The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has developed several measures to closely monitor and control the domestic gold-bullion market.

Beginning after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, credit institutions licensed to trade gold bullion will be required to determine whether their branches and transaction offices have had difficulties in trading gold bars.

The credit institutions are then obligated to inform the central bank about these problems in writing so that the bank can solve the issues promptly.

In addition, the SBV will allow licensed institutions and enterprises to recast non-SJC bullion, converting them into SJC gold bars. They will also be allowed to temporarily export non-SBV bullion and import raw gold materials to produce SJC gold bars.

Earlier last year, the central bank decided that it would be the only producer of gold bullion, and chose SJC as the national brand.

The SBV has also encouraged commercial banks to negotiate with gold depositors to buy their so that it can reduce the amount of physical gold that the banks will have to pay back.

The central bank will also continue granting gold-trading licenses to qualified banks and enterprises, and will closely watch the domestic gold market to quickly identify problems.

In an attempt to stabitise the gold market, the SBV is drafting a circular that would allow it to interfere in the market if necessary.-VNA