Vietnam Central Bank: 7 Corps to Sell 30% of Dollar Deposits to Banks
The State Bank of Vietnam issued Wednesday a circular to push PetroVietnam, Vinacomin, Lilama, Vinachem, Vinafood 1, Vinafood 2, and SAC to immediately sell 30% of their term dollar deposits to local banks.
The SBV’s move is in line with the request by the prime minister with aims to ease forex shortage as the domestic demand for greenback is rising to serve payments for imports and debts, analysts said.
This is part of a total US$1.9 billion the corporations keep at local banks as of November 30, and they are requested to sell the remaining in the first two months of 2010. State-owned companies hold a combined US$10.3 billion now, the central bank said.
Vietnam’s trade deficit narrowed to US$12.246 billion this year, compared to US$17.516 billion last year, according to the government’s General Statistics Office said on December 31.
The country’s forex reserves are estimated at 2.5 months of imports, the IMF said. (SBV)
Vietnamese
