Vietnam Money-Dollar deposit rates up as demand rises

HANOI, March 31 (Reuters) - Vietnam banks raised dollar deposit rates in the past week to meet increased demand, a central bank report and bankers said on Monday.

Dollar demand is rising partly because companies need to meet trade commitments as the country's trade deficit swells, bankers said. Exporters are also holding back dollars as the currency rises in value against the dong, they added.

Maritime Bank said on Monday it planned to raise $30 million via selling certificates of deposits over the next two months starting on April 1 by offering higher returns.

It will pay an interest of 6.2 percent on 3-month certificate, above a 6 percent deposit rate offered last Monday by Ho Chi Minh City-based Eximbank. Eximbank raised deposit rates last week by as much as 0.3 percentage point.

Maritime Bank's offer is also higher than a ceiling rate of 6 percent that commercial banks have agreed to apply to dollar deposits from April 2, following meetings of the Vietnam Banks Association last week.

Vietcombank, which handles 25 percent of Vietnam's trade payments, offered to buy dollars at 16,090 dong VND= on Monday, compared with last Monday's rate of 15,815 dong.

The State Bank of Vietnam, the central bank, said banks offered to sell the dollar at 16,080 dong to 16,120 dong on Friday.

On the free markets, the dollar advanced to 16,170-16,220 dong on Friday, a rise of 3 percent since March 20.

The central bank set the official exchange rate at 15,960 dong per dollar on Monday, a drop of 0.9 percent so far this year. On March 10 it widened the dong/dollar daily trading band to +/-1.0 percent of the official rate, from +/-0.75 percent.