Exchange rate shocks in Vietnam, and the economic

h,” the monetary authority said. “Even companies that don’t need to import goods preferred dollar loans,” BIDV Securities’ Tuan said. “With these moves, dollar lending will be limited to those companies with real demand for foreign currency.”



Domestic deposits in foreign currency at banks rose 19.5 percent in the first quarter and foreign deposits held in dollars increased 15.1 percent, the central bank said today. Foreign-currency loans increased about 13 percent in the first three months of the year, it said, without giving comparative numbers. Prime Minister Dung has intensified the fight against inflation this year by ordering a “tight” monetary policy and lowering targets for credit growth.



Consumer prices increased 13.89 percent in March from a year earlier, the fastest pace since February 2009. The Vietnamese dong dropped to a record low against the dollar yesterday after the State Bankof Vietnam set the reference rate at the weakest level against the dollar since January 2005. The dong slid to 20,925 per dollar before closing little changed at 20,920, according to data from banks compiled by Bloomberg. The State Bank of Vietnam set the currency’s reference rate at 20,723 for April 11, compared with 20,718 yesterday, according to its website. The currency is allowed to trade up to 1 percent on either side of the rate.



Vietnam Shocks Could Put Damper On Foreign Investment

By Martin Vaughan, Dow Jones, 8 April 2011



Exchange rate shocks in Vietnam, and the economic imbalances that led to them, could cause U.S. companies to rethink investments there, an official with the U.S.-Asean Business Council said. U.S. firms doing business in Asia are able to manage exchange rate fluctuations that aren't extreme, said Marc Mealy, vice president of the trade group. But a string of devaluations of the Vietnamese dong and the government's tenuous control of inflation may lead
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