Tensions are rising between Vietnam’s PM and the central bank chief over how to counter the economic slip. While the PM is pushing for lowering policy interest rates for a fifth time this year to achieve a 9% growth rate in H2 2023, a deputy governor from the bank responded that rate cuts are not a ‘magic wand.’ This public disagreement is rare in Vietnam’s Communist-run governance structure and comes amid sluggish GDP growth. The country’s GDP rose 3.72% in H1 2023, the slowest pace over that time period in at least a decade, besides the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.