Vietnam central bank raises USD price to year-high VND23,881

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) increased the central exchange rate to VND23,881 per U.S. dollar on Tuesday, pushing the rate to its highest level so far this year.

The central exchange rate reached VND23,837 last Friday, breaking the previous peak of VND23,833 on July 7-8, then continued moving up to VND23,848 on Monday and VND23,881 on Tuesday.

Per the central bank’s (SBV) trading band of +-5%, commercial banks can set their exchange rates between VND22,686 and VND25,075.

On the same day, the SBV set the reference exchange rate at its operation center at VND23,400-25,025.

Exchange rates at major banks in Vietnam moved in the same direction. At state-controlled Vietcombank, one of the country's "Big 4" banks, Tuesday morning’s buying and selling rates were VND23,680 and VND24,020 per U.S. dollar, respectively, up from VND23,650 and VND23,990 on Monday.

BIDV, also a “Big 4” bank, set buying and selling rates at VND23,710 and VND24,010, up from VND23,665 and VND23,965 a day ago, respectively.

VietinBank, another “Big 4”, set its buying rate at VND23,667, up from VND23,620 on Monday, and its selling rate was VND24,017, down from VND24,040.

The figures at Techcombank, a leading private lender, were VND23,695 and VND24,035 on Tuesday morning, versus VND23,653 and VND23,993 the day before, respectively.

In its “Taking Stock August 2023: Making Public Investment Work for Growth” report released last Wednesday, the World Bank said: "Continued uncertainties in the global financial market have the potential to rekindle stress in the global banking sector, intensify investor risk aversion, and discourage investment – including FDI to Vietnam. Additional monetary policy tightening in major advanced economies to combat persistent inflation could widen the interest rate gap between international and domestic markets. This could exert exchange rate pressures on the local currency."