Yesterday the new exchange rate officially took effect. The average dong/dollar interbank exchange rate is now 18,932 dong per dollar instead of 18,544 dong.
Electronics shops in Hanoi opened as usual, but customers realized that costs had risen significantly.
At an electronics shop on Hai Ba Trung street, the owner reminded an officer: “The dollar price is 19,500 dong today, not 19,300 dong.” If customers paid in dong, the sum of money they had to pay was higher.
A car dealer in HCM City warned that the dong/dollar exchange rate adjustment will immediately lead to car price increases. In general, car prices are set in dollars, so the dollar price will remain unchanged, but the dong price has risen.
The auto dealer thinks that few customers will buy cars now, because sums in dong will be relatively large.
Phan Dinh Son, Director of Bao An Computer Company, noted that retailers who quote prices in dong did not adjust rates yesterday. He warned that price adjustments may take place soon, when sellers must raise prices to cover the dollar price increase.
According to VnExpress newspaper, prices have only been applied by shops that quote them in dollars, while the prices have been kept unchanged at shops that quote prices in dong.
The Media Mart home appliance supermarket sales staff confirmed that the prices of laptops, cell phones and iPhones on August 18 were the same.
When asked why he had not raised prices with the dollar increase, the owner of a jewelry kiosk at Vincom shopping mall replied: “I know the dollar price has increased, but I cannot raise the prices everyday in accordance with the black market dollar prices.”.
In HCM City, right after the dong/dollar exchange rate was released, gas trading firms immediately gathered to discuss new rates. They decided to raise the price by 4000 dong per 12 kg gas tank, starting August 19.
“The State Bank of Vietnam has adjusted the dollar price by 400 dong, therefore, the gas price would increase by 333 dong per kilo, or 4000 dong per tank,” calculated Do Trung Thanh, a senior executive of Saigon Petro. Other gas firms must follow Saigon Petro’s move.
The director of Dai Viet Vinagas acknowledged that his business has been affected by the dollar price. “Today we purchased 100 tons of gas with the exchange rate at 19,300 dong per dollar,” he revealed on August 18.
Computer shops kept prices unchanged on August 18. “However, we will update information and adjust our prices everyday. Prices tomorrow may be different from today,” observed Tan, a salesman at Hoan Long Computer on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street.
