Vietnam Cuts Benchmark Rates to Support Growth Amid Slowdown

Vietnam cut its interest rates to support a slowing economy, a move the International Monetary Fund said can be justified by the nation’s easing inflation.

The State Bank of Vietnam will reduce the repurchase rate by 1 percentage point to 13 percent, and lower the refinancing rate for the first time since 2009 by the same amount to 14 percent, effective tomorrow, it said today. Slowing price gains may allow the central bank to cut rates by 100 basis points each quarter, Governor Nguyen Van Binh told reporters in Hanoi.