Can open Fixed deposit in Vietnam?
Just came back from vietnam. Saw this piece of news. Just like to know can singaporean open Dong Fixed deposit in Vietnam? Is it taxable in Vietnam? Will it be hard to bring out the money from Vietnam. What is the interest rate now?
Example 100 thousand USD (Converted to Vietnam Dong) Fixed deposit .
Vietnamese Banks Raise Rates as Benchmark Increases (Update1)
By Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen
May 19 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnamese banks raised interest rates after the central bank increased its benchmark rate to tame the fastest inflation in more than 16 years.
Banks including Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam, the nation's second biggest by assets, and Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, or Vietcombank, the third biggest, today increased deposit rates to an average of 14 percent, from 12 percent. Loan rates rose to as much as 18 percent, the maximum permitted, from an average of 16 percent.
The Southeast Asian nation's central bank on May 17 raised its base rate to 12 percent, the most since it was introduced in 1998, to curb surging inflation and tighten lending. The jump in rates from 8.75 percent indicates the central bank will rely on higher lending rates and credit controls to reduce overheating in the economy, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report today.
``Banks and companies will have to more carefully evaluate the projects they finance with loans,'' said Huy Nam, an independent equity analyst and consultant on share sales for companies including Cable & Telecommunications Material Joint-Stock Co.
State-owned Bank for Investment & Development, also known as BIDV, raised deposit rates to 13.5 percent from 12 percent and loan rates to 18 percent, from 16.5 percent a year, starting today, according to an e-mailed statement from the bank.
Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, the country's third-biggest lender, raised its rate for deposits of more than six months to 14 percent from 12 percent, Nguyen Phuoc Thanh, chief executive officer, said by phone today. Lending rates will be as high as 18 percent, said Thanh.
`Reasonable Increase'
The 3.25 percentage point rise in the central bank rate on May 17 outstripped a 50 basis point increase on Jan. 30, itself the first rise since December, 2005. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
``This is a reasonable increase for now,'' Nam said by phone today from Ho Chi Minh City. The central bank's move will encourage people to put more money in banks and enable lenders to give more loans to investors, according to Nam.
The central bank will rely more on higher interest rates and credit controls to tackle the overheating economy, Helen Qiao, a Hong Kong-based analyst for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a note today.
``Vietnam is clearly at a crucial stage of its cyclical management for inflation control and ensuring a soft landing of the economy,'' Qiao, wrote in the report. The risk of a ``hard landing'' isn't big, she said.
Inflation Surges
Consumer prices climbed 21.4 percent year-on-year in April, the most since at least 1992, and the trade deficit quadrupled through the first four months of the year, driven by surging imports.
Bank lending rose 14.7 percent in the first four months, according to the central bank, reaching almost half the State Bank of Vietnam's 30 percent cap to reduce credit growth and tame inflation. The regulator raised reserve requirements to 11 percent of deposits of 12 months or less, in February, from 10 percent.
Vietnam Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development, the nation's biggest, said the Hanoi-based state-owned lender would give branch managers authority to decide the higher rates they will offer depositors, said Vu Tiem Hong, head of the planning department and spokesman for the lender, known as Agribank.
Asia Commercial Bank, the nation's biggest publicly traded bank, raised deposit rates to as high as 14 percent from 12 percent, Ly Xuan Hai, chief executive officer, said by phone. Its maximum lending rate is now 18 percent, he said. Regulations limit how much banks can charge lenders and pay depositors to one-and-a- half times the base rate.
Sacombank's Rates
Saigon Thuong Tin Joint-stock Commercial Bank, or Sacombank, the second-biggest publicly traded bank, raised rates on deposits of more than six months to 14 percent from 12 percent. The rate for deposits of less than six months was increased to as much as 13.8 percent from 11.5 percent, according an e-mail from the bank, based in Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said in April the government would reduce the 2008 economic growth target to 7 percent from a previous forecast of as much as 9 percent. Growth slowed to 7.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter after expanding 8.5 percent in the whole of last year, the quickest pace since 1996.