exchange rates, State Bank Governor Nguyen Van Giau said on Oct. 19 in
Hanoi .
The statement was made to the public in an effort to ease speculative
rumours that the Vietnamese dong might be further devalued – rumours
which had driven the black market price for a US dollar on Oct. 19 to
20,030-20,050 VND, up 150 VND over Octoner 18’s rate.
On
the non-deliverable forward (NDF) market on Oct.19 – a currency futures
market – the US dollar was expected to rise to 19,948.99 VND by next
month, 20,279 VND in three months,20,749.540 VND in six months and
21,520.76 VND by October of next year.
Rumours have also
begun circulating that the interbank rate – the rate at which banks
trade currencies amongst themselves – has already risen as high as
19,870-19,990 VND per dollar, although the official rate set by the
centre bank remains at 18,932 VND per dollar.
Commercial banks are meanwhile quoting nominal sell prices of 19,500 VND per dollar.
The deputy head of the State Bank's HCM City branch, Nguyen Hoang
Minh, said that the central bank has worked with relevant agencies to
establish hot lines to monitor the forex market and stamp out
speculative business practices.
The State Bank also
reaffirmed that it will penalise banks that sell the dollar at prices
higher than the official ceiling rate.
But, Minh noted,
the HCM City branch has not yet caculated practical demand for the
dollar in October, and that market inspections are difficult because of
limited human resources.
A senior central bank official
who asked to remain anonymous commented, "The sudden appreciation of the
greenback has resulted from rising global gold prices and dollar
accomodation. Some enterprises which have revenue in US dollars are also
keeping the dollars in accounts and not selling them back to the banks.
"However, there is a postive balance in the dollar supply in the banking system of 250-300 million USD." ./.
