said.

heels oŸa spat€ of econom ic refO

26. The latest order came on the
Vietnam away from its reliance on dollars. At the
beginning „ ordered eommercial banks to raise
their reserve-requirementrat
P©rcentage point to a range between 4 percenf and 7 percent.
27. “These measures will reduce the use of dollars in the
country, help stabilÏz the ... market, and encourage a switch
from dollar holdings to other assets,” said Nguyen Dai
Lai, the State
former deputy head of the Banking Development Departmenf under
Bank

of Vietnam. “*We should have taken these measures when we joined the WTO.”
28. Vietnam has been spending more on imports than it earns from exports. The
trade deficIt
reached about US$6.6 billion in the first five months of the year, up 23

percenf from the same period in 2010. Truong Hoang Luong, general
director ofthe Kien Long Bank, said
commmercial banks currently have an abundant supply of dollars. As a result, the Íforex

©xtensive retail network, a variety of financial products, modern information

technology

rumor may have stenmed from pure conjecture: ¡.e in order to acquire
Sacombank there must be someone with big bags of money and the ability

to hide the origin of the money

and hide the identity of its real owner.
31. Meanwhile, the deposit and lending ¡interest rates have declined
sharply by 5-§ percent per annum ¡in agreement with the changes in
macroeconomic situation and monetary market. The country°s balance of
payments in January-September was estimated to
increase about $8 billion, an important condition to increase
the national foreign exchange reserves, which have been recorded
 at $22-23 billion.
32... Local commercial banks are hoping to earn higher profits in the
next two quarters of the year so that they can meet their annual
pretax target, but current market conditions make