Vietnam to tighten dollar, bank share holdings: govt
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Vietnam's central bank should consider cutting the ceiling for foreign bank stakes in domestic banks and reducing the amount of dollars travellers can take abroad without declaration, the government said on Wednesday.
The State Bank of Vietnam should propose a new ceiling for foreign ownership of local banks for government consideration, the government said in a statement.
Vietnam currently caps foreign ownership in a domestic bank at 30 percent, with a 15 percent limit for a strategic investor. A foreign strategic investor can own 20 percent subject to government approval.
The central bank should also issue a new ruling that reduces the amount travellers can take abroad in cash to $5,000, down from the current $7,000, the statement said.
The government's instructions came after Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met central bankers and related ministries on April 7.
Vietnam, whose trade balance has been in deficit every month since April 2009 while foreign exchange reserves fall, has stepped up measures this year to curb the use of the dollar in the domestic economy.
Vietnam's foreign exchange reserves last year dropped 12 percent from 2009 to $12.4 billion, enough to cover 1.9 months of imports at the end of 2010, the Asian Development Bank said last Wednesday.
From May 1 Vietnam will force banks to keep more reserves against their foreign currency deposits and impose a 3 percent ceiling on dollar deposit rates, the central bank said last Saturday.
