The Government Inspectorate has announced that it intends to inspect the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s business management and activities.
The 60-day inspection will focus on the responsibilities and tasks of the State Bank of Vietnam in gold market, as well as the depositing and lending of gold between January 1, 2009 and March 2013.
The Government Inspectorate will set up a four-member task force to supervise the inspection team.
SBV's management of gold prices has been under scrutiny over the past few years, as domestic prices continue to be volatile.
Recent gold auctions sponsored by the state bank were aimed at stabilising the market. But they proved somewhat ineffective at quelling public concern about the disparity between international and domestic prices, which reached VND6.1 million (USD291.1) per tael as of April 23 morning.
The initiative to stabilise gold prices began in November 2011. At that time, the governor of SBV, Nguyen Van Binh, said the bank would try to reduce the gold prices gap to VND400,000 (USD19) per tael in the coming time. He added that if this goal was not met the entire market should be looked at.