The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on Monday set the USD/VND exchange rate at VND24,005, up VND12 against Friday last week and rising VND399, or 1.69 percent, over the start of the year.
With the current trading band of plus or minus five percent, the ceiling rate applicable to commercial banks during the day was VND25,205 to the dollar and the minimum rate was VND22,804.
The central bank kept the buying price the same as last week's figure at VND23,400 to the dollar while revising up the selling price by VND13 to VND25,155 per greenback.
On Monday, the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) quoted the buying rate at VND23,855 and the selling rate at VND24,225 per dollar, both down VND35 versus Friday last week.
At the Vietnam Export Import Bank (Eximbank), one U.S. dollar was bought at VND23,850 and sold at VND24,240, both dipping VND20.
The Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) set the buying and selling prices of the greenback at VND23,835 and VND24,255, falling VND25 and VND65, respectively versus the previous session.
Phan Le Thanh Long, financial expert and founder of AFA Group, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the increase of nearly 1.7 percent is not yet a matter of concern, adding that the figure was still under control.
The expert forecast that the central bank will likely keep current interest rates unchanged, as further rate cuts could affect the exchange rate adjustments.
Some financial institutions recently predicted that year-end interest rates could dip two percentage points, saying that a cut would facilitate exports and improve businesses’ competitive edges.
The central bank has supporting tools to help stabilize exchange rates, such as a high trade surplus, stable FDI attraction, and remittance reserves.
Also, the supply of foreign currencies is expected to rise, as foreign investors will conduct transactions to buy stakes in the second half of 2023.
Long noted that monetary policies should be reviewed if the USD/VND exchange rate rises over two percent.
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