The foreign currency free market is opening again

Nguyen Thi
Ha in My Dinh residential quarter in Hanoi
luckily purchased 2000 dollars from a foreign exchange shop on Ha Trung street on
April 3. Ha said in the past, she sometimes went to the shops on the street to
purchase dollars and she has much experience in the currency trades. However,
Ha had to use the power of persuasion  to
purchase dollars on that day. Previously, Ha always called the shop’s owner to
ask about the prices before she came directly to the shop to make transactions.
However, no one answered her calls on April 3.

“The
foreign exchange shops on the street these days all answer to clients that they
do not sell or purchase foreign currencies any more. However, if you are loyal
clients, and if you have “letters of introductions” from relatives of the
shops’ owners, you will still be able to purchase dollars, as much as you
want,” Ha said.

She
revealed that she could purchase dollars on April 3 because she knows a person,
who is a business trader of the shop’s owner on Ha Trung street. Ha said she had to pay
21,200 dong per dollar on that day.

The shops
on Ha Trung street
these days still look quiet like other days. However, foreign currency trade
still has been carried out inside the shops, very quietly and secretly. Only
loyal clients, or those, who have relations with shops’ owners, can make
transactions. Meanwhile, all the people, who come to the shops for the first
time, have been refused to be served.

One of the
clients told Tien Phong that most of shops’ owners here are always on the
alert. There are one or two men standing outside every shop and are the first
people clients will meet when coming to the shops. The client said he was told
by the men that the shops had no more dollars to sell. “I am not sure if you
are a real client who really needs to purchase dollars. You are not a familiar
face. Therefore, we refuse to serve you,” a man told him.

The client
said that since the State Bank of Vietnam has launched a campaign to
eliminate the foreign currency black market, foreign exchange shops have to
become very cautious when making transactions. Shops’ owners fear that State
Bank’s officers or policemen may disguise themselves as dollar buyers to catch foreign
exchange shops illegally trading foreign currencies.

At 11 am of
April 4, VnExpress’ reporter saw 6-7 people making transactions at one of the
big shops on Ha Trung street.
Meanwhile, in front of smaller shops, there were only some motorbikes parking
outside.

A person
came to the big shop asking to purchase dollars, but he was refused. After the
person tried to persuade the shop’s owner that he really needed Vietnam dong to
build houses and he wanted to sell dollars, the owner of the neighboring shop
looked into the client’s face carefully and agreed to purchase the dollars from
the client at 21,050 dong per dollar. However, the shop’s owner said she only
purchased the sums of money of 500 dollars and higher.

Besides the
shops on Ha Trung street,
the black market on Hoan Kiem Lake still gathers.  Here traders do not seek for potential clients
among passerbys, but instead people who really need to make transactions seek
out the traders themselves. Clients have to prove that they really need foreign
currencies. According to VnExpress, at 11 am of April 4, the dollar was sold at
21,400 dong per dollar.

The dollar
price on the black market has decreased considerably by 1000 dong per dollar
from that of one month ago. The dollar price once jumped to 22,400 dong per
dollar, and the State Bank immediately began taking drastic measures to
eliminate the black market.

C. V