This year, the State Bank of Vietnam did not introduce to the market small denominations of 5,000 VND or less, so the new 10,000 VND notes became "hot" again.

As scheduled, the money marketSmall change and new money are in high demand before Tet due to the need to exchange new money for lucky money for children and to go to pagodas on the first day of the year. The story of every household and every person... racing to exchange small change and new money on Tet has become a "rule."

However, the amount of small change and new money issued by the State Bank of Vietnam in the last months of the year is limited, so the phenomenon of "thirst" for small change and new money still occurs continuously. This year, the State Bank announced that it will not put on the market small denominations of 5,000 VND or less, so the new 10,000 VND money has become "hotter" than ever.

Ms. Nguyen Thuy Linh, an employee of a joint stock commercial bank on Ba Trieu Street (Hanoi), said that in recent days, friends and relatives have been calling and texting to ask for money exchange, making her impatient. "Right now, I don't dare accept many exchanges, only relatives and close friends dare to accept them, but I can't promise that there will be enough for everyone. Each family expects to exchange 5 million VND, which is already very valuable," Ms. Linh shared.

In the same situation as Ms. Linh, Mr. Tran Van Tinh is an employee of the Industrial and Commercial Bank. Although he does not have much need for small change or new money, he is always "thirsty" for money because people around him ask him to exchange it for him.

"My husband and I often have disagreements because of this money. Even when I'm sleeping soundly on a winter night, I get phone calls from acquaintances asking me to exchange new money of the smallest denomination possible. I'm really under a lot of pressure during Tet, my professional work is already overwhelming, now I have to ask this place or that to exchange it," Mr. Tinh lamented.

Mr. Tinh added that because he has a close relationship with the accounting department, every year he is asked by his colleagues in the department to exchange new money, so mistakes and shortages due to currency exchange always happen. This year, learning from previous years' experience, he assigned someone in the department to count the amount of money that needed to be exchanged and declared that he would only bring round bills (500,000 VND) to make it both compact and easy to count. When he took the money back, he also assigned someone to divide it, instead of doing it all like every year. Therefore, mistakes about money did not happen.

This year the State Bank did not issue small denomination notes [from 5,000 VND and below - PV] so 10,000 VND notes became more scarce than every year.

A leader of An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank said that every year the bank reserves the right to exchange small change and new money for VIP customers as an additional service to keep them loyal for a longer time. However, this year, the limit of small change and new money at banks is limited, so for small customers, exchanging new money at the bank is somewhat more difficult. 10,000 VND bills are the most requested to be exchanged, but this bank can only meet 40% of the demand, even 50,000 VND and 100,000 VND bills are scarcer than in previous years.

Many bank employees complain that they have to run around to prepare new stacks of money for individual customers or relatives and acquaintances.

To avoid being caught off guard, some bank employees have considered taking money that is already in circulation but still new in time for Tet.

“In compliance with the State Bank's policy, we have not released new 5,000 VND, 2,000 VND, and 1,000 VND notes even though we still have them in stock,” said the head of a joint stock commercial bank.

Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh, Director of the Issuance and Treasury Department, State Bank of Vietnam, said that along with fully meeting the cash demand at the end of the year and Lunar New Year, the State Bank often spends a certain amount of new money, including small denominations, to partially meet the people's needs.

Mr. Thanh said that if everyone changes money in a short time to use during Tet, the demand for new money and small denominations will increase dramatically, creating great pressure on the issuing agency and the banking system. Thus, when Tet is over, it will create a "surplus" and a large imbalance in the denomination structure, affecting the cash circulation regulation of the banking system and the State Treasury. Therefore, the State Bank must proactively regulate the demand for Tet and the cash structure to limit these adverse impacts on currency circulation.

But while commercial banks do not have new money or small change to exchange for customers, there is no shortage of "extremely rare" denominations on the "black market".

Regarding this "paradox", the leader of the State Bank affirmed that the fact that some individuals take advantage of people's need for new money to provide services of exchanging old money for new money to enjoy the difference is a violation of the law on currency. According to Decree 96 on penalties for unauthorized activities, this year, if detected, the activity of exchanging small change with a fee will be fined from 20 to 40 million VND./.

According to Vov.vn