Central bank to stop printing small currency notes for Tet
Central bank to stop printing small currency notes for Tet
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will not be printing low-denomination banknotes for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, according to a press statement from the central bank released earlier today, January 7.
Pham Bao Lam, head of the Issue and Vault Department at SBV, was quoted by the Vietnam News Agency as saying that the central bank has been following a policy to stop offering new notes of low denominations such as VND10,000 (44 U.S. cents) and lower on the market since November 2018.
Despite no issuance of new bills, the number of low-denomination banknotes already in circulation is expected to rise by 25% during the forthcoming Tet holiday, according to Lam.
The central bank estimated that the number of small banknotes with a face value of less than VND10,000 last year saw a 12% increase over the previous year.
“The cash monitor of SBV will run for the entire year to ensure cash reserves for all banking branches in provinces and cities and to meet the requirements of the economy, not only for the Lunar New Year alone,” he stressed.
He pointed out that between April and late November last year, the SBV had made a concerted effort to provide enough small-denomination bills, including both those in circulation and those newly printed. The 12% rise is also expected to fully meet the needs of individuals and organizations in 2018 and January 2019.
The decision to stop issuing new notes in low denominations in December 2018 and January 2019 is expected to save some VND390 billion (US$16.8 million) for the State budget, he revealed.
This is the seventh consecutive year that the central bank has adopted this stance. “Since 2013, the savings for the State budget have totaled some VND2.59 trillion (US$111.6 million),” he said.
