After the long Lunar New Year holiday, many commercial banks have increased deposit interest rates as well as launched attractive programs to attract savings deposits.
Many commercial banks have announced a 0.5-3 percent cut in lending interest rates and many policies to support customers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, feedback from individual customers in Ho Chi Minh City shows that banks have refused to aid them, even when they are in blocked areas and need priority.
The wave of interest rate cuts has been activated, and it is forecasted that the interest rate level will remain low from now until the end of the year to support businesses and the economy amid the context that the Covid-19 pandemic prolongs as currently.
The Vietnam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI) has recently made a proposal on deposit interest rates. According to VAFI, deposits in VND for short and medium terms are from 3.5 percent to 6.2 percent per annum, which is extremely high compared to other countries, leading to high lending interest rates, causing disadvantages for enterprises and a large number of low- and middle-income consumers.
Recently, the conditions for corporate bond issuance to the public have been tightened by the State. This is a move to reduce risks for investors, especially for individual investors, so the number of issued corporate bonds has also fallen sharply. However, in the context that deposit interest rates remain at a low level, many enterprises have issued corporate bonds with high-interest rates to attract capital.
From the beginning of March this year, many commercial banks have started to raise their deposit interest rates, generally at 0.1-0.2 percentage points per annum. Of which, there are terms with an increase of up to 0.8 percentage points per annum.
Although deposit interest rates are currently at low levels, since the beginning of December this year, State-owned commercial banks have continued to cut interest rates by 0.1-0.2 percentage point further for many terms compared to before.
After the State Bank of Vietnam adjusted the ceiling of the mobilizing interest rates in Vietnamese dong for terms below six months, on March 18, commercial banks also simultaneously cut mobilizing interest rates for below-six-month terms.
