Market watchers have argued that interest rates will continue rising and that the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) may revise up policy rates to curb the depreciation of the local currency. However, there are still many factors that could help contain the uptrend of interest rates. Interest rates under pressure In the latter half of April 2024, seven more banks raised deposit rates by 0.1 to 0.3 percentage point depending on terms. Thus, after a few banks sporadically hiked interest rates in the latter half of March and the first half of April, the rise in deposit rates has become clearer with more and more banks deciding to join the race. There are many reasons behind the reversal of the deposit rate spike. Firstly, after a sluggish start to the year, credit growth has improved since the beginning of the second quarter, prompting banks to boost capital mobilization. In fact, credit has begun to show signs of acceleration since late March. Specifically, according to the General Statistics Office, credit as of March 25 had increased by 0.26% compared to the beginning of the year, but it had surged to 0.9% by March 28. The latest figures released by the SBV […]