Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will answer deputies’ questions at the end of the question time scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong addressed questions about policies to exempt or reduce interest rates on loans for production and business recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters.

According to Governor Hong, the State Bank has directed credit institutions to remove obstacles for businesses and people by, for example, restructuring debt repayment terms and maintaining debt groups.

“We’ve asked them to reduce interest rates for those affected by typhoon Yagi. 35 credit institutions have announced credit plans totaling 16 billion USD to provide new loans at preferential interest rates to businesses and people affected by natural disasters. As of the end of October, commercial banks had extended 1 billion USD in preferential credit and offered lower interest rates and other debt relief on outstanding loans of 3.2 billion USD,” said Hong.

She also talked about managing monetary policy to control inflation in the face of a volatile world economy.

Lowering the USD interest rate to 0% has limited foreign currency speculation and reduced the dollarization of the economy. This is an effective measure to stabilize the macro economy, said Governor Hong.

“A number of central banks around the world are in a cycle of loosening monetary policy and some have reduced interest rates. The State Bank is managing gold prices and foreign exchange rates in line with market developments,” she noted.