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Dollar prices drop sharply as Tet nears
The dollar price has unexpectedly decreased in the last week, while commercial banks have affirmed that they now can easily buy dollars from businesses and the public.
Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon has reported that the dollar price applied by the exchange shops on the Ben Thanh market area has been staying at 21,200 dong per dollar, a decrease of 200 dong per dollar over the last week.
The owner of a foreign exchange shop on Phan Chu Trinh Street in district 1 of HCM City said that the demand for dollars is not high these days, which has led to the price decreases. Very few people ask to buy dollars these days. They may have “Tet holiday” soon. Meanwhile, the supply has become more profuse, since foreign exchange shops can easily buy dollars from foreign travelers to Vietnam and the overseas Vietnamese, who return to Vietnam to celebrate Tet with their relatives.
The foreign exchange transactions on the black market have still been going “underground”, because the State Bank has threatened to heavily punish those, who make illegal transactions. Exchange shops nowadays only make transactions with loyal clients or familiar people, for fear that they would be imposed fine, or their money would be seized by the State Bank.
On January 6, the State Bank of Vietnam imposed the fine of 100 million dong on the two exchange shops in Hanoi. The fine was much higher than the amount of dollars in the transaction, just several hundreds of dollars.
Prior to that, on October 20, the government promulgated the decree 95 on the punishment on the violations relating to the monetary policies. Under the decree, illegal foreign currency trading behaviors are subject to the fines of up to 500 million dong.
Especially, several days ago, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Binh stated that not only foreign currency exchange institutions, but the individuals, who sell or buy dollars from the institutions, will be considered as the violators who have to be imposed fines.
An officer of Sacombank said on Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon that the dollar supply has become profuse recently, because it is the time for export companies to get payment for their export deals, which means that they now have profuse dollars to sell to banks.
Besides, the officer said it is now easier to buy dollars from the people who receive kieu hoi (overseas remittance). Meanwhile, the demand for dollars does not increase, because businesses have fulfilled their plans to import materials for local production and import goods for Tet sales already.
A businessman, who asks to be anonymous, has admitted that the businesses which have demand now, can easily buy dollars form banks. The current situation is quite different from that in October 2011, when banks refused to sell dollars, or sell dollars at sky high prices.
A banker has revealed that the bank now can buy dollars at the price which is higher than the quoted price by four dong per dollar, or at 21,030 dong per dollar. Meanwhile, it sells to businesses at 21,060 dong per dollar, while the quoted price is 21,036 dong per dollar. The current price is about 300 dong per dollar lower than that in late December 2011.
Also according to the banker, in just the two days of the last week, the US dollar price dropped by 100 dong per day.
The interbank exchange rate on January 16 stayed at 20,828 dong per dollar.
In related news, the SJC gold price dropped by 100,000 dong per tael to 43.6 million dong per tael on January 16.
vietnamnet
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