3:59:57 PM | 24/10/2008
The VND/USD exchange rate has been unexpectedly increasing by VND190/US$1 over past two days in Vietnam, knocking at nearly VND17,000/US$1 in the morning of October 21, the Tien Phong newspaper reported.
The State Bank of Vietnam October 21 fixed the inter-bank exchange rate at VND16,519/US$1, representing a slight decrease over the previous day.
Exchange rates quoted by commercial banks, however, saw a sharp increase to VND16,800/US$1. Prior to that, the exchange rates unexpectedly soared from VND16,610/USUS$1 to VND16,670/US$1 on October 20.
Vietcombank, the leading bank in international payment, is now quoting the exchange rate at VND16,830/US$1, which is nearly the ceiling level (the trading band is +/-2 per cent ).
On the black market, the dollar price has also soared to nearly VND17,000/US$1, up from VND16,570-VND16,590/US$1 late last week.
The dollar price increase is really a surprise to many businesses and experts, who believed that the exchange rate would stay stable in the time to come thanks to profuse supply.
Experts have given no reason to explain the sudden greenback price increases, putting forward some suppositions, including a possible increasing demand for foreign currencies for the rest of this year and a decreasing overseas remittance due to global financial crisis.
The State Bank of Vietnam has devalued VND by 7.2 per cent by slashing the basic interest rate to 13 per cent from 14 per cent, which may also lead to the value weakness of the local currency against the dollar, experts said.
Vietnam currently has net foreign currency reserves of more than US$22 billion, SBV said. (Pioneer Oct 22 p5)
Vietnamese
