11:09:01 AM | 21/7/2008
State-run Agribank and Vietcombank have announced to cut interest rates on Vietnamese dong and U.S. dollar loans down by 0.5-1 percentage point per annum as of July 18.
Agribank will dong ling rates by 0.5 percentage point and would l at a maximum 20.5 per cent, compared with the government-approved ceiling of 21 per cent.
The Hanoi-based ler will also cut rates on U.S. dollar loans by 2 percentage point, the paper said.
Vietcombank, meanwhile, offered to slash its ling interest rates by 1 percentage point to 20 per cent per annum on the dong loans and 0.5 percentage point to 8.5 per cent on U.S. dollar ones.
The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) is the first bank that cut ling rates in response to the call by the State Bank of Vietnam to ease difficulties for businesses and help curb inflation and stabilize the macro economy.
Vietnam has cut its economic growth target this year to 7 per cent from earlier projections of 8.5 per cent to 9 per cent after growth accelerated to 8.48 per cent last year from 8.17 per cent in 2006.
The Southeast Asian country has been battling double-digit inflation every month since last November and a tripling of the trade deficit.
The countrys central bank has said it aims to restrict loan growth to 30 per cent this year as part of measures to contain inflation, after a rapid 54 per cent surge in loans in 2007. (Young People, Liberated Saigon)
Vietnamese
