The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has decided to keep the prime interest rate in VN$ unchanged at 9 percent per year.
The decision No. 2868/QD-NHNN, which was issued on Nov. 29, takes effect from December 1 to replace Decision No. 2619/QD-NHNN issued on Nov. 5 by the Governor of the State Bank.
This is the second consecutive month the prime interest rate remains at 9 percent. Earlier, a prime interest rate of 8 percent was applied for nearly 12 months.
Source: SGGP
The ceiling interest rate of commercial banks will be increased from 12% to 15% a year, from this Sunday.
A banking staff directs a customer about lending procedures. Banks agree that ceiling interest rates will not be higher than 15% percent a year (Photo: SGGP)
The decision came from a meeting between the State Bank of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City and the Vietnam Banking Association, in collaboration with the commercial banks on Saturday.
A day earlier, the State Bank in Hanoi chaired a meeting, in which 12 northern commercial banks signed a commitment, agreeing that their maximum interest rate would be 14% a year.
In case, the banks give their customers any promotional programs (cash or any other gifts); the real interest rate would not surpass 15% a year. Any bank violating this regulation will suffer severe punishment from the authorized organizations.
Because of the rocketing interests during the last few days, the State Bank intervened to stop any more increases. At one stage, the interest rate was 17% to 18% a year in some commercial banks. However, now the ceiling is lower. In HCMC, it remains at 15.5% to 16.5% a year.
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State Bank tries to prevent banks from increasing their interest rates
Source: SGGP
The State Bank of Vietnam has warned the Techcombank as the commercial bank increased its deposit interest rates to 17% on Dec. 8-10.
File photo of aTechcombank office
State Bank inspectors issued its warning to Techcombank chairman Ho Hung Anh and chief executive officer Nguyen Duc Vinh on December 13.
An interest rate war was sparked off by Techcombank when it hiked the maximum rate to 17% per year plus a 0.6% bonus, which will apply from 8-10 December with deposits of more than VND100 million.
As soon as this happened, other joint stock banks, also increase their interest rates to 17.5 and 18 percent a year.
The central bank has blamed Techcombank for arbitrarily hiking the rate, causing disorder in the financial and monetary markets. It ordered the violating banks to ‘roll back’ the hike immediately.
However, some of Techcombank branches have not strictly followed this order and have continued to maintain high interest rates, under several different forms.
Source: SGGP
During the interest rates fluctuation period, most of small lenders tended to restrain offering loans to maintain liquidity levels, while big ones made a contrast move.
View at ShinhanVina bank (Photo:Minh Tri)
Do Minh Toan, deputy general director of Asia Commercial Bank, known as ACB, said his lender was well-prepared for the increasing capital demand at yearend, offering loans to many regular clients with reasonable rates even when interest rates started to fluctuate.
“High interest rates often bring down businesses’ earnings. However, this year’s healthy growth of local enterprises helped boost lenders’ credit growth,” said Toan.
ACB offer an interest rate of 15.5 percent per year on short-term deposits and 16-16.5 percent on long-term ones.
“Bank interest rate will remain choppy until the New Year Tet holyday on February. With the holiday coming sooner than previous years, the amount of money flowing on the market after Tet will be abundant. Therefore, I expect the deposit rate on February will be set at a lower rate of 12-14 percent a year,” Toan said.
Techcombank, which is the fifth-largest bank in term of assets, triggered an interest rate race last week when announcing it would offer dong depositor rates as high as 17 percent per year.
Other lenders reacted by pushing their own rates up, some as high as 18 percent.
But these offers were rescinded after the central bank requested them to bring the rates down to prevalent market levels – 14 percent or less.
The Hanoi-based lender then was among the first lenders reducing the deposit rate, offering the rate of 13.45-13.95 percent per annum.
Interbank lending rate also climbing
Expecting the fluctuation in interest rates to cool off in the upcoming time has seen many banks replacing monthly interbank loans with weekly ones.
Big lenders are giving interbank loans with three-month payday only, instead of two weeks or one month as they used to be, a general director of a big commercial bank in HCMC, who wants to be unnamed, said, adding the interbank lending rate last week remain at high levels of 19-20 percent per annum.
“The lending rates for shorter-payday loans are much higher. Despite knowing the fact that the rate dropping after Tet, many small banks still had to borrow at the high rate as their liquidity is low,” he said.
Analysts predicted the increasing interbank rate will end soon as the central bank extended the deadline for lenders to raise registered capital by one year to ease pressure on banks having difficulty meeting higher requirements.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the proposal requiring local lenders to raise registered capital levels to VND3 trillion ($153.9 million), by Dec. 31, 2011, the State Bank of Vietnam said on its website Tuesday.
Source: SGGP
Due to the big fluctuations in exchange rates, many domestic pharmaceutical enterprises are in despairs because they cannot import materials and an adjuvant, a pharmacological or immunological agent that modifies the effect of other agents.
Employees are packaging drugs at the Pharmaceuticals and Medicinal Laboratories (Photo: SGGP)
Some production contracts might be cancelled or some pharmaceutical companies have to pay fines for the delays in production. Furthermore, Vietnam would face the risk of a shortage of medications.
Being one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the country, Vietnam Medical Products Import-Export Joint Stock Company (VIMEDIMEX) in Ho Chi Minh City, were extremely concerned about the high exchange rates and the soaring prices of imported materials.
The company’s general manager, Nguyen Tien Hung, said the company has stopped production of rutin-extraction, from Vietnamese flower bud of Sophora Japomica L (Hoe buds). This is because it takes US$50 to make one kilogram of the rutin ingredient, but sells at only US$12 in the marketplace.
Mr. Hung said one kilogram of the flower sold at VND25, 000 last year, but now it has soared by over VND200, 000 per kilogram and crocus has increased from VND9, 000 to VND100, 000 a kilogram this year. For years, VIMEDIMEX has focused on growing herbs, but has failed to satisfy home demand.
Due to high prices of saffron, these companies use the curcumin extract from the herb. This is causing distress to the medical companies, as they may force to pay a compensation fee, if they did not complete the contract on time.
According to the Ministry of Health, Vietnam has three factories to make antibiotic materials, but only Mekophar Chemical Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company is still in production. Furthermore, the company directors are considering fewer contracts and are negotiating with its partners about the prices.
Moreover, imported materials from China, India and some countries in Europe, have quadrupled during the year.
Truong Duc Vong, director of the OPC Pharmaceutical JSC has, said he has just sent a petition to the city’s Department of Health (DOH) to raise some prices of the medications. While other pharmaceutical companies have now followed suit.
In addition, certain medical enterprises now face difficulties buying foreign currencies. They purchase at even higher prices or sometimes purchase imported materials from the ‘black market’.
The Boston Pharma JSC’s general manager said it needs to encourage consumption of local-made medications in the aid to reduce pressures for local enterprises.
Boston Pharma management said at a meeting, DOH should resolve registration formalities and other bureaucratic red tape as well as lead medical staffs to pharmaceutical factories to see technologies to make drugs in order to make them believe in home methodologies.
Many companies have filed a petition for preferential policies to special goods, to cease the drugs protective policies and to enforce strictly the anti-dumping law.
Source: SGGP
As from December 11, commercial banks will increase their mobilised interest rate from 12 to 15 percent/ year.
The decision was made at a meeting on December 10 between the State Bank of Vietnam’s (SBV) HCM City branch, the Vietnam Banking Association and commercial banks.
Under the decision, commercial banks will fix the maximum mobilised interest rate at 14 percent/year. In case of promotions in cash or gifts, the real interest rate enjoyed by depositors will not surpass 15 percent/year. Any bank which violates this decision, will be subject to sanctions from management agencies.
Despite a drop in interest rates after the SBV examined commercial banks, the highest mobilised interest rate remain at 15.5-16.5 percent/year.
Source: VOV
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