Economic news review May 13

Economic news review

Domestic news

In the foreign exchange market on May 13, the State Bank listed the central exchange rate at 24,973 VND/USD, a sharp increase of 28 VND compared to the first session of the week.

The listed USD buying price was listed at VND23,775/USD, 50 VND higher than the floor rate; while the USD selling price was listed at VND26,171/USD, 50 VND lower than the ceiling rate.

On the interbank market, the dollar-dong exchange rate closed at 25,962 VND/USD, down 11 VND compared to the session on May 12.

The dollar-dong exchange rate on the free market remained unchanged in both buying and selling directions, trading at 26,380 VND/USD and 26,500 VND/USD.

On May 13, the interbank money market, the average interbank VND interest rate decreased by 0.02 - 0.07 percentage points for short terms while remaining unchanged for 1-month terms compared to the session at the end of last week, specifically: overnight 4.07%; 1 week 4.28%; 2 weeks 4.38% and 1 month 4.50%. The average interbank USD interest rate remained unchanged for overnight terms while increasing slightly by 0.01 percentage points for the remaining terms, trading at: overnight 4.30%; 1 week 4.36%; 2 weeks 4.42%, 1 month 4.47%.

Government bond yields in the secondary market fluctuated slightly in opposite directions, closing at: 3-year 2.19%; 5-year 2.44%; 7-year 2.77%; 10-year 3.08%; 15-year 3.22%.

Yesterday, in the open market operations, on the mortgage channel, the State Bank offered VND10,000 billion for 7-day term, VND10,000 billion for 14-day term, VND5,000 billion for 35-day term and VND3,000 billion for 91-day term, all at 4.0% interest rates. There were VND5,055.96 billion in winning bids for 7-day and 14-day terms; there was no winning bid volume for the remaining terms. There were VND7,539.65 billion maturing. The State Bank did not offer SBV bills.

Thus, the State Bank of Vietnam net withdrew VND2,483.69 billion from the market through open market operations yesterday. There were VND56,315.07 billion circulating in the mortgage channel.

The stock market yesterday was very positive, with green dominating most industry groups. At the close of the session, VN-Index increased by 10.17 points (+0.79%) to 1,293.43 points; HNX-Index increased by 1.89 points (+0.87%) to 217.93 points; UPCoM-Index added 0.96 points (+1.03%) to 94.55 points. Market liquidity increased significantly with a trading value of over VND23,400 billion. Foreign investors net bought nearly VND950 billion on all three exchanges.

On May 13, the Ministry of Finance submitted to the National Assembly a draft resolution on further VAT reduction. Accordingly, the VAT rate is expected to be adjusted down from 10% to 8% for most goods and services. The sectors not subject to this tax include: telecommunications, finance - banking, securities, insurance, real estate, metal products, mining (except coal), and items subject to special consumption tax (except gasoline).

If approved, this policy will take effect from July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026. The Ministry of Finance estimates that total state budget revenue may decrease by about VND 121,740 billion in the period from July 1, 2025 to the end of 2026 due to the implementation of the VAT reduction policy.

International News

The US Census Bureau reported that the core CPI and the headline CPI both rose 0.2% month-on-month in April, lower than the forecast of a 0.3% increase. In March, the headline CPI fell 0.1% and the core CPI rose 0.1% month-on-month. Compared to the same period in 2024, the headline CPI rose 2.3% in April, down from 2.4% in the previous month; and the core CPI rose 2.8% year-on-year, unchanged from March.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the UK rose by just 5.2 thousand in April after falling by 16.9 thousand in March (revised from a rise of 24 thousand in preliminary figures), and was much lower than the forecast of a rise of 22.3 thousand. However, the unemployment rate in the UK last month increased slightly to 4.5% from 4.4% in March, matching the forecast.

Finally, the average income of workers in this country increased by 5.5% compared to the same 3 months in February-March-April, slightly lower than the 5.7% in January-February-March but still more positive than the expectation of an increase of 5.2%.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/diem-lai-thong-tin-kinh-te-ngay-135-164133-164133.html