At a conference reviewing six months of banking operations and outlining tasks for the second half of 2026, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said that despite substantial pressures on the exchange rate and the foreign exchange market from globally complex and unpredictable developments, the high level of international USD interest rates, and difficulties in balancing domestic FX supply and demand, it has managed the exchange rate flexibly in line with market conditions to absorb external shocks. By June 30, 2026, the interbank rate had risen by 0.07% from the end-2025.
Geopolitical tensions and uncertain environments affected global markets; capital flows and exchange rate movements were volatile, placing pressure on monetary policy management in developing economies like Vietnam.
Domestically, the economy continued to address internal challenges; strategic breakthroughs and bottlenecks were gradually removed but did not meet expectations.
According to Mr. Pham Chi Quang, director of the Monetary Policy Department at the SBV, monetary policy operations must balance multiple tasks, including ensuring credit growth at a high level to support economic growth and regulating monetary conditions to control inflation; maintaining a low policy rate while stabilizing the exchange rate. The SBV has implemented monetary policy in a proactive, flexible manner, coordinating closely with fiscal policy and other macro policies, suitable to global and domestic developments. In the face of many difficulties, with limited room for maneuver, policy and credit operations still achieved the targets set out in Directive No. 01/CT-NHNN of the SBV Governor.
Regarding liquidity, the SBV tracked market developments to manage liquidity reasonably, ensure liquidity for credit institutions, stabilize the money market, control inflation, and support economic growth. Liquidity has been managed flexibly through open market operations and foreign exchange swap operations with diverse volumes and tenors to supplement liquidity for the system.
The SBV continues to keep the operating rate stable, facilitating access to low-cost funds for credit institutions. It also instructed credit institutions to implement measures to stabilize lending rates; requiring banks to reduce deposit rates by at least 0.5% per year for new term deposits of six months or longer; and to reduce listed deposit rates and lending rates.
Despite pressures from global economic-political developments and high international USD rates, the SBV continued to manage the exchange rate flexibly in line with market conditions, helping absorb external shocks. It coordinated with other monetary policy tools such as interest rates, VND liquidity, and proactive FX interventions to stabilize the exchange rate and the FX market, contributing to inflation control and macroeconomic stability. By June 30, 2026, the interbank rate was around 26,308 VND/USD, up 0.07% from end-2025.
In credit growth management, the SBV continued to operate proactively, aligned with macroeconomic developments to help control inflation, stabilize the macroeconomy, ensure the safety of the banking system, and support economic growth. It directed credit institutions to channel funds into production, priority sectors, and growth drivers; while tightly controlling credit in high-risk sectors, including real estate.
To create room for credit for certain types of real estate—social housing, industrial zones, and export processing zones—to support legitimate housing needs and industrial infrastructure investment, the SBV allowed credit institutions to exclude incremental loan balances for social housing and real estate in industrial zones when controlling annual credit growth targets. In addition, in line with the Government’s instruction to ensure funds for nationally significant projects with regional spillovers, the SBV notified banks to exclude new loan balances for customers implementing these projects when monitoring annual credit growth targets.
The SBV’s actions aimed to stabilize liquidity, control inflation, support economic growth, and ensure the safety of the banking system, while stabilizing the macroeconomy in the face of external pressures.
The pressures will continue to pose challenges for monetary policy management in the second half of 2026, requiring the entire sector to strive harder to fulfill the political tasks assigned to it.
