Vietnam targets to curb inflation at less than 6.8% this year and the State Bank’s governor must be held accountable for the results, according to the prime minister.
PM Nguyen Tan Dung targeted taming inflation and ensuring economic growth
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung signalled the responsibility at a meeting in Hanoi on January 9 on banking tasks for 2013.
According to Dung, flexible monetary policies in 2012 had helped sharply cut inflation rate from 19% in 2011 to only 6.8% last year.
“It’s feasible for the country to target to curb inflation at less than 6.8% this year,” he noted.
The PM requested the governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to work with commercial banks to realise the government’s target of taming inflation while ensuring economic growth.
The SBV needed to do its job better in order to work out effective monetary policies, he said.
“The SBV governor will be the first to be held accountable if high inflation returns. It’s a must to apply measures to lower inflation while driving up economic growth. If the country’s economy expands by less than 5% this year, it would result in high unemployment,” he emphasised.
To this end, he required the SBV to pursue more flexible and efficient monetary policies.
In addition, the SBV was asked to better the management of the gold and foreign exchange markets.
“It’s not suitable to use gold and US dollars as a means of payment as it would affect the value of the dong. Strict management over the gold market should not harm the public. More effective measures must be worked out and applied to raise capital for investment projects and minimise deposits in gold,” he added.
