Reference exchange rate up 5 VND at week’s beginning hinh anh 1The daily reference exchange rate was set at 22,653 VND/USD on July 16, up 5 VND from the end of previous week. Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The daily reference exchange rate opened the week up 5 VND from the end of previous week to 22,653 VND/USD.

With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,332 VND/USD and the floor rate 21,974 VND/USD.

The rates listed at commercial banks stayed stable.

Both Vietcombank and BIDV are listing their buying rate at 23,010 VND/USD and the selling rate at 23,080 VND/USD, unchanged from the last day of previous week (July 13).

At Vietinbank, the buying rate went up 10 VND to 23,019 VND/USD while the selling rate remained the same as on July 13 at 23,089 VND/USD.

Last week, the reference exchange rate went down on Monday, being set at 22,632 VND/USD, but then rose for three consecutive days before going down again on Friday to 22,648 VND/USD.

Foreign exchange rates are likely to rise strongly due to concerns that the US-China trade war may be escalating, according to a report on Vietnamese macroeconomy for the second quarter released by the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) under the University of Economics, an affiliate of the Hanoi National University, on July 11.

The report said the Fed’s second interest rate hike in the second quarter of this year was one of the key factors pushing up US dollar prices and depreciating the domestic currency, thus affecting the US dollar-Vietnamese dong exchange rate in the period under review.

The report went on to say that the foreign currency reserve (FCR) stands at 63.5 billion USD, equivalent to nearly 13 weeks of imports, and is the minimum national FCR recommended by the International Monetary Fund.

It suggested that Vietnam should accumulate more foreign currency reserves to stay confident in the global integration process. -VNA
VNA