Bank liquidity crisis passes

Tellers handle transactions at a Ha Noi-based branch of Asia Commercial Bank. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

HA NOI — The State Bank has reduced the levels of capital it is injecting into the nation's commercial banking system this month, as well as the interest rates charged on such funds, in the latest indication that the bank liquidity crisis has passed.

The central bank regulates the money supply in part through open market operations (OMO) and has cut the number of OMO trading sessions from two to one per day. The volume of OMO trades has fallen from VND3.2 trillion (US$168.4 million) on March 3 to just VND742 billion ($39 million) on Monday.

Interest rates on OMO-traded paper have also fallen from a high of 12-14 per cent to just 8 per cent, further suggesting an end to the period of capital tension.

Meanwhile, the volume of dong-denominated borrowing on the interbank market declined last week to VND84.64 trillion ($4.45 billion), a drop of 1.1 per cent from the previous week, while US dollar borrowing fell 2.36 per cent to $1.53 billion. Average interest rates on the interbank market also declined by 0.25-1.4 per cent to a range of 8.23-11.74 per cent.

The State Bank recently said that commercial banks now had usable capital on hand totalling about VND30 trillion ($1.58 billion).

Demand from businesses continues to rise for US dollar-denominated loans, however.

"The demand for dollar loans has increased recently because the interest rates for dong loans have become rather dear," said Asia Commercial Bank general director Ly Xuan Hai.

Interest rates on dollar loans were currently averaging 6-8 per cent per year, far below the 15-17 per cent interest rate prevalent on loans in Vietnamese dong. — VNS