No plan to devalue Vietnam's currency

HANOI: Vietnam doesn't plan to devalue the dong, and will manage monetary policy in a 'flexible way,' central bank governor Nguyen Van Giau said yesterday.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd expects the State Bank of Vietnam to devalue the official exchange rate 4 percent by year-end to 18,500 dong against the dollar. Foreigners are shunning Vietnamese bonds out of concern the government will let the currency weaken, Indochina Capital Advisors Ltd, a Ho Chi Minh City-based fund manager, said last week.

Vietnam wants to increase exports, Giau told the nation's National Assembly yesterday. The currency has weakened 2.2 percent so far this year, helping to boost competitiveness. Exports fell 14 percent through October from the same period last year.