WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Home / Economy / Banking & Finance
Vietnam FX reserves set new record of US$80 billion
Hai Yen 15:55, 2019/12/30
Compared to the end of 2016, Vietnam’s foreign exchange reserve to date has doubled.

In 2019, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the country’s central bank, bought in US$20 billion, taking Vietnam’s forex reserves to nearly US$80 billion, a record figure to date, VnExpress cited Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as saying on Monday morning.

 Data: SBV. Chart: Hai Yen. 

A report from SSI Research said except for May and June when the US – China trade war led to a surge in the USD/VND exchange rate, the USD buying prices of commercial banks remained equal to or lower than that of the SBV at VND23,200 for US$1. 

This helped the SBV build up the foreign exchange reserves to 14 weeks of imports, while commercial banks also enjoyed greater profitability from foreign exchange services.

Compared to the end of 2016, Vietnam’s foreign exchange reserve to date has doubled, mainly thanks to the continued growing trade surplus in recent years and the increasing amount of inboud remittances. Vietnam is among the world’s top remittance recipients.

The combined trade surplus in the last three years is estimated at nearly US$20 billion. In 2019, the figure reached a new record of US$9.9 billion as Vietnam’s trade turnover exceeded the US$500-billion mark for the first time.

Meanwhile, Vietnam is predicted to be among the 10 largest remittance recipients with an inflow of nearly US$16.7 billion in 2019, or 6.4% of its GDP, a slight increase from the US$16 billion received in 2018, according to the World Bank’s latest data.

This would be a third consecutive year that Vietnam remains in the top-10 ranking in terms of remittances. The figure was US$13.8 billion in 2017 and US$15.9 billion in 2018.

RELATED NEWS
TAG: Vietnam forex foreign exchange reserves remittance record high US China trade war exchange rates SBV
Other news
08:08, 2024/10/05
Building Hanoi's smart city with smart banking
In Hanoi's smart city development strategy, smart payment and open banking ecosystems are critically important.
21:34, 2024/09/19
Vietnam stock market clears major legal hurdle to potential upgrade
Starting November 2, foreign investors will no longer be required to pre-fund 100% of their transactions, promising the removal of a major roadblock for Vietnam's market upgrade process.
17:29, 2024/09/01
Cashless parking in Hanoi: Good model fuels smart transport
Hanoi’s leaders believe that all that's left to do is act with the ultimate goal of serving people from smart transportation, armed with the mindset and solutions of a new global vision and thinking.
22:36, 2024/08/26
Banking sector dominates Vietnam’s corporate bond market
The increase in bank bond issuance is largely driven by the need to comply with the State Bank of Vietnam’s capital adequacy requirements.
17:41, 2024/08/06
Prime Minister expects lending to grow by 15% this year
Key challenges for the remainder of the year include lowering interest rates, providing low-cost credit, and adopting cost-cutting technologies.
17:37, 2024/08/06
Vietnam, Singapore strengthen partnership in stock exchange operations
The two sides will focus on cooperation in digital transformation, cybersecurity, tax management, and market operations.