Lunar New Year 2019: No new 10,000 VND banknotes printed

Speaking at the meeting this morning, January 7, Mr. Pham Bao Lam, Director of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)'s Department of Issuance and Treasury, said: The policy of not putting newly printed small-denomination money into circulation since 2013 has helped save thousands of billions of VND for the State budget in costs related to printing, delivery, loading, unloading, counting, transportation, preservation, etc.

Particularly during the Lunar New Year 2019, although no new money printed will be released to the market, according to Mr. Lam, the total amount of small change in circulation for this occasion is expected to increase by 25%, including newly printed money during the year and small denomination money in circulation to meet the economic needs during the Lunar New Year 2019.

Previously, since April 2018, the State Bank of Vietnam has had a policy to promote the supply of banknotes with denominations under 10,000 VND until the end of November, including both old and newly printed banknotes.

Since November 2018, the State Bank of Vietnam has stopped printing new banknotes with a small denomination of VND10,000, but the demand for small denominations has still been fully met. In 2018, the amount of small denominations under VND10,000 on the market increased by 12% compared to 2017.

According to Mr. Lam, by not printing and releasing new money to the market during the 2019 Tet holiday, the State budget is expected to save 390 billion VND. Accumulated from 2013 to present, the amount of money saved by not printing new small-denomination money during the holiday is about 2,590 billion VND.

Regarding the work of ensuring cash demand at the end of 2018, the State Bank has proactively developed cash supply plans, planned and implemented money transfers from the Central Government to the State Bank branches in provinces and cities across the country to increase reserves, promptly meeting the cash demand of the economy at the end of the year and before the Lunar New Year 2019.

From now until the Lunar New Year 2019, the State Bank will closely monitor the cash situation in each locality, focusing resources at the highest level to transfer additional reserves, promptly responding to sudden and unusual needs. With the current reserve amount, the State Bank will ensure sufficient cash supply for circulation in terms of value and a reasonable structure of denominations.

The work of ensuring the quality, safety, and smoothness of ATM transactions and payment systems and ensuring cash needs at the end of the year is of particular concern to the State Bank. The State Bank regularly monitors and supervises to promptly direct commercial banks on service quality, security, and safety in payment activities and ATM system operations.

At the end of 2018, the State Bank of Vietnam issued documents directing commercial banks to prepare resources, ensure payment activities take place safely and smoothly, and serve payment needs well at the end of the year and the Lunar New Year 2019; in particular, requiring commercial banks to proactively replenish funds fully and promptly, and take appropriate measures to reduce the load on ATMs, ensuring the smooth, stable and safe operation of the ATM system.

Implementing the direction of the State Bank, commercial banks have proactively developed plans to replenish funds for ATMs, arranged teams to replenish reserve funds; coordinated with companies using payroll services to determine the time of salary and bonus payments to provide the best service; maintained and replaced equipment for ATMs before the Tet salary and bonus payments; equipped with security monitoring software for ATM transactions to promptly detect unusual transactions, etc.