HCMC – The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has announced that it will sell gold bars directly to four state-run commercial banks that will then retail the metal to the public, starting from June 3.
The four banks authorized to sell gold are Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank), and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV).
Pham Quang Dung, deputy governor of the central bank, stated that gold prices would be determined in accordance with global price movements. All the four banks have extensive networks and have prepared necessary conditions to directly sell gold to the public.
The plan aims to swiftly reduce the disparity between domestic and global gold prices to an appropriate level.
In addition to these measures, Dung said that the central bank will collaborate with relevant ministries and agencies to conduct inspections of gold business activities by credit institutions and enterprises. Strict penalties will be imposed on infringements.
Over the past month, the SBV conducted six successful auctions, with a total of 48,500 taels of SJC gold bars (over 1.8 tons of gold) finding buyers. However, the price disparity between domestic and global prices has remained wide, at around 20%.
On May 27, the central bank announced that it would stop gold auctions and implement other methods to stabilize the market.
