Vietnam should focus on bolstering confidence in macroeconomic stability, according to a senior official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
John Lipsky first deputy managing director of the IMF, made the statement at a conference, co-held by the IMF and the State Bank of Vietnam in Hanoi yesterday, on post-crisis growth and poverty reduction in developing Asia.
He called on the government to continue adjusting policy to stabilize the macro economy to dampen inflation pressures and inflation risks, saying that Vietnam has much potential for sustainable economic development in a long term.
Lipsky added that the Vietnamese dong does not appear to be a significant problem at its current levels even though the dong has been devalued four times since mid-2008 as the SBV moved to relieve pressure on the currency. The latest devaluation was in Feb.
His comments followed an assessment last week by the Asian Development Bank, when ADB Country Director in Vietnam Ayumi Konishi said the country's foreign exchange market has stabilized after recent devaluations, and there was no cause for concern.
The U.S. dollar today traded at VND19,290 on the unofficial market, compared to VND19,300 yesterday. The central bank kept the official interbank exchange rate unchanged at VND18,544 per U.S. dollar. Vietcombank quoted prices at VND19,070-19,100 per dollar.
Fitch has forecast that Vietnam’s forex reserves may drop to 2.6 months of imports and 1.6 months of current external payments in 2010, which will be the lowest level since 1994.
In the first quarter of 2010, Vietnam’s economy is expected to expand 6% from a year earlier, the SBV Governor Nguyen Van Giau said in his opening speech at the conference.
Financial Minister Vu Van Ninh said late last week that CPI may range between 0.5% and 0.6% in March and still “under the control.” (Pioneer)
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