Vietnam recorded a credit growth rate of 6.09 percent by June 18compared to the end of 2014 and 18.98 percent from the same period lastyear, according to Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)Nguyen Thi Hong.

Banks offered a substantial amountof credit to agriculture and rural development with outstanding loansby June 30 increasing by 7.71 percent from December 31 last year.

Credit growth was also seen by the end of March in the four otherprioritised fields, namely export (3.9 percent), small- and medium-sizedenterprises (1.88 percent), prioritised industries (0.2 percent), andbusinesses applying hi-tech (24.02 percent), Hong said at a pressconference reviewing the sector’s six-month performance on June 23.

Regarding recent interest rate increases for under-six-month deposits, she said the move has been sporadic.

She explained that when the interest rate cap was set forunder-six-month deposits, banks with abundant capital sources offeredinterest rates lower than those of other institutions. Now these banksare raising their short-term deposit interest rates to fall in line withthose of their counterparts.

Interest rates forover-six-month deposits are still stable, she added, noting that overalldeposit and lending interest rates were cut by 0.2-0.5 percent and0.2-0.3 percent a year, respectively.

At the pressconference, the Deputy Governor reiterated that the SBV will keep thefluctuations of the VND/USD exchange rate below 2 percent in 2015, asset in its policy for the year, though the rate has already beenadjusted by 1 percent twice this year.-VNA