Weekly Bulletin on Banking Operations (February 25 – March 1, 2019)
1. Forex market and exchange rates:
The buying and selling exchange rates quoted on the commercial banks’ websites were on a downward trend, from VND 23,165/23,265 against the USD on the first day of the week to VND 23,160/23,260 and VND 23,160/23,260 against the USD on the following day of the week, then continued to decline slightly to VND 23,150/23,250 against the USD on the last three days of the week (down by 10 VND/USD for both buying and selling exchange rates as compared to the last day of the previous week).
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) continued to conduct synchronous measures and manage the monetary policy to stabilize the forex market and the exchange rates within the set band.
2. Mobilization and lending interest rates:
2.1. Mobilization interest rates:
- The mobilization interest rates in VND: The common rates were between 0.5% p.a – 1% p.a for demand and below 1-month term deposits, 4.5% p.a – 5.5% p.a for 1-month to below 6-month terms, 5.5% p.a – 6.5% p.a for 6-month to below 12-month terms; and 6.6% – 7.3% p.a for 12-month plus terms.
- The mobilization interest rates in USD: The common mobilization interest rate in USD was 0% p.a for both individuals’ and institutions’ deposits.
2.2. Lending rates:
- The lending interest rates in VND: The common average rates were between 6.0 – 9.0% p.a for short-term loans; 9.0% p.a – 11.0% p.a for medium and long-term loans.
- The lending interest rates in USD: The common rates were between 2.8% – 6.0% p.a. The rates were 2.8% p.a – 4.7% p.a for short-term loans and 4.5 – 6.0% p.a for medium and long-term loans.
3. Inter-bank transaction operations:
3.1. Transactions:
According to the reports submitted by the credit institutions and the foreign bank branches, the total amount of transactions in the inter-bank market within the week reached approximately VND 292,795 billion, an average of VND 58,441 billion/day, an increase of VND 882 billion/day as compared to the week of February 18 - 22, 2019; meanwhile the transaction amount in USD was equivalent to VND 113,726 billion, an average of VND 22,745 billion/day, an increase of VND 379 billion/day as compared to the previous week.
Most VND transactions were for overnight and 1-week terms (accounting for 60% and 25% of the total amount of VND transactions respectively). The transactions in USD were mostly for overnight and 1-week terms, accounting for 71% and 17% of the total amount of USD transactions respectively.
3.2. The average inter-bank interest rates:
- For transactions in VND: As compared to the previous week, the average inter-bank interest rates were on the downward trend for most terms. Specifically, the inter-bank interest rates for overnight, 1-week and 1-month terms were down by 0.04 percentage points p.a, 0.17 percentage points p.a and 0.19 percentage points p.a to 4.13% p.a, 4.05% p.a and 4.56% p.a respectively.
- For transactions in USD: The average inter-bank interest rates were relatively stable, with slight fluctuations around the rates of the previous week. Specifically, the inter-bank interest rates for overnight, 1-week and 1-month terms was down to 2.47% p.a; 2.56% p.a and 2.71% p.a respectively.
The specific average inter-bank interest rates were as follows:
Term |
Overnight |
1-week |
2-week |
1-month |
3-month |
6-month |
9-month |
VND |
4.13 |
4.05 |
4.23 |
4.56 |
4.73 |
5.40 |
4.92 |
USD |
2.47 |
2.56 |
2.63 |
2.71 |
2.88 |
2.95 |
2.81 |
Translated by Le Hang