VN Commercial banks to cut foreign currency interest rates
Ha Noi, Nov. 13 (VNA) --Viet Nam's commercial banks are to slash dollar deposit interest rates shortly, a State Bank official said.
The move follows U.S. Federal Reserve's cut last week, State Bank Strategic Policy Department Director Le Xuan Nghia said, adding that the Fed's cut would impact the global economy with Viet Nam not escaping the brunt.
The rate reduction would directly affect domestic banks which have deposited approximately 5 billion USD in overseas banks, forcing them to adjust their own deposit rates.
Vietnamese banks' interest rates are considerably higher than Fed's but the State Bank will take measures to ensure that no monetary market turmoils would occur.
The Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank) has proceeded to a 0.2 percent cut though it has yet coped with the Fed's move impact because its foreign currency surplus has doubled that of early months and its foreign-bank-deposited foreign currency fund was withdrawn in service of domestic demand, according to Vietcombank Deputy General Director Nguyen Hoa Binh.
The Technology and Trade Joint-Stock Bank will cut its interest rates on foreign currency deposits by 0.4 percent to 2 percent.
A lower rate will enable the bank to lower charges for dollar borrowers, especially for firms to boost trading operations, the State Bank official affirmed.
