Besides, Việt
He further explained the strategies which the Government has adopted to fulfill
the pre-set targets, such as allowing financial institutions and borrowers to
negotiate for interest rates of commercial loans for effective projects, launching
the the Price Stabilizing Fund or delaying tax payments to adjust petrol price,
maintaining the current prices of electricity and coal sold for the power
generation, and tightly controlling the prices of strategic products such as
cement, sugar and steel.
The
Government also appointed an inter-sectored inspection team to inspect projects
that use the State budget, and to stop allocating capital to ineffective
projects.
Deputy
Governor Nguyễn Đồng Tiến of the State Bank of Việt Nam said that banks will
soon apply negotiated interest rates for short-term loans to support effective
production or business projects. This means banks will not be subjected to the
current loan interest rate cap of 12% a year.
The
State Bank was assigned by the Government to propose measures to slash down the
loan interest rate which is still high and causes difficulties for both banks
and enterprises.
“The
bank is currently discussing measures to supply capital for the market in a
long-term manner such as the conducting open market operations and re-financing,
while controlling unsound competition and maintaining monetary trust to lower
interest rates in the coming time,” Mr. Tiến stressed.
Relating
to the “release” of the Petrol Price Stabilizing Fund, a legal document was
issued by the Ministry of Finance to stop traders from raising petrol prices
but permit them to use the fund to offset losses, Deputy Minister of Finance
Trần Văn Hiếu said.
The Ministry
has proposed the Prime Minister to extend the interval between price
adjustments from 10 days to 30 days. It also urged major petroleum trading enterprises
to slash prices if the world prices drop. And in case of the world prices suddenly
surge, they should report the two ministries of Finance, and Industry and Trade,
he continued.
“Prices
of petroleum products in Việt Nam are not high now,” the Deputy Minister said,
“the current retail prices of RON 92 in Việt Nam stands at VND 16,900 per liter,
meanwhile the figure in Singapore is VND 24,158, Laos VND 16,970, Cambodia VND 19,864,
Hong Kong VND 35,272 and China VND 19,072,” Mr. Hiếu said.