Banks will have to exercise caution to ensure stable liquidity when trillions of Vietnamese dong in savings deposits reach their maturity dates over the next few months, according to experts.

Banks have been steadily cutting deposit interest rates, which have reached around 8%, a move aimed at reducing lending rates to support businesses.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has recently granted the first credit growth quotas in 2023 to a number of banks, with a majority of them receiving lower rates than last year.

The race of interest rate hikes among commercial banks is showing signs of cooling down as many banks have adjusted down the rate by several percentage points per year after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday and have set stricter conditions for customers to enjoy the high rates.

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Nguyen Thi Hong has directed banks to continually reduce input costs with an aim to cut loan interest rates.

The liquidity of the whole banking system has remained good, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Nguyen Thi Hong has said.

Increasing deposit interest rates is in line with the general trend, ensuring liquidity safety and capital mobilisation for the economy, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Pham Thanh Ha has said.

Experts forecast that bank net interest margins (NIM) will decline as inflation rises next month.

Thanks to increases in savings interest rates, deposits at banks increased strongly in the first two months of this year after declining last year.

The deposit growth rate of individual customers at banks slowed last year due to the impacts of the pandemic.