Vietnamese hoard currency as Euro plunges

“I wanted to buy more but the exchange asked me to come back in the afternoon as they have run out of EUR banknotes,” said Tuyet in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan District after buying EUR3,500 (USD3,572) Sunday.

The currency has dropped by 10.8 percent in value since the beginning of the year.

The owner of an exchange in the same district, who asked not be identified, said that he has seen a rise in the number of EUR buyers as travel demand to the region increases and its value has fallen to roughly the same as the U.S. dollar.

The EUR dropped to the lowest in 20 years last week at roughly the same as USD, with the greenback surging this year amid global economic uncertainties.

Concerns over the supply of energy from Russia to Europe have raised fears that the 19-nation eurozone could face a recession amid declining manufacturing.

Some analysts have forecast that the EUR could continue to decline to USD0.95 if the European energy crisis worsens.

A weakened EUR won’t have a major impact on Vietnam’s international trade as over 90 percent of deals are paid in USD, said economist Can Van Luc.

However, USD gaining would increase pressure on Vietnamese businesses that have taken greenback loans, he added.