HCMC – The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the nation’s central bank, has written to commercial banks ordering them to report on interest rate movements on a weekly basis.

The SBV said banks would have to send reports on deposit and lending rates to the Monetary Policy Department prior to 11 a.m. every Monday to help the SBV manage banking activities and regulate monetary policy.

Meanwhile, banks will have to write to the SBV if they want to revise interest rates from now on.

Though the race to hike interest rates has become less intensive in recent weeks, some banks still see nominal deposit rates lower than the real ones.

Currently, some banks have raised deposit rates to 12.7% annually for 18-month tenors, while those of the 13-month term are slightly lower, at 12.5% per year.

A high deposit rate at some banks would drive up deposit and lending rates at other banks, which may increase the credit risk in the coming years.