State Bank of Vietnam urges Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to expand concessional support and lending via Vietnamese commercial banks

The State Bank of Vietnam published an account of Deputy Governor Nguyen Ngoc Canh’s meeting with Craig Murphy, Director for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) Country Group 7, setting out Vietnam’s priorities for accessing AIIB finance as it seeks stronger investment in green infrastructure, digital transformation and climate adaptation. Vietnam asked Murphy to relay expectations to AIIB leadership, including that AIIB’s next phase positions it as a modern, internationally benchmarked institution focused on sustainable and environmentally aligned connectivity projects in Asia-Pacific and ASEAN. It also called for greater attention to the needs of developing members through concessional lending and stronger capacity building for project preparation and loan management, and proposed expanding AIIB lending routed through Vietnam’s commercial banking system to strengthen domestic lending capacity and oversight of funded loans. Murphy welcomed the proposals, highlighted possible broader support such as training, knowledge-sharing, joint research and short-term secondments to AIIB, and noted Country Group 7 is preparing to add Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Murphy indicated he will use the coming year in his role to continue advocating for Country Group 7 members’ interests and to push for more AIIB focus on developing members, alongside exploring how AIIB can better support Vietnam in mobilising its financing.