On the morning of July 2nd, at a press conference to inform about the results of monetary policy management and banking operations in the first 6 months of 2026, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Pham Thanh Ha said: In the context of the world economy continuing to develop complicatedly, geopolitical and trade tensions and conflicts in the Middle East creating pressure on the global financial market, the SBV has managed monetary policy proactively and flexibly, closely coordinating with fiscal policy and other macroeconomic policies to control inflation, stabilize the macroeconomy and support growth.
In interest rate management, in the first 6 months of 2026, the SBV will continue to maintain the operating interest rates, creating conditions for credit institutions to access capital sources at low costs, thereby supporting businesses and people.
At the same time, the SBV directs credit institutions to implement solutions to stabilize the general level of interest rates, and continue to publicize loan interest rate information on the websites of each bank for customers to refer to when accessing capital.
After the working session between the SBV and commercial banks on April 9, 2026, banks agreed to reduce deposit interest rates for new deposits from 6 months or more, and at the same time reduce lending interest rates to increase access to capital for the economy.
Regarding exchange rate management, the Deputy Governor said that the foreign exchange market is under a lot of pressure from international developments, including the monetary policy management roadmap of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), US tariff policy, tensions in the Middle East and strong fluctuations of the USD.
In that context, the SBV operates the exchange rate flexibly, coordinates synchronously with monetary policy tools to stabilize the foreign exchange market, contributing to controlling inflation and stabilizing the macroeconomy. Thanks to this, the foreign exchange market operates smoothly, and the legitimate foreign currency needs of the economy are fully and promptly met.
Regarding credit, the SBV continues to operate in accordance with macroeconomic developments, orienting credit growth for the entire system in 2026 to be about 15% and will adjust accordingly to reality, ensuring inflation control, supporting growth and the safety of the credit institution system.
The SBV requires credit institutions to strictly control credit for potentially risky sectors, especially real estate, and prioritize capital for production and business and growth drivers of the economy.
To support the development of social housing and industrial infrastructure, from May 29, 2026, the SBV announced that it would not include the additional outstanding credit balance compared to the end of 2025 for social housing, industrial parks and export processing zones when controlling real estate credit growth. At the same time, new loans serving large-scale projects with spillover effects as directed by the Government are also excluded when controlling annual credit growth.
Credit programs under the direction of the Government continue to be promoted. In which, the credit program for the forestry and fishery sector has been increased in scale from 15,000 billion VND to 185,000 billion VND. Social housing loan programs, for people under 35 years old to buy and rent-purchase social housing, 500,000 billion VND credit programs for businesses investing in infrastructure and digital technology, along with policy credit programs are also being actively implemented by credit institutions.
According to the SBV, with synchronous operating solutions, by June 26, 2026, the total system's outstanding credit balance reached over 19.97 million billion VND, an increase of 7.41% compared to the end of 2025 and an increase of 18.1% compared to the same period last year.
Regarding payment and digital transformation activities, the SBV continues to improve mechanisms and policies to promote non-cash payments and ensure the safety of the payment system. In the first 5 months of 2026, the number of non-cash payment transactions increased by 34.77% compared to the same period last year, the transaction value increased by 11.48%. Transactions via the internet increased by 52.82% in quantity, via mobile phones increased by 33.6%, while transactions using QR codes increased by 10.37% in quantity and nearly 40% in value.
