Vietnam & World Forex Market News

The state-owned Vietcombank sold at VND17,482, compared with VND17,480 Tuesday.

A shortage of dollars has pushed Vietcombank to buy the greenback at the same rate as it sells for the fourth consecutive trading day, a Vietcombank official said.

"We are slightly short of dollars to meet all the demand," said the official who didn't wish to be named. "We give priority to offering dollar-denominated loans to exporters."

Vietcombank cannot raise its dollar-buying rate above its current offer as the government mandates the greenback cannot stray more than 3% from the official rate.

But the government said Tuesday on its Web site that the central bank has sufficient dollars to balance demand and supply, and that it isn't facing a shortage of dollars.

Gold shops sold at VND17,720, higher than VND17,700 Tuesday.

State media said Wednesday that Vietnam is expected to run a trade surplus of $290 million in the first two months this year.

The central bank on Tuesday decided to reduce the required reserve ratio on dong-denominated deposits with maturities of 12 months or less to 3% from 5% with effect from March.