SBV officially raises the buying and selling rate for US dollar to VND21,350 and VND21,600 on January 12.— Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) officially raised its buying and selling rate for the US dollar to VND21,350 and VND21,600, respectively, on January 12.

Compared with the previous rate, which had remained unchanged since July 15, 2014, the new rates marked an increase of VND150 for the buying price and VND200 for the selling price.

The move was intended to slow the exchange rate's decline after the inter-bank rate was raised by 1 percent on January 7, as well as to support export activities.

On January 7, the SBV increased the inter-bank exchange rate from VND21,246 to VND21,458 per US dollar. With an effective exchange rate with a 1 per cent margin, the ceiling rate was VND21,673 per dollar.

After the new rates were introduced, the foreign currency market in Viet Nam stabilised. However, dollar prices kept dropping at local commercial banks on January 13. Vietcombank reduced its buying and selling rates by VND20 per dollar compared to last week's rate, resulting in a buying price of VND21,320 per dollar and a selling price of VND21,380 per dollar.

Buying and selling rates at BIDV were VND21,320 and VND21,380 per dollar respectively, down VND30 and VND60 compared with last week's rate.

Rates at other commercial banks, such as Eximbank, ACB, Vietinbank and Techcombank, also slipped by VND5-20 to stay at VND21,300-21,315 on the buying side and VND21,365-VND21,375 on the selling side.

The SBV's rate was therefore higher than rates offered by the commercial banks, and it was ready to buy and sell US dollars in a bid to stabilise the foreign exchange market in Viet Nam.—VNS