The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) pledges to keep foreign exchangerates stable and is prepared to adjust the rates less than or equal to 2percent, the bank’s Governor Nguyen Van Binh has said.

Foreignexchange rates rose in recent days and, sometimes approaching theceiling levels stipulated by the SBV, mainly due to the market’sexpectations of a foreign exchange rate adjustment conducted by thebank, Binh explained.

He said that although the domesticforeign exchange and gold markets have suffered after China’s illegalplacement of its Haiyang Shiyou - 981 oil rig in Vietnam’s waters, themarkets have swiftly improved thanks to strict measures and timelydirections taken by the Government and the SBV.

As a result,the amount of deposits in foreign currencies in the whole banking systemdid not increase, but dropped while dong deposits continued to soar.

In the past nearly six months, the central bank has not made anyadjustment of foreign exchange rates and they remain stable, thegovernor asserted, adding that his bank has no good reason to make theadjustment because the current supply and demand for foreign currenciesare assured.

He said Vietnam has seen a surplus of more than10 billion USD in balance of payment since the beginning of this yearand 10 billion USD has been purchased by the central bank, and predictedthat this year’s foreign currency supply and demand will be great.

To further boost exports and prevent an over-appreciation of thedomestic currency, the SBV will consider an adjustment of exchange ratesin an appropriate manner, the governor added.-VNA