The refinance rate was slashed from 5% to 4.5% while the rediscount rate fell from 3.5% to 3.0%. The overnight lending rate was also cut by 0.5 percentage point to 5.5%.
At the same time, several rates on Vietnamese dong deposits were reduced by 0.3-0.5 percentage point, with the interest rate on deposits of less than one month now capped at 0.2%, down from 0.5%.
The maximum rate for deposits with terms of one month to less than six months dropped from 4.75%. to 4.25%
The central bank also trimmed the lending rates on short-term Vietnamese dong loans to certain sectors from 5.5% to 5.0%.
The State Bank stated that its policy rate cuts, which came into force on May 13, were in accordance with macroeconomic, domestic market and external developments.
Earlier, on March 16, the central bank cut various rates by up to 1 percentage point in order to help businesses in coping with the coronavirus outbreak.
