Banks cut interest rates to ease lender pressure

Banks cut interest rates to ease lender pressure

The Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) yesterday cut its monthly deposit interest rate for the Vietnamese dong to 5 per cent, as much as a 1.5 percentage point lower than its old rate.

The bank, which is the third bank to reduce their monthly interest rate to 5 per cent after Vietcombank and Agribank, is applying an interest rate of 6 per cent for loans with the two-month term.

In addition, Vietinbank also reduced their rate from 6.5 to 6 per cent for loans with one and two month terms.

According to the banks, the reduction aims to ease the pressure of interest payments to lenders during difficult economic times when loans are harder to secure. During the first six months of this year, many banks have reportedly tightened their lending.

Meanwhile, after the State Bank of Viet Nam intervened in the forex market, most banks reduced their exchange rate to below the ceiling price of VND21,246 yesterday.

However, some commercial banks increased US dollar prices by VND6-10 per dollar, making their selling price for the greenback reach the ceiling price of VND21,246.

In the unofficial market, the dollar was traded at VND21,500.

vietnamnews