VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese monetary market and bank operations have been stable over the last two months, since the day China illegally deployed its oil rig in the Vietnamese territorial waters.

Reports from official sources all show that banks are still in good condition. Worries were once raised when southerners rushed to withdraw their money from banks to buy gold and dollars in early May for fear of East Sea tension. However, the monetary market calmed down quickly as people realized that there was nothing to worry about.

The total stockholder equity of commercial banks increased by 2.93 percent in the first five months of the year, of which the chartered capital increased by 2.07 percent. Meanwhile, the capital adequacy ratio has been stable at over 13 percent in the first months of the year.

The reports showed that the banks’ liquidity is now in the best condition in many years thanks to high mobilized capital.

The public continues to deposit money at banks despite the tension escalation in the East Sea. The ratio of the loans on mobilized capital fell from 91.91 percent in late December 2013 to 89.05 percent in late June, which means that lending has grown more slowly than capital mobilization.

The assets with high liquidity have reportedly increased by 24.15 percent over the end of 2013, a growth rate which is three times higher than the growth rate in the entire year of 2013.

The figures show that liquidity has been improved thanks to the profuse capital mobilized and the increase in investments in government bonds.

It is a big surprise to many analysts that the gold market has been stable over the last two months.

In principle, when feeling uncertainty, people will rush to buy gold as a method to preserve their assets. However, Vietnamese have remained calm and still have confidence in the local currency, even though local newspapers daily report bad news about the tensions in the East Sea.

Do Minh Phu, Chair of DOJI, a gold, silver and gemstone group, said that the gold market has been stable since the beginning of the year and that the State Bank does not have to do anything to intervene the market.

Phu noted that if the East Sea problem had occurred several years ago, the gold market would certainly have experienced tough days and the consequences would have been very serious.

Phan Huy Khang, CEO of Sacombank, said at the banking conference on July 9 that the gold and dollar markets, which are the most “sensitive” markets, have been stable over the last two months thanks to the reasonable monetary policies pursued by the State Bank.

“One year ago, people raised doubts about the monetary policies followed by the State Bank. But now they can see that the policies have helped minimize negative impacts on the gold and foreign exchange markets,” he said.

TBKTVN