VINACHEM

The dollar prices quoted by largest commercial banks have fallen since the day the Circular No 15 took effect on October 5.

After getting an air ticket, visa and passport, Nam went to a commercial bank asking to buy 3,000 euros. But he was refused.

“We can only sell euros to you two days before your departure. Meanwhile, you will only leave Hanoi in two weeks,” a bank officer explained.

Nam tried to persuade the bank officer to sell euros to him on that day.

“I know I will only go on business in two weeks, but I want to buy euros today, because I have checked the information and found the euro price has decreased a little bit,” he said.

However, the bank officer could not help, because she could not violate the new regulation on buying or selling foreign currencies stipulated in the State Bank’s Circular No 15.

The man finally decided to buy euros on the black market. He, like the majority of Vietnamese, wanted everything to be ready days before departure.

However, importers opening a letter of credit (L/C) always have to make a deposit. The deposit value depends on the relationship between importers and banks.

If importers are loyal clients of the banks, they have to deposit 10-30 percent of the consignments’ total value.

In other cases, they may have to deposit up to 70-80 percent of total value. The deposit currencies are also the payment currencies.

The current regulation allows importers to deposit in dong, but in most cases, the regulation is not applied, because both banks and customers understand hard currencies fluctuate in price.

But now under Circular 15, importers must deposit only in dong, not in foreign currencies.

Importers now have to move heaven and earth to buy foreign currencies to pay to exporters when receiving deliveries.

Enterprises are now allowed to pay debt in foreign currencies to banks before maturity.

Banks are allowed to sell foreign currencies to enterprises, while enterprises are allowed to buy foreign currencies to pay debt. However, banks have been told to collect money within two days.

In the past, Vietnamese could remit dollars abroad to their children with no limitations. But now, the remitted sum of money must not be higher than $15,000 a year.

Under Circular 15, if customers need to settle with partners within two working days, banks can sell foreign currencies immediately. When the payment term is more than three days banks are only allowed to sell forward exchange. For forward exchange transactions, the maximum term is 365 days. The circular also regulates that the last day of forward exchange is not two working days before the due date of the enterprises’ payment.