HANOI: Vietnam's central bank said on Friday it will increase gold bar supplies to stablise the market as domestic prices have been much higher than global prices for the past months.
The price of gold in the Southeast Asian country has gained significantly this year, reaching a peak of 85 million dong (US$3,401.36) per tael on Friday morning, while on the global market each tael was trading at US$2,388.
One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces.
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the central bank, said in a statement it had prepared plans to intervene in the market.
"For the gold bar market, SBV will increase supply to deal with the high difference between domestic and global prices," SBV said.
It did not say if it would resume the importation of gold bars as part of its plan to increase supply.
Late last year, due to the rapid increase of gold bar prices which had hurt market sentiment, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh ordered the central bank to tackle the issue more effectively. - Reuters