September 11, 1999 
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| September 11, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| Southeast Asia Vietnam eases currency controls HANOI - Foreign currency controls have loosened up with an announcement from Prime Minister Phan Van Khai that companies dealing in foreign money now need to sell just 50 percent of it to state banks. The PM said, in outlining the new measures, that there was now less pressure on foreign currency reserves. Companies in the past year had been forced to sell 80 percent of their foreign currency to the state banking system. Those companies obliged to sell their dollars to authorized banks are domestic firms and foreign-invested joint ventures and foreign contractors - all of which are eligible to buy dollars from banks when needed. The easing of the obligatory sale of dollars reflects that banks have more foreign currency than a year ago. Last year's ruling was aimed at ensuring that banks reserved as much foreign currency as possible in anticipation of hard times, an especially strong urge in the aftermath of the regional monetary crisis. An official from the State Bank Foreign Currency Control Department said the reduction stemmed from the fact that demand was lower than supply for foreign currency on the domestic market following the government's discouragement of importing ''unnecessary'' consumer goods. Shortly before the ruling was issued on September 12 last year, demand for the US dollar on the domestic market was continuously increasing, in large part because international payments became due - both for importers who bought consumer goods from foreign sellers by deferred payment, and companies that borrowed short-term foreign loans. (Asia Pulse/VNA) | |||||||||
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