Nearly $83 bln injected into Vietnam’s economy in 2024: central bank

Vietnam's credit growth reached 15.08% in 2024, with more than VND2,100 trillion ($82.77 billion) pumped into the economy, says Dao Minh Tu, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

This infusion brought the total credit in circulation by the end of the year to around VND15,300 trillion ($603.07 billion), Tu told a press meeting on Tuesday.

He emphasized that the SBV’s flexible monetary policy had played a key role in stabilizing the macro economy, controlling inflation, and supporting liquidity for credit institutions, while ensuring stability in the money and foreign exchange markets.

VND depreciated about 5.03% against the U.S. dollar in 2024.

Regarding interest rate management, Tu informed that the SBV kept its policy interest rates unchanged, as global interest rates remained high. This allowed credit institutions to access capital from the central bank at lower costs.

The central bank also continued its push for credit institutions to cut operating costs in order to reduce lending rates. Additionally, it required institutions to publicize their average lending rates and the spread between deposit and lending rates on their websites.

By the end of the year, deposit rates had risen by 0.71 percentage points, while lending rates had decreased by 0.59 percentage points compared to the beginning of 2024. The average lending rate of commercial banks had dropped by nearly 1 percentage point.

In terms of managing gold trading, he noted that the SBV successfully achieved its goal of controlling the price gap between SJC-branded gold and international gold prices, ensuring the gap stayed within a reasonable range.

Regarding the restructuring of banks, the deputy governor reported that in 2024, the SBV successfully completed the mandatory transfers of two weak banks, OceanBank and CBBank, to MBBank and Vietcombank, respectively. As for the remaining two “zero-dong” banks, the SBV has submitted restructuring plans to the government, with hopes of completing the transfers before the Lunar New Year holiday.

For scandal-hit Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), the central bank has implemented measures to stabilize its operations, safeguard deposits, and address past violations in compliance with legal regulations. It is also working on a comprehensive restructuring plan for SCB, which will be submitted to relevant authorities for approval.

Outlook for 2025

Looking ahead to 2025, Tu said the SBV will continue managing interest rates in line with market developments, macroeconomic conditions, inflation, and the objectives of monetary policy. It will closely monitor the market to manage exchange rates flexibly in sync with other monetary policy tools to control inflation and stabilize the macro economy.

The SBV projects a credit growth rate of around 16% for 2025. However, Tu clarified that this figure is a guideline rather than a binding target. The ultimate goals remain controlling inflation, fostering economic growth, and maintaining the value of the Vietnamese dong.

The central bank will continue to implement the plan on restructuring the credit institution system and tackling non-performing loans during the 2021-2025 period. The goal is to develop a healthy, high-quality, efficient, and transparent banking system.

It will also focus on implementing the government’s Decree No. 52/2024/ND-CP on cashless payments.