Vietnam may raise rate as dong falls to record low, Maybank says

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HANOI (Bloomberg): Calls for an interest-rate hike in Vietnam are emerging, with Malayan Banking Bhd. forecasting an increase as early as this month, as the currency weakened to a record low.

"We expect the State Bank of Vietnam to hike policy rates by 50 basis points, in a bid to stabilize the sliding dong,” Maybank analysts Brian Lee and Chua Hak Bin wrote in a note on Thursday. "A hike may happen in the upcoming weeks, sometime in May or June.”