - a positive increase, showing that banking capital is effectively supporting growth. Notably, credit in priority sectors such as agriculture, small and medium enterprises, supporting industries, and high-tech enterprises all recorded an increase of 5% to nearly 18% compared to the end of last year.
Along with that, key credit programs such as the 145,000 billion VND package for social housing loans, 500,000 billion VND for infrastructure and digital technology, or the 100,000 billion VND package for agriculture, forestry and fishery are implemented synchronously, contributing to the reasonable allocation of credit to essential sectors of the economy.
Rate fluctuates but is flexibly controlled
Although the USD has strengthened in the international market, the pressure on exchange rates has increased, especially after the US Federal Reserve's (FED) delay in reducing interest rates, according to Director of the monetary policy department Pham Chi Quang, the VND exchange rate is flexibly managed, closely following the market. Although VND has depreciated by 2.7-2.8% since the beginning of the year, this adjustment is still under control.
An important factor that puts pressure on VND is the reversal of foreign capital flows, especially in the stock market.
According to the reporter's research, in 6 months, foreign investors net withdrew about VND40,700 billion - equivalent to 1.5 billion USD. However, the overall balance of payments still maintains a surplus state thanks to stable hoiines, FDI and trade of goods.
Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha said that in the coming time, the SBV will continue to closely monitor developments in the international and domestic markets, operate exchange rates flexibly, in accordance with market conditions, and synchronously coordinate with CSTT tools to stabilize the foreign exchange market, contribute to stabilizing the macro economy and controlling inflation.
Promoting digital transformation, handling bad debts and roadmap to eliminate credit room
In parallel with macro management, the SBV also promotes long-term reforms. In the field of payments and digital transformation, the mechanism and policies on non-cash payments continue to be perfected; technology infrastructure is invested heavily, creating conditions for people and businesses to access many modern and safe services.
Notably, the SBV is closely coordinating with the Ministry of Public Security to implement Project 06 on developing digital government and applying population data, contributing to promoting electronic identification in the financial - banking system.
In the work of handling bad debts, the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Credit institutions has just been passed by the National Assembly, in which many effective provisions from Resolution 42 are officially legalized. This is expected to be a solid legal foundation to help the banking system improve debt handling capacity, limit new bad debt, and move towards healthy development.
A new highlight in this year's operations is that the SBV is gradually removing the credit "room" mechanism.
In 2025, the SBV has stopped assigning credit growth targets to foreign banks and non-bank credit institutions... Thus, the credit room is currently only applicable to domestic commercial banks. This is an important shift to increase market size, reduce administrative intervention, towards more flexible operations, in line with international practices.
However, the SBV also affirmed that it will have a thorough and cautious assessment to avoid the situation of credit growth being too hot as in the period of 2005 2010, which caused difficulties for many credit institutions.
The operational orientation of the SBV continues to adhere to the principle of proactiveness - flexibility - efficiency, aiming to stabilize the macro economy and support growth first. This will be an important fulcrum for a strong economy to overcome the waves in the second half of 2025.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Dr. Chau Dinh Linh said that in reality, in Vietnam, the economy is heavily dependent on bank credit, causing monetary policy to simultaneously pursue many goals such as promoting growth, controlling inflation, stabilizing exchange rates and ensuring system safety. This increases the complexity of operations and may limit the effectiveness of policy tools.
However, Dr. Linh said that the SBV needs to continue to strengthen risk supervision, promote Basel II and III standards and coordinate more effectively with fiscal policy to create resonance for growth. He also emphasized the role of the capital market - including bonds and stocks - in providing medium and long-term capital for the economy, helping to gradually reduce dependence on the banking system.
We need to aim for a balance between growth rate and financial stability. fiscal policy should expand support for high-quality infrastructure investment and improve capital efficiency as well as completion and exploitation time. While monetary policy should be cautious and flexible to ensure system safety, control inflation and financial risks. The SBV should coordinate further with the Ministry of Finance to develop the capital market - which provides medium and long-term capital for the economy and share the over-reliance on bank credit. When the two markets are balanced, the currency market - which provides short-term capital, the capital market - which provides medium and long-term capital, will promote the efficiency of capital use, he said.
