Vietnamese currency falls to new low against dollar

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on Thursday set the reference rate for the Vietnamese dong at VND23,281, the weakest since at least 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

At commercial banks, the Vietnamese dong is now at its lowest since March 2020 after having declined by around 3.5% in the year-to-date.

Vietcombank, the country’s largest lender, had sold the U.S. dollar for VND23,740. Top private player Techcombank’s rates were VND23,708, while that of Sacombank were VND23,950.

But an expert forecasts the Vietnamese dong to decline further to VND24,000 a U.S. dollar.

“The dong is too strong at the moment for an export-oriented economy,” Trinh Nguyen, a senior economist at Natixis SA in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg.

“That said, they care about imports and inflation so won’t allow excessive depreciation.”

The SBV allows the Vietnamese dong to trade within a band of 3% on either side of the reference rate, which is based on eight currencies and set daily.