The Prime Minister of Vietnam has requested the state bank intervene in the gold market after gold in Vietnam hit US$3,296 per tael or US$86.51 per gram, Reuters is reporting. The current world gold price is about US$66.45 per gram. The directive offers little detail other than to suggest the state bank find ways of stabilising the gold price.
Additional information
- Gold is seen as a safe haven asset in Vietnam;
- Vietnam’s GDP is set to come in at around 5 percent much lower than the 8 percent recorded in 2022;
- Savings interest rates are at all time lows;
- Market liquidity has fallen significantly in recent months; and
- Credit growth is set to come in at around 10 percent for the year on a target of 15 percent.
With this in mind, it seems record high gold prices may be the result of a lack of consumer confidence in other investment vehicles.
Vietnam’s gold imports, 2018 to 2022, US$
| Source | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Hong Kong, China | 57,974 | 64,332 | 77,096 | 110,938 | 113,152 |
| Korea, Republic of | 33,553 | 34,962 | 78,519 | 61,097 | 66,523 |
| Japan | 11,994 | 15,273 | 16,492 | 21,084 | 20,971 |
| Australia | 13,605 | 11,929 | 14,419 | 19,801 | 20,084 |
| United States of America | 4,653 | 5,716 | 6,500 | 8,866 | 10,601 |
| China | 0 | 966 | 5,146 | 8,464 | 8,248 |
| Thailand | 382 | 1,226 | 1,267 | 3,662 | 7,355 |
| Singapore | 1,670 | 2,121 | 4,067 | 5,457 | 5,662 |
| Malaysia | 4,289 | 4,204 | 3,946 | 5,431 | 4,540 |
| United Arab Emirates | 4,753 | 8,368 | 691 | 9,012 | 3,598 |
| Switzerland | 457 | 517 | 1,928 | 1,502 | 2,639 |
| Italy | 414 | 161 | 40 | 80 | 907 |
| Saudi Arabia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 838 | |
| Canada | 1,191 | 799 | 628 | 1,203 | 178 |
| Denmark | 297 | 316 | 87 | 133 | |
| Germany | 35 | 11 | 483 | 47 | 64 |
| Austria | 0 | 0 | 235 | 0 | 0 |
| France | 12,177 | 10,769 | 4,221 | 0 | 0 |
| Indonesia | 115 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| India | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| Türkiye | 0 | 0 | 198 | 0 | 0 |
| United Kingdom | 11 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| World | 147,569 | 161,721 | 215,964 | 256,672 | 265,493 |
Vietnam’s gold imports vs regional peers, US$ thousands
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
| Thailand | 11,445,241 | 7,028,884 | 5,050,804 | 8,368,646 | 11,364,620 |
| Malaysia | 2,978,053 | 2,406,865 | 2,252,897 | 4,210,469 | 3,877,435 |
| Indonesia | 2,129,709 | 1,768,420 | 1,901,743 | 2,681,663 | 3,519,420 |
| Vietnam | 147,569 | 161,721 | 215,964 | 256,672 | 265,493 |
| Philippines | 129,620 | 104,050 | 88,161 | 93,692 | 96,365 |
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Source: Trade Map