The target of Vietnam’s campaign to stabilize its currency is in the locked bedroom wardrobe of retired civil servant Vu Thi Huong: gold bars.
“It’s been my habit for ages, buying gold whenever I can save up some money,” said Huong, 57, who watches the financial news every day to monitor the price of the precious metal. “With gold, I can save my fortune and later on have something valuable to pass down to my children and grandchildren.”
Huong is among millions of Vietnamese who hold an estimated 300 tons to 400 tons of bullion to store their wealth -- valued at as much as $19 billion at domestic prices and equal to official U.K. holdings -- a legacy of more than a century of war, revolution and economic turbulence. The central bank wants to convert the hoard, much of it smuggled in, into dong deposits to strengthen the currency, which has slid 21 percent against the dollar in five years.
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