Vietnam to hold base rate at seven percent for rest of year

Vietnam's central bank plans to hold its benchmark base rate unchanged at 7 percent for the rest of the year, a state-run newspaper on Monday quoted a bank official as saying. The newspaper Thoi Bao Kinh Te Vietnam (Vietnam Economic Times) quoted Nguyen Ngoc Bao, director of the State Bank of Vietnam's Monetary Policy Department, as saying that the maximum rate for dong loans would be kept at 10.5 percent.
The base rate has been at 7 percent since February. Bao also said the central bank "will keep the foreign exchange market stable by sufficiently meeting demand for forex from companies and maintaining forex liquidity at commercial banks". The dong is officially allowed to trade in a band of 5 percent on either side of a reference rate set by the central bank each day, but on unofficial markets it has been about 2-3 percent weaker than the limit for months.