On August 20, the State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 24,251 VND/USD, a decrease of 10 VND from the previous day – a significant drop in recent days.
Commercial banks also witnessed a continued decline in USD prices. Vietcombank offered a buying rate of 24,740 VND and a selling rate of 25,080 VND per USD, a decrease of 120 VND from the previous day.
Eximbank bought USD at 24,760 VND and sold at 25,090 VND. Sacombank posted buying and selling rates of 24,740 VND and 25,080 VND, respectively.
During the morning session, some banks saw their USD selling rates dip as low as 25,070 VND, the lowest level in August so far.
Since the beginning of August, the USD has depreciated by over 300 VND or approximately 1.27%. If we consider the peak in mid-April, the currency has weakened by 1.6%, narrowing the loss of the VND against the USD since the beginning of the year.
The drop in USD prices at banks coincides with the downward trend of the US Dollar Index (DXY) in the international market. The index has now fallen to 101.82 points, a decrease from the 103-point mark at the beginning of August. From its peak of nearly 106 points, the DXY has lost about 4%.
According to experts, the USD/VND exchange rate is expected to cool down further towards the end of the year as the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is likely to cut the basic interest rate by 0.5 percentage points in September.
The weakening of the US dollar also helps alleviate pressure on the exchange rate, given Vietnam’s abundant foreign currency supply from FDI disbursements, remittances, and trade surpluses towards the end of the year.
New currency exchange service: Rare small denominations
The demand for exchanging small denominations of money increases during the Lunar New Year, but the availability of small bills is limited. The familiar “money exchange kiosks” are also gradually disappearing from this service.