VINACHEM

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) today again raised the exchange rate by 13 Vietnamese dong, taking it to a record high of VND22,131 per US dollar.

With the allowable trade, the dollar at +/-3 per cent on either side of the reference rate, commercial banks revised their offering prices upwards.

Vietcombank today also increased the rate by 100 dong as against yesterday, listing the rate at VND22,690 and VND22,790 for selling and buying, respectively. BIDV and VietinBank also listed the same rate.

ACB raised the US dollar price by 70 dong against the previous day, both for buying and selling, to trade at VND22,670 and VND22,790 per dollar, respectively.

The US dollar prices were also increased at Techcombank to VND22,650 and VND22,790 for buying and selling respectively. With a rise of 70 dong for buying and selling against the previous day, Sacombank traded the dollar at the rate of VND22,680 and VND22,790 respectively.

With the increase, the selling rate of the US dollar at commercial banks was five dong lower from the ceiling level allowed by the SBV – the shortest level so far this year.

The US dollar has been strengthening against the dong, both in the official and unofficial markets. The buying prices in the unofficial markets surged to VND22,850 and VND22,880 while the selling price increased to VND22,950 each.

At the Quoc Trinh Jewellery Company on Ha Trung Street, the most popular forex trading point in the unofficial market in Ha Noi, the dollar was bought for VND22,870 and sold for VND22,950.

In the global market, the US dollar reached the highest level over the past 14 years yesterday thank to the better economic indications for the US and decreasing value of the Chinese yuan.

In the global market, the US dollar Index, which tracks the greenback’s performance against 16 other currencies, climbed 0.6 per cent to 91.87, its strongest level since December 2002, according to the Wall Street Journal Dollar Index.

Foreign currency

The SBV has allowed extending the foreign currency lending to local exporters till the end of 2017.

The decision was aimed at reducing lending interest rates to help support exporters to drop their production costs and improve competitiveness.

However, experts were worried that the extension would affect the dollarisation of the economy as this has been the third time the central bank has extended the lending.

They also said the SBV should have strict punishment for foreign currency mobilisation which violates regulations. — VNS