On July, 17, 2018, the State Bank of Vietnam issued Document No. 5321/NHNN-TTGSNH, which was sent to the credit institutions and foreign bank branches (herein after referred to generally as credit institutions) about the requirement of implementing the regulations on lending interest rates for a number of priority fields.

Accordingly, in order to continue the effective conduct of measures on interest rates and credits as stipulated in Directive No.01/CT-NHNN dated January 10, 2018 and the SBV’s regulations on lending interest rates for a number of priority fields, the SBV requires credit institutions to control the credit growth rate in line with their capacity of capital mobilization and credit growth targets as announced by the SBV, while ensuring prudent and effective credit growth, assisting enterprises and individuals to get access to bank loans, especially enterprises with good finance track records.
Credit institutions are requested to shift their credit structure toward focusing more on production and priority fields, especially on the capital demands of the priority sectors as stipulated in Paragraph 2, Article 13 of Circular No.39/2016/TT-NHNN dated December 30, 2016 (the priority fields are: agriculture and rural development; exports; support industries; SMEs; hi-tech enterprises).
Moreover, credit institutions are required to comply strictly with Paragraph 5 of Article 7, Paragraph 2 of Article 13, and Article 16 of Circular No. 39/2016/TT-NHNN dated December 30, 2016. In case that the customers who are eligible and have the demand for short-term VND loans, credit institutions are required to apply the lending interest rates in accordance with Decision No.1425/QD-NHNN dated July 7, 2017.
In addition, credit institutions are also required to strengthen their internal inspections and audits to detect promptly and handle strictly any violations regarding the lending interest rates.
The SBV requires credit institutions to save on operational costs and improve business efficiency to create favorable conditions for lending interest rate reductions for the priority fields, production and business, thereby sharing difficulties with their borrowers while ensuring prudent banking operations./.

Source: sbv.gov.vn