On April 3rd, 2018, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Doan Thai Son had a meeting with Mr. Joaquim Levy - Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank Group.
Also attending the meeting were representatives of the SBV’s International Cooperation Department, the Monetary Policy Department and the SBV Office. On the World Bank side, there were Mr. Ousmane Dione - World Bank Country Director for Vietnam, the chief economist and other senior officials of the World Bank country office.
On behalf of the SBV Board of Management, Deputy Governor Doan Thai Son welcomed Mr. Joaquim Levy and the World Bank delegation to visit and attend the sixth Greater Mekong Sub-Region Summit (GMS-6) and the 10th Cambodia – Laos – Vietnam Development Triangle Summit (CLV-10) in Hanoi. The Deputy Governor also highly appreciated the World Bank Managing Director’s working visit to the SBV, which reflects the importance the World Bank attaches to the partnership with the Government of Viet Nam and the SBV.
In particular, the SBV Deputy Governor congratulated Mr. Joaquim Levy on an fruitful field trip and meetings with the People's Committee of Hai Phong city, thereby he could see the effectiveness and impacts of the WB's investments in the localities. Through this field trip, the SBV also expects that the World Bank would be able to see great needs for investment in the localities, especially in the field of infrastructure. Based on that the World Bank will establish and advise appropriate development and investment policies and strategies for the Government and the provinces of Vietnam in the coming time.
Deputy Governor Doan Thai Son went on by briefing the guests on the results of the SBV’s monetary policy management and banking performance in 2017 and in the first months of 2018. Accordingly, in 2017, the SBV’s monetary policy management has been proactive, flexible in line with the directions and orientations of the Government. The credit growth was reasonable and could ensure quality and safety, focusing mainly on production and business sectors.
In 2017, the banking sector focused its resources drastically on the second phase of the Restructuring and Handling of the Non-Performing Loans (NPL) Plan, and achieved many important initial results. In particular, the Government’s approval of the Scheme for “Restructuring the credit institutions system in combination with the settlement of bad debts in the period of 2016-2020” (Decision No. 1058), and the National Assembly’s passage of Resolution No. 42 on a pilot scheme for the settlement of bad debts, and the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Credit Institutions, have provided the foundation and an important impetus for the acceleration of the restructuring process in combination with settling bad debts.
The SBV highly appreciated that the World Bank in the past time has actively worked with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and approved a grant to the SBV to implement the Technical Assistance (TA) Project: "Strengthening the development and health of the banking sector in Vietnam". The SBV Deputy Governor expressed his wish that the World Bank would continue to work closely with SECO to complete the procedures for the TA Project to be implemented in line with the roadmap and plans for 2018; at the same time, the WB would continue to share its international knowledge and experience, as well as mobilize financial resources to support the SBV to successfully implement the Bank Restructuring Plan for 2016-2020 and the next phase.
On sharing his views on Vietnam graduation from IDA, the Deputy Governor stated that the SBV, as well as relevant Ministries, would advise the Government to be able to approach and absorb all IDA transitional support for the period 2018-2020, and effectively utilize this valuable support in the Government’s prioritized sectors of such as infrastructure, operations generating revenues for debt repayment and in line with the World Bank's investment orientations. At the same time, the SBV will try to remove all existing difficulties, obstacles to speed up the disbursement.
SBV Deputy Governor Doan Thai Son takes picture with the Delegation from World Bank
Speaking at the meeting, Managing Director Joaquim Levy expressed his impressions of the achievements Vietnam has made in recent years. Mr. Joaquim Levy affirmed that the World Bank attaches great importance to the cooperation with the Vietnamese Government and the SBV; highly complimented the strong development steps of Vietnam in the recent years, especially the economic growth associated with equality and inclusion. The World Bank will always support and cooperate with the SBV, ready to provide capital and technical support in the banking sector, which focuses on promoting Financial Inclusion in Vietnam...
VA