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State Treasury (ST) has just announced its third foreign currency purchase from commercial banks in 2024, with a maximum volume of 100 million USD.
This foreign currency will be purchased for immediate delivery on September 12, with the expected payment date being September 16. Based on the buying rate of the State Bank’s Trading Center (23,400 VND/USD), the amount ST will spend on this transaction is estimated at 2,300 billion VND.
This is the third time this year that ST has announced the purchase of foreign currency from commercial banks. Previously, ST offered to buy a maximum of 150 million USD last week and 100 million USD in mid-May.
ST’s foreign currency purchase comes as the USD/VND exchange rate has been declining in recent weeks.
As of this morning (September 12), the selling rate of USD at banks is commonly quoted at 24,730 – 24,780 VND/USD, while the buying rate stands at 24,350 – 24,400 VND/USD.
Specifically, Vietcombank, the bank with the largest foreign exchange trading volume in the system, currently quotes the exchange rate at 24,380 – 24,750 VND/USD. Since the beginning of August, the USD rate at this bank has decreased by 670 VND, equivalent to a 2.6% drop.
The black-market exchange rate has also been continuously declining and is currently traded at 25,030 – 25,130 VND/USD. The black-market rate started to fall sharply in the last two months, especially in August. Compared to the peak of nearly VND 26,000 set at the end of June, the current black-market rate is lower by about 850 VND, equivalent to a 3.3% decrease.
Following the cooling down of domestic exchange rates, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has also continuously adjusted down the central exchange rate and the selling rate of USD at the Trading Center.
This morning (September 12), the central exchange rate announced by the State Bank was 24,187 VND/USD, down 37 VND compared to the end of August.
At the end of August 2024, SBV also adjusted down the selling rate of USD at the Trading Center from 25,450 VND/USD to 25,385 VND/USD (as of August 27). On September 6, the selling rate was lowered to 25,362 VND/USD, and today it stands at 25,346 VND/USD. Thus, the current selling rate of USD at the SBV’s Trading Center is more than 100 VND lower than at the end of August and is below the ceiling rate by 50 VND.
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