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PM urges banking sector to focus on five key tasks of 2009
Prime Minister (PM) Nguyen Tan Dzung paid a working visit to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on June 26 in order to get the knowledge of performance of the banking sector in the first half of 2009 and to provide guidance for the implementation of the monetary policy in the second half of the year.
The meeting was also attended by Senior Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung, leaders of several Ministries and central agencies, and Chairmen of the Board of Directors and General Directors of the state-owned commercial banks and the Vietnam Development Bank.
SBV Governor Nguyen Van Giau briefed the PM of the performance of the SBV and credit institutions over the past six months. He articulated that in the first half of the year, the banking sector, in general, and the SBV, in particular, have made enormous efforts to effectively pursue the Government’s policies with a focus on 5 key tasks, namely, preventing economic downturn, maintaining proper economic growth , stabilizing macro-economy, ensuring social protection and combating inflation.
Governor Nguyen Van Giau went on by noting that the SBV has managed the monetary policy in a flexible and prudent way with the aim of extending credit to the economy and ensuring safe and sound operations of the banking sector. He also touched upon several difficulties and obstacles of the SBV and banking sector in the implementation of the national monetary policy, especially the risk of inflation, foreign exchange management, so on and so forth.
Addressing the meeting, the PM spoke highly of the banking sector’s efforts including the SBV’s governance and regulation, and the implementation of the Government’s directives and policies by commercial banks. The PM affirmed that Vietnam’s economy has obtained positive achievements in the first half of the year, with certain significant contribution made by the banking sector. The PM stressed that although the Vietnamese economy had overcome the most difficult period, the economic growth rate remained low amid innumerable difficulties. The PM instructed the SBV to adhere to the key tasks laid out by the Government for 2009 to make proper adjustments and effectively conduct monetary and credit policies to help the nation reach its growth rate target of 5 percent this year and actively prevent inflation for the period of 2009-2010. In particular, the SBV should decisively manage and stabilize interest rates, enhance the management of exchange rates and the foreign exchange market, closely monitor the interest rate subsidy program, and to ensure prudent operations of the banking sector. The PM approved in principle recapitalization of the state-owned commercial banks.
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