Most banks this week are charging 21 percent interest on dong loans, the ceiling rate regulated by the central bank, after it raised the base rate for the dong three times since April, taking it to 14 percent as from June 11. A central bank newspaper said on Friday that outstanding bank loans in Vietnam were likely to be 20 percent higher at the end of the first half than a year earlier, but monthly loan growth would slow to 1. The central bank did not give the credit growth for the first half of 2007 but loans surged 54 percent in the whole of 2007, so the 20 percent growth so far this year shows a dramatic fall after three rate increases since January by the central bank. In the foreign exchange market, traders in Hanoi said the dollar was being quoted in the black market at about 17,800 dong on Monday, down from a record 19,600 dong last Friday after the central bank made a rare move to publish its foreign reserves of $20. On Monday, it set the official rate at 16,450 dong per dollar, virtually unchanged from last week after a record low of 16,461 dong on June 11, when the authorities effectively devalued the currency by 2 percent. read more