|
Money in the bank proves safest option for investors
Bank deposits have proved a safe haven in the last few months even as other asset classes were taking a hammering, a Ho Chi Minh City-based economists said.
“The deposit interest rate is still 15-16 percent,” Dinh The Hien, the director of the Institute of Informatics and Applied Economic Research, said. “Investors earn bigger returns from bank deposits than other assets like gold, property, dollar and the stock market.”
Gold and the dollar have not appreciated for a while, he said, while the stock and property markets have been in free-fall.
At Saigon Jewelry Company, Vietnam’s biggest gold trader, gold registered a year-to-date decrease of 0.8 percent Wednesday to close at VND17.56 million per tael. A tael is equal to 1.2 ounces or 37.5 grams.
The VN-Index, the gauge of 160 leading firms and four closed-end funds listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, has plunged 57 percent this year and is among the world’s worst performers.
Hien also suggested that to enable banks to cut their deposit interest rates, the State Bank of Vietnam should cut banks’ reserve requirement.
Thanhnien
|
