Vietnam - Vietnamese prefer laying by their money in wardrobe to traveling

VietNamNet Bridge – Depositing Vietnam dong at banks and buying gold are the two ways of keeping money that most Vietnamese people choose.

Answering the question by a local newspaper “Where would you pour money to if you had idle cash?” More than a half of polled people said they have no money left to accumulate in the context of the current difficulties.

However, keeping dong and buying gold remain the two biggest choices.

Nguyen Tri Hieu, a finance and banking expert, said people should not “put all eggs into the same basket” in order to disperse risks. Investors would make decisions on where to put money into depending on their ages and characters.

In general, there are four most popular investment channels – gold, Vietnam dong, dollar and real estate. “As I am still young, I would engage in hazardous activities. Therefore, I would use 30 percent of the money I have on gold, the other 30 percent on real estate, and the remaining 40 percent on bank deposits,” he said.

“If I am old and I do not want to take risks, I would deposit 60 percent of the money I have at banks, and the other money on real estate,” he added.

Nielsen, in its latest report, pointed out that the majority of Vietnamese people would deposit idle money at banks instead of traveling, spending on goods and services, or making investment.

Up to 66 percent of polled people said they would use hoard up money and deposit at banks to get monthly interest rates after they pay for basic needs.

VnExpress, a local newspaper, has found out from its survey on 18,000 its readers that most people keep money in Vietnam dong and gold. Besides, they also keep money in real estate (10.8 percent) and foreign currencies (5.1 percent).

Vuong in Dong Da district in Hanoi said that it would be better to save money in both Vietnam dong and foreign currencies. “I have 50 million dong and 1000 euro in deposits at banks. I do not like gold because gold price always fluctuates,” Vuong said.

Hieu also said that depositing dong at banks should be the choice of those, who do not want to take risks. Especially, according to Hieu, the bank deposit interest rates in Vietnam are “too attractive,” if compared with the rates applied in other countries.

In Vietnam, people can enjoy the interest rate of 9 percent per annum on average, and 12-13 percent per annum for longer term deposits, while in the US, the interest rates are just 1-2 percent per annum.

“As the interest rate has been curbed at 6-7 percent, depositors now can enjoy real positive profits,” Hieu explained.

Meanwhile, Dr Le Xuan Nghia, a well-known economist in Vietnam, believes that the gold price may go up in the time to come, but just very slightly. Nghia, who was Deputy Chair of the National Finance Supervision Council, believes in the recovery of the real estate market.

“The central banks in the world have been loosening the monetary policies. If the economies can recovery because of this, the real estate price would increase,” he said.

Former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Dang Hung Vo, who is considered the most experienced land expert in Vietnam, agrees that the investments in real estate have always been the most profitable.

“However,” Vo said, “people should inject money on the right market segments. For example, new urban areas and the areas which have been programmed for development would see the prices increase significantly in the future.”

Meanwhile, according to Dr Alan Phan, Chair of Viasa investment fund, if people have confidence in the Vietnam’s banking system, they would deposit money at banks. Keeping dollars could be a choice, but the dollar deposit interest rates are low now, while there has been no sign showing that the dong would be devaluated.

Thu Uyen

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