While most retailers and service providers in Ho Chi Minh City seem to have obeyed the ban on listing prices in foreign currencies, mostly US dollars, over the last year, they are now repeating the rule violation.
A Canon G15 camera on display at a store in the Saigon Tax Trade Center in District 1 is listed at US$390, while the equivalent price in the local currency is VND8.48 million, or a forex rate of VND21,750 per dollar.
At a nearby camera store, one can choose to pay either $1,500 or VND32 million for a Nikon camera.
Surprisingly enough, the stores at this shopping venue apply different forex rates, ranging from VND21,000 to VND21,650 per dollar. The official rate is VND21,190 per dollar.
Several travel agencies, meanwhile, are willing to accept payments in US dollars despite the listed prices in Vietnamese dong.
It is illegal for businesses operating in Vietnam to list their prices in foreign currency, and violators of this rule are subject to cash penalties that can go up to VND500 million ($23,800), according to a government’s decree dated back to October 2011.
Credit institutions and businesses operating in the aviation and customs sectors are exempted from the ban, while other special demands for quoting prices in foreign currency must be approved by the State Bank of Vietnam.
Old chestnut excuse
Most businesses have cleared payments for their imported goods in dollars, thus have to quote prices in the greenback to make up for the expense, they said.
The owner of the Canon shop at Saigon Tax said he had to buy dollars from the unofficial markets, so selling the products in dollars “helps protect my capital.”
Other retailers say quoting in dollars keeps them from readjusting the Vietnamese prices every day, given the fluctuating forex rates.
Nguyen Hong Minh, deputy director of the HCMC branch of the central bank, said dozens of violations have been discovered and fined in the year to date.
Minh said his institution will join hands with the city’s market management watchdog to run more checks and crack down on the violations.
According to the law, besides having to pay cash fine, the violators will also have the payments in foreign currency confiscated.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
