Vietnam today cut its key interest rates for the sixth time this year in an attempt to boost an economy growing at the weakest pace in more than a decade. The State Bank of Vietnam cut the refinancing rate, which is charged on loans to commercial banks, to nine percent from 10 percent. The discount rate has been lowered to seven percent from eight percent. The move comes as the country's economy struggles in the face of domestic banking sector turmoil, falling foreign direct investment and deepening financial troubles among state-owned companies. Vietnam launched a string of interest rate hikes in 2011 to prevent the economy from overheating and rein in double-digit inflation, but with growth slowing the authorities this year resumed monetary stimulus efforts.