Central bank says to ensure enough cash for Tet

Central bank says to ensure enough cash for Tet

The demand for cash during the Lunar New year holiday, or Tet, is forecast not to be as high as that of last year and the central bank has already prepared a large volume of cash accordingly, a central bank official said.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the HCMC branch of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said large volumes of cash have been delivered to head offices of local banks to meet rising demand for salary and bonus payment at firms and shopping among locals. At the same time, the central bank has prepared cash to serve State budgets’ spending as well.

As liquidity of lenders in the city is quite stable and the banks have already prepared cash to serve cash withdrawal of corporate and individual depositors, cash shortage is therefore unlikely, Minh said.

SBV has asked banks not to let cash shortfalls happen at any automated teller machine (ATM) for lengthy periods of 24 hours. Lenders will have to feed money to the machines in a timely manner to avoid the fact that local people could not withdraw money like last year.

Similarly, local banks in the city are also busy with cash preparations for Tet.

Nguyen Thanh Toai, deputy general director of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), said his bank had prepared cash to meet strong cash withdrawal at the year’s end. ACB is ready to meet the demand for cash, with more treasury staff members mobilized and working extra hours to serve the demand for Tet, he added.

Trinh Van Tuan, chairman of Orient Commercial Bank (OCB), said unlike previous years, this year’s cash supply at lenders is ample thanks to SBV’s support. He meanwhile predicted salaries and bonus of companies at a lower level than in previous years, meaning commercial banks will not face high pressure for cash this year.

Duong Ngoc Minh, acting director of the card center of DongA Bank, said his bank this year had equipped more ATMs, with cash withdrawal points upgraded, to serve depositors before the holiday. Cash replenishment at the bank’s ATMs will also be taken into account, but with a huge number of cardholders, Minh is not sure about congestion.

The central bank last Friday organized a press briefing on meeting the cash demand for the Tet holiday. Nguyen Chi Thanh, director of the treasury department of the central bank, said on the SBV portal that his agency had considered several solutions on cash demand for the Tet holiday.

vietnamnet