VietNamNet Bridge – The dollar market, which has been stable for a long time, has heated up with the prices increasing in both the black and official markets.

The dollar price on the black market has increased to VND21,280 per dollar, the highest peak since August.

The manager of a joint stock bank in Hanoi on November 27, said the interbank market was very bustling with the buying and selling prices at VND21,120 and VND21,140 per dollar, respectively.

Commercial banks, after raising the dollar buying and selling prices on November 26, continued lifting the prices on November 27. VietinBank, for example, bought dollars at VND21,095 per dollar on the day, an increase of VND10 per dollar over the day before, and sold at VND21,140, or VND5 per dollar higher. The buying and selling prices of Vietcombank and BIDV were VND21,095 and VND21,135 per dollar.

Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon has quoted its sources as saying that one of the reasons behind the dollar price increase is the higher demand for dollar to make payment for petroleum imports. However, the sources also said the dollar market would be stabilized again.

The deputy general director of a bank in HCM City believes that the dollar price moves up because of the slight decrease in the dong interest rates. He also thinks that the dollar demand has increased when some commercial banks buy dollars to meet the requirements on the foreign currency positions as required by the State Bank.

However, the banker stressed that the dollar price would not stay firmly at high level for a long time due to the weak demand.

Most of the interviewed bankers affirmed that they cannot see any signs of the dollar demand increases, which may force banks to rush to collect dollars.

Tien Phong has quoted Deputy General Director of Maritime Bank Tran Xuan Quang as saying that the foreign currency trade of the banks still goes as usual, while there is no sudden sharp increase in the demand.

Meanwhile, the deputy general director of a bank in Hanoi said the dollar demand from businesses tends to decrease. He said though the national economy has shown signs of recovery, businesses seemingly don’t feel secure enough to borrow dollars to expand their production.

The October Government meeting’s resolution said that the dong/dollar exchange rate would be stabilized until the end of the year.

Bankers and securities companies have also said the exchange rate adjustment would not occur, because there is no pressure on the exchange rate. Therefore, they have denied the opinion that the dollar price has increased because banks try to speculate dollars in anticipation of the dong devaluation.

Under the Circular No. 37, only export companies which have the incomes in foreign currencies, can borrow capital in foreign currencies and convert into dong to serve their production projects.

This is a reason explaining why the foreign currency outstanding loans have decreased continuously since the beginning of the year. In HCM City, the outstanding loans in foreign currencies had decreased by 22.1 percent by the end of November, while the outstanding loans in dong had increased by 12.1 percent.

Compiled by C. V