The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has quashed rumours that it planned to issue new bank notes in the near future, an official has said.

No money change in Vietnam in the near future. 

Nguyen Chi Thanh, Director of the SBV’s Issue and Vault Department, said, “The rumours are a complete fabrication.”

According to him, the rumours stemmed from a public survey to change the country's name to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Some people deduced that if the country’s name was to be changed, the SBV would have to reprint the country’s bank notes, resulting in the money change.

“Any money change needs careful preparation and must get approval from the country’s top leaders along with experts as it would have impacts on the national economy. Due to high rate of cash transactions in Vietnam, it would take some years to prepare for a money change,” Thanh commented.

He said that a decision to change money is often made based on the money structure and the fall in people’s confidence in the bank notes due to high rate of fake money. Currently Vietnam has no reason to change money.

He also denied a rumour that the SBV would issue bank notes with faced value of VND1 million (USD47.74).

“We do think that bank notes with the current highest faced value of VND500,000 (USD23.87) is suitable. The issuance of notes with faced value of up to VND1 million would mean a devaluation of dong,” he noted.

Due to the rumours, the exchange rate in Hanoi’s black market considerably increased to between VND21,350 per USD and VND21,500 per USD at noon April 20. This was a result of a sharp foreign currency speculation in HCM City over the past few days.

VNN/DTriNews