A conference took place recently to discuss the role of monetary policies in the Vietnamese economy’s ability to adapt to shocks from the world economy. Participants said that the ups and downs of big economies such as the US, China, or the EU will have an increasing influence on Vietnam’s inflation, growth, trade, investment and finance.
"These economies are Vietnam’s large partners in many sectors: trade, investment, and finance. So our inflation, growth, and export will be influenced by the health of these partners. We need to be active in adapting to the fluctuations of these economies." - PhD Vu Dinh Anh, Economic Expert.
Vietnam is said to have actively reacted to the recent Chinese’s yuan devaluation and the US FED’s interest rate hike. The measures taken include lowering the interest rate for loans in foreign currencies to zero and using a daily central rate for VND and USD.
"That the central rate for the VND and USD is announced daily is very flexible. I think this is an important development in the forex control policy. It helps us continue to stabilise foreign reserves and develop derivative instruments." - Le Xuan Nghia, PhD, Economic Expert.
To actively cope with the fluctuations of the global economy, Vietnam’s monetary policies need to be ready for any possible future scenarios. Thus, it is necessary to carefully develop and update these policies for 2016, as well as in the years to come.
