The State Bank of Viet Nam buys US dollar at a higher price on July 16. — Photo kinhdoanhnet.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The State Bank of Viet Nam has announced that it has started buying the US dollar for an additional VND100 as of July 16.

Accordingly, the central bank increased the dollar's buying rate from VND21,100, which was the rate for the last one year, to VND21,200.

Most of the commercial banks still reduced their prices of the US dollar by VND5 to VND20 in the local market.

In the morning session, the commercial banks of Vietcombank, BIDV and VietinBank ACB listed their dollar buying rate at VND21,140 and VND 21,180, and the selling rate between VND21,220 and VND21,240.

In the flea market, the US dollar's buying and selling rates were VND21,230 and VND21,260 respectively.

On its website sbv.gov.vn, the central bank kept the US dollar's exchange rate at VND21,246, unchanged from its new rate since June 19. The central bank also set the ceiling price for a dollar at VND21,458.5, which commercial banks were allowed to apply as an effective exchange rate within  1 per cent margin.

Last week,  the central bank released the preliminary report on the currency market during the first six months. The report said that after the new rate was applied on June 19, the forex rate has stabilised and the market liquidity has been stable.

The report also said that credit rose by 3.52 per cent, while the forex reserves hit a record US$35 billion. According to local media, SBV governor Nguyen Van Binh predicted that the credit growth would be more than 10 per cent by the end of the year. — VNS