While banks continue quoting the U.S. dollar at VND19,500, the greenback is changing hands on the unofficial market at a new record of nearly VND21,000 yesterday afternoon.
In HCMC, gold shops in the city’s center sold the dollar at VND20,950-20,960 while the price in Hanoi was almost the same yesterday.
Although banks cannot find dollars to sell to enterprises with earnest demands, dollar deposits at banks in HCMC continued rising. The central bank’s HCMC branch said mobilized dollar funds in HCMC increased by 2% in October and by nearly 15% from late last year.
The central bank also said deposits in all foreign currencies, with the greenback taking the lion’s share, now account for over a quarter of total mobilization in the city.
These figures showed that people still prefer the dollar as a safe asset compared to the local currency. Furthermore, enterprises also keep dollars in their accounts instead of selling dollar funds to banks, which are now thirsty for the dollar to meet rising demands in the rest of the year.
As of end-October, dollar mobilization at banks in HCMC amounted to an equivalent of nearly VND192 trillion, or roughly US$10 billion. However, 40%-45% of such dollar deposits belonged to enterprises, said a source from the central bank’s HCMC branch.
Therefore, given the formal dollar price at VND19,500, enterprises now have over US$4 billion in their accounts at commercial banks in HCMC although the highest deposit rate for dollars for enterprises is only 1% per year.
The State Bank of Vietnam has got from its HCMC branch a report detailing its concerns over the big difference between official and unofficial dollar prices as well as the feverish thirst for dollars. However, there has yet any official word from the central bank on this issue as of late yesterday.
The source from the branch said the chairman of the HCMC government had asked companies in the city to sell dollars to banks in hopes of easing the strained dollar supply.
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