State Bank of Vietnam directed to manage exchange rate and lending rates and mobilise VND 500 trillion preferential credit for infrastructure and digital technology

Under a Prime Ministerial dispatch on accelerating 2025 economic growth while maintaining macro stability, the State Bank of Vietnam is required to closely monitor international developments and use monetary policy tools to manage the exchange rate and interest rates, meet economy-wide funding needs, and keep the money, foreign-exchange and gold markets stable while safeguarding the safety of credit institutions. Banks are to be pushed to cut operating costs and step up digital transformation to lower lending rates, with credit steered toward production and business, priority sectors and key growth drivers. The central bank is also asked to expand short-term lending to firms affected by the United States’ new tariff measures, and to rally banks to build preferential credit packages, including one for home purchases by people under 35 and an approximately VND 500 trillion package of long-term loans for enterprises investing in infrastructure and digital technology. Existing preferential packages for forestry, seafood and wood products are to be broadened to cover more participants and beneficiaries where these sectors are impacted by US reciprocal tariffs. Separately, the dispatch sets deliverables for other agencies, including instructions for the Ministry of Finance to propose fiscal support for affected sectors within April 2025 and to report a draft government resolution on piloting a crypto-asset market before 25 April 2025.