SOURCE LANGUAGE TEXT VIETNAMS DOLLAR TRADE Cleaning out the till Vietnams currency woes have taken

an interesting turn of late. The Phnom Penh Post recently reported that Vietnamese are day-tripping over the border (they dont need a visa) to take advantage of the American dollars that are readily available from many of Cambodias cash machines. Quite a few Cambodian ATMs were emptied out. However by last month this scam (really a rudimentary form of currency arbitrage) had been shut down, with Vietnams Techcombank, which had enabled it by charging particularly low fees for foreign-currency transactions, raising its rates across the board to deter the day-trippers. Dollars can be hard to come by in Vietnam automated cash machines do not offer them and banks limit the amounts that can be withdrawn. The official rate as fixed by the government is 19,500 dong to the dollar, while on the black market they sell at some 21,000 dong. Dollars are widely used in Cambodia and many transactions, in particular those that involve tourists or the expat NGO community, are rarely conducted in the rather maligned local currency, the riel. With institutions like Techcombank being obliged to use the official Vietnamese rate, and adding only low surcharges on withdrawals, the day-trippers were making good money reselling their Cambodia-bought dollars for dong on the black market. The FT calculated their profit at around 5% per transaction. Most of Vietnams black-market traders work out of gold shops the gold trade is also tightly controlled by the government but some travel companies and independent traders also deal in hard currency. The Phnom Penh Post quoted Stephen Higgins, chief executive of the ANZ Royal Bank, customers using Vietnams Techcombank have withdrawn $12m since December. Customers were able to withdraw up to $2,000 per day, though this has since been cut back to $500, according to reports. Mr Higgins explained Its one of those things where one person figures out this is a way to make money, tells a few people who tell a few more people, and suddenly you get busloads of people coming across the border to try and do it. Why did nobody think of this obvious trade till recently? Partly it is to do with the situation back in Vietnam: inflation is at about 12%, the dong has already been devalued several times and it looks likely that it will be again soon. Patriotic as citizens may be, they do not always trust their nations currency. Many like to keep handy reserves of a more readily exchanged currency, like the greenback or gold, for that matter. The ban on dollars in Vietnam is, the official line goes, to force the use of the dong, in the interest of keeping it stable. However the wide spread between the official and black-market rates, coupled with the availability of dollars just across an open border, has forced a false

demand for the dong never a good thing in a country already struggling with economic uncertainty and accelerating inflation. During Vietnams Communist Party Congress, Gavin Greenwood, a Hong Kong-based security analyst for Allen and Associates, told me that ordinary people are learning ways to deal with economic uncertainty in the face of the states oftentimes inept interference. He said they can be expected to increasingly ignore the strictures of the party and effectively operate as far as possible in alternative economies that provide a safety value. This will come at the cost of the partys credibility and economic strategy. The government has clamped down on black-market currency trading before. Whether to firm up the dong or for broader political reasons, it may soon find an interest in doing so again. From: http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/02/vietnams_dollar_trade

TRANSLATION TNH TRNG MUA BN -LA VIT NAM Ngi dn Vit Nam ang vt sch cc my ATM ti Cam-pu-chia Trong thi gian qua, Vit Nam gp phi nhiu kh khn v vn tin t. Theo t Phnom Penh Post, gn y ngi Vit Nam thng qua Cam-pu-chia (ngi Vit Nam khng cn xin th thc khi sang Cam-pu-chia) rt -la c sn trong nhiu my rt tin t ng (ATM) ri mang v Vit Nam bn . Nhiu my ATM ti Cam-pu-chia b rt sch tin. Tuy nhin thng trc, vic tng ph giao dch ngoi t ca ngn hng Techcombank Vit Nam chm dt mu ny ca ngi dn (thc cht l mt dng ca hnh thc kinh doanh chnh lch t gi tin t). y l bin php ca Techcombank nhm ngn chn cc ch th ATM sang Cam-pu-chia rt tin kim li bi trc y ngn hng ny b li dng do p dng ph chuyn i ngoi t qu thp. Ngi Vit Nam kh c th tip cn vi ng -la v h khng th rt -la t cc my ATM v cc ngn hng th hn ch s lng -la bn ra. Chnh ph nim yt t gi mi la tng ng vi 19.500 ng trong khi t gi ch en l khong 21.000 ng n 1 -la. ng -la c s dng rng ri Cam-pu-chia v i vi nhiu giao dch th ng tin ca Cam-pu-chia ng riel rt t khi c s dng, nht l trong giao dch vi khch du lch hay cng ng ngi nc ngoi lm vic ti cc t chc phi chnh ph. Vic ngn hng Techcombank buc phi s dng t gi nim yt v p dng ph chuyn i ngoi t thp khi rt tin to iu kin cho nhng ngi kinh doanh tin t kim li, bng cch bn li s -la h mua t Cam-pu-chia ly tin ng ch en. Theo tnh ton ca t Financial Times, nhng ngi ny s thu c li nhun khong 5% tng gi tr mi giao dch. Hu ht gii kinh doanh trn th trng ch en khng giao dch trong cc hiu vng v chnh ph ang kim sot gt gao th trng ny, tuy nhin mt s cng ty du lch v cc nh bun t do vn kinh doanh ngoi t mnh. T Phnom Penh Post trch li ca ng Stephen Higgins, Tng gim c Ngn hng Hong gia ANZ, rng cc ch th Techcombank ca Vit Nam rt 12 triu USD k t thng 12. Trc y, cc ch th c th rt ti a 2.000 -la tin mt mi ngy nhng hin nay hn mc ny gim xung cn 500 -la mt ngy. ng Higgins gii thch rng Mi u mt ngi ngh ra c cch kim tin qu d ny, truyn ming li cho vi ngi khc, my ngi ny li r tai nhau, th ri t nhin chng ta thy hng lot ngi x qua bin gii th v lm theo cch ny. Ti sao cha c ai ngh n hnh thc kinh doanh hin nhin ny cho n thi gian gn y? Mt phn nguyn nhn l tnh hnh kinh t Vit Nam: lm pht ang gi mc 12%, tin ng mt gi nhiu ln v tnh trng ny c th s cn tip din. Ngi Vit Nam khng phi l khng yu nc, nhng khng phi lc no h cng tin vo h thng tin t quc gia. V th, ngi ta mun tch tr mt loi tin t c th trao i d dng nh -la M hoc vng.

Vic cm -la l mt bin php buc ngi dn s dng ng tin Vit Nam nhm gi tin ng n nh. Tuy nhin s chnh lch ln gia t gi nim yt v t gi ch en, kt hp vi tnh trng -la sn c bn kia bin gii to ra nhu cu o v tin ng y khng phi l tn hiu tt cho mt quc gia vn ang cht vt vi nn kinh t bt n nh v lm pht tng cao. Trong thi gian din ra i hi ng Cng Sn Vit Nam, ng Gavin Greenwood, chuyn gia phn tch an ninh ca cng ty Allan & Associates t ti Hng Kng, cho bit ngi dn ang hc cch i ph vi s bt n ca nn kinh t bt chp s can thip v l ca nh nc. Theo ng, ngi dn rt c th s pht l s qun l nghim ngt ca ng v hot ng mt cch hiu qu nht vi cc ngnh kinh t thay th khc s mang li gi tr an ton cho h. Vic ny s sm din ra di s tn nhim ca ng v mt chin lc kinh t. Trc y, Chnh ph tng kim sot gt gao th trng ch en v trong thi gian ti s ti thc hin chnh sch ny d l vi mc ch n nh tin ng hay v nhng l do chnh tr khc