The figures were announced by SBV Governor Le Minh Hung at an online conference between the Government and localities held in Hanoi on Monday. He said the SBV had carried out a flexible currency policy to stabilize the average interest rate. The average lending interest rate was reduced by 0.5 percentage points over the January-June period. The governor said these reflect the government and SBV’s solutions in sync to strengthen confidence in Vietnamese Dong. Mr. Hung said: “We have proactive solutions in monetary policy. Recent rises in foreign exchange rates are within prediction. The SBV is ready to intervene in the supply and demand of foreign currency to ensure stable exchange rates and prevent negative impact on the macro economy or pressure on inflation. In the current context, we have all necessary tools and measures to ensure foreign exchange rate and macro-economic stability.”

Credit grew approximately 6.9% from late last year, with the credit structure shifting towards supporting the development of processing-manufacturing industry and agriculture.