Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Photo: VGP)

Addressing the review meeting of the banking sector attended by Governor of the Bank of Laos  Sonexay Sitphaxay in Hanoi on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said: “The overarching political tasks set by the Party Central Committee, the National Assembly and the government are to execute flexible, cautious, and effective monetary policy, strengthen capacity to respond to and minimize outside adverse impacts, harmoniously incorporate other financial and macro-economic policies, and constantly pursue the goal of macro-economic stability, inflation control, and stronger growth. The banking sector also needs to mobilize resources to boost rapid and sustainable growth.”

Prime Minister Phuc asked the banking sector to ensure reasonable credit growth, strengthen credit system restructure and bad debt settlement, fine-tune institutional system, and apply IT. He said the State Bank of Vietnam must be more active in negotiating FTAs and combating money laundering and terrorism financing.  

The banking sector’s report said it flexibly and comprehensively implemented monetary policies last year to stabilize the monetary market and foreign reserves and keep inflation below 3.54%. This is the fifth consecutive year Vietnam’s inflation has been kept under 4%.

The interest rate has been stable and credit quality has improved, boosting GDP growth. The restructuring of credit organizations and bad debt settlement have had very good results.

In the context of Industrial Revolution 4.0, the banking industry has increased its application of technology to improve its services and convenience to clients and reduce cash transactions.