Greenback soars to over VND23,400

Sacombank quoted the highest price on the market at VND23,407 for selling. Meanwhile, VietinBank sold the greenback at VND23,396.

At Vietcombank, the dollar was sold at VND23,390, up VND55 against Monday, whereas Eximbank raised the dollar selling price by VND50 to VND23,380.

Banks also raised dollar buying prices to VND23,280 and VND23,296 for cash transactions and account transfers.

On the official market, greenback prices increased rapidly but remained lower than those posted at banks, staying at around VND23,300 for buying and VND23,360 for selling.

According to the Tuoi Tre Online website, banks attributed the dollar appreciation to many factors, including the rising demand for imported goods payments.

In April, exporters fetched a large volume of foreign currencies, which were later sold to the State Bank of Vietnam.

Currently, banks are trying to balance the dollar supply and demand, without the need for intervention from the central bank. However, the surging demand has sent dollar prices soaring.

In the coming days, the greenback is expected to ease off as the market receives foreign currency supplies from import-export payments.

Besides this, experts pointed to the central bank’s Circular 42, which narrows the list of borrowers eligible to take out U.S. dollar loans.

Earlier, lenders were permitted to provide short-term foreign currency loans to exporters who needed the capital for importing input materials. Borrowers were required to have sufficient foreign currency revenue from exports to repay these loans.

However, this regulation expired on March 31. Borrowers now have to buy foreign currencies instead of taking out foreign currency loans, resulting in a surge in the dollar demand.

The State Bank of Vietnam revised the central reference rate to a new high of VND23,040, up VND10 compared with the previous day. The rate has jumped some 0.92% against the end of last year.

With a trading band of 3% on either side, local banks were allowed to sell the greenback at a maximum of VND23,731.

In related news, Saigon Jewelry Company posted gold prices at VND36.16 million for buying and VND36.33 million for selling, down slightly against Monday. Meanwhile, the global gold price was almost unchanged at US$1,282 per ounce. One tael is equal to 1.2 troy ounces.

Given the current exchange rate, the world price was lower than the domestic price by some VND700,000 per tael.