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| The purchases aimed to raise foreign currency reserves which are currently very low |
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has purchased USD1 billion from commercial banks since late April.
The purchases, at the rate of between VND20,600 and VND20,700, were aimed to raise foreign currency reserves, which are currently very low.
With the additional dollars, the current Vietnamese foreign currency reserve now stands at USD13.5 billion.
USD sales at commercial banks had sharply dropped since Aprill 22, so the SBV raised the buying price from VND20,486 to VND20,700 on April 29.
According to some financial experts, the SBV should issue compulsory treasury bills with interest rates of 18-20% per year in to control the currency exchange market. This, they say, would also help the country to successfully cap credit growth at 20% in 2011.