The ability to manage monetary policy in a volatile environment.

Despite strong headwinds from the global economy and internal challenges, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has steadfastly adhered to the Party's resolutions and the decisive direction of the Government and the Prime Minister, managing monetary policy proactively, flexibly, and cautiously. As a result, monetary policy continues to play a crucial role in maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, supporting economic recovery, and creating momentum for sustainable economic growth, leading up to the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Photo caption

Customers conducting transactions at Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade. (Illustrative photo): Tran Viet/TTXVN

An unprecedented challenge.

Looking back over the past five years (2021-2025), the international and domestic contexts have evolved rapidly, complexly, and far beyond all predictions. From the beginning of the term, the global and regional economies have continuously faced major shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, high global inflation, and the tightening monetary policy of major central banks. As a highly open economy, Vietnam has been significantly affected by supply chain disruptions, capital flow fluctuations, and unpredictable changes in international financial and monetary markets.

In this context, monetary policy in Vietnam has been managed proactively, flexibly, promptly, and effectively, making a significant contribution to maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, supporting economic recovery and growth, ensuring the safety of the banking system, and stabilizing the monetary and foreign exchange markets, thereby strengthening the confidence of businesses, people, and investors.

One of the highlights of this period was the close and synchronized coordination between monetary and fiscal policies. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) regularly coordinated with the Ministry of Finance in managing macroeconomic policies, especially in implementing socio-economic recovery and development programs, interest rate support programs from the state budget, managing the issuance of government bonds, and managing state treasury funds. This coordination effectively utilized the combined effectiveness of the policy tools, contributing to maintaining macroeconomic stability amidst numerous difficulties and challenges.

Actual results show that inflation during the 2021-2024 period was kept stable within the range of 1.84% to 3.63%. In 2025, the average CPI is projected at 3.31% while GDP growth reaches 8.02%. These figures reflect the effectiveness of monetary policy management in harmonizing macroeconomic stability and supporting growth.

Regarding interest rates, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has taken proactive, flexible, and cautious steps in its policy management. Particularly in 2023, amidst high global interest rates, Vietnam reduced its policy interest rate four times, with a total reduction of 0.5% to 2% per year. Looking ahead to 2025, the policy interest rate will continue to be kept low to reduce capital costs for businesses and individuals, and to promote investment in production and business.

In the foreign exchange market, the central exchange rate mechanism is managed flexibly, with the fluctuation band widened from ±3% to ±5% to adapt to international fluctuations. Appropriate exchange rate management has contributed to controlling imported inflation, stabilizing market sentiment, and strengthening the confidence of foreign investors.

For the gold market, the promulgation of Decree 232/2025/ND-CP, amending and supplementing several articles of Government Decree 24/2012/ND-CP on the management of gold business activities, has marked a turning point in management. The mechanism for eliminating the state's monopoly on gold bar brands in a controlled manner has helped narrow the price gap between domestic and international gold, stabilize market sentiment, and limit the "goldization" trend of the economy.

The above results show that monetary policy during the 2021-2025 period not only successfully fulfilled its role in stabilizing the macroeconomic economy, but also created a solid foundation for economic recovery and development, ensuring the safety of the financial and banking system.

Leveraging economic resources

Against a backdrop of macroeconomic stability, credit operations are managed more proactively and efficiently, becoming an important channel for channeling capital to unlock resources for the economy.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has reformed its credit management methods, shifting from assigning targets in stages to assigning the entire credit growth target at the beginning of the year, creating conditions for credit institutions to proactively develop business plans. As of December 24, 2025, outstanding credit to the economy reached over VND 18.40 million billion, an increase of 17.87% compared to the end of 2024.

Several sectors with a large share of total outstanding credit in the economy continued to grow significantly, including those contributing to growth. As of the end of October 2025, priority sectors such as agriculture, rural areas, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) continued to account for a large share of total outstanding credit in the economy, at 22.42% and 19.11% respectively; while supporting industries and high-tech enterprises had credit growth rates of 27.46% and 30.36% respectively.

Many large-scale credit programs have been effectively implemented, such as: the VND 185 trillion credit package for agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, directly supporting key export sectors; the VND 145 trillion credit package for social housing and a program to support people under 35 years old to buy houses, contributing to solving housing needs and ensuring social security; and the VND 500 trillion credit package for transportation infrastructure in the 2025-2030 period, creating a breakthrough for the development of national infrastructure.

In particular, in 2025, in the face of damage caused by natural disasters, the banking sector demonstrated a high sense of responsibility by disbursing approximately 6,650 billion VND to support customers in restoring production, along with timely measures to restructure repayment terms and reduce interest rates.

Alongside expanding credit to support growth, ensuring the safety of the system remains a top priority. The restructuring of credit institutions, coupled with the handling of bad debts, continues to be a key task.

The State Bank of Vietnam has aggressively implemented measures to address weak banks, issuing decisions on mandatory transfers for three banks subject to mandatory acquisition and Dong A Commercial Bank, marking an important step in the process of strengthening the banking system.

Regarding the handling of non-performing loans, as of November 2025, the entire system had resolved 285.1 trillion VND of non-performing loans. Supervision measures have been strengthened to ensure that credit institutions operate in accordance with legal regulations and to enhance risk management capacity according to international standards.

Furthermore, the banking sector has also been a leader in implementing the Politburo's resolutions on innovation and digital transformation. Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in science and technology has been concretized through modern digital banking products, helping Vietnam become one of the countries with the highest growth rate in cashless payments in the region.

The implementation of Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW on streamlining and improving the efficiency of the organizational structure has helped the State Bank of Vietnam enhance its state management capacity. Simultaneously, statistical work, forecasting, and data management have been standardized across time series, meeting the needs of analysis and policy planning in the digital age.

Looking ahead to the 14th National Party Congress, the comprehensive achievements of the banking sector in the 2021-2025 period continue to affirm the correctness of the Party's policies and guidelines, the effective management of the Government, and the core role of the sector in stabilizing the macroeconomy and developing the country.

Entering 2026 and the new development phase of 2026-2030, the global and regional economic situation continues to harbor many unstable and unpredictable factors. Based on a thorough understanding of the Party's Resolutions, the Government's and Prime Minister's directives, the banking sector is determined to continue managing monetary policy proactively and flexibly, coordinating closely with fiscal policy and other macroeconomic policies to maintain macroeconomic stability, control inflation, and ensure the major balances of the economy. Interest rates and exchange rates will be managed in accordance with the evolving macroeconomic situation, inflation, and monetary policy objectives.

Credit growth management continues to be proactive and flexible, linked to improving credit quality and ensuring system safety. Credit is directed towards production and business sectors, priority sectors, and growth drivers in accordance with the Party and Government's policies; at the same time, credit is strictly controlled for sectors with potential risks, contributing to preventing and mitigating risks for the banking system and the economy.

Exchange rate and foreign exchange market management continues to be implemented flexibly, in line with market supply and demand and monetary policy objectives, contributing to market stability, strengthening confidence in the Vietnamese dong, supporting inflation control, and stabilizing the macroeconomy. At the same time, the mechanisms and policies for managing the gold market continue to be improved to better suit practical realities, enhance transparency, and improve the effectiveness of state management.

Promoting digital transformation and developing cashless payments will continue to be a key task for the banking sector in the coming period. The focus will be on perfecting the legal framework for digital banking and digital payments; developing modern, safe, and convenient financial products and services; ensuring the security and safety of the payment system; thereby contributing to promoting financial inclusion and improving access to financial services for individuals and businesses.

Simultaneously, the banking sector continues to accelerate administrative procedure reforms, modernize banking management and supervision, enhance analytical and forecasting capabilities, and strengthen policy communication to improve transparency, consolidate market confidence, and create social consensus in the implementation of monetary policy.

With the comprehensive achievements of the 2021-2025 period and a clear development orientation for the new phase, the banking sector continues to affirm its role as one of the important pillars of macroeconomic stability, inflation control, support for growth, and ensuring the safety of the financial and banking system, contributing to the successful achievement of the goals set by the upcoming Party Congress.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/tai-chinh-ngan-hang/ban-linh-dieu-hanh-chinh-sach-tien-te-trong-boi-canh-bien-dong-20260114101519996.htm