Vietnam's Agribank to cut dong, dollar loan rates

HANOI, July 17 (Reuters) - State-run Agribank, Vietnam's largest lender by assets, said on Thursday it will cut interest rates on Vietnamese dong and dollar loans to help business development and accelerate the country's economic growth.

Agribank will drop dong lending rates by 0.5 percentage point and would lend at a maximum 20.5 percent, compared with the government-approved ceiling of 21 percent. It will also cut rates on dollar loans by 2 percentage point.

The rate cuts, the second announced this month by a major state-run lender after BIDV bank, are applied for all Agribank customers from Friday, the Hanoi-based unlisted bank said in a directive seen by Reuters. (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh)