Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Vietnamese đồng

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500,000 đồng
  
500 đồng

1/10
  
hào

Code
  
VND

1/100
  
xu both subunits have been unused in Vietnam for several years

Symbol
  
₫ U+20AB ₫ DONG SIGN (HTML ₫)

Banknotes
  
100₫, 200₫, 500₫, 1,000₫, 2,000₫, 5,000₫ (these five - except for 100- are old issue, but still in circulation), 10,000₫, 20,000₫, 50,000₫, 100,000₫, 200,000₫, 500,000₫

The đồng (/dɒŋ/; [ˀɗɜwŋ͡m˨˩]; sign: ; code: VND) has been the currency of Vietnam since May 3, 1978. Issued by the State Bank of Vietnam, it is represented by the symbol "₫". Formerly, it was subdivided into 10 hào, which was further subdivided into 10 xu, neither of which is now used.

Contents

Etymology

The word đồng is from the term đồng tiền ("money"), a loanword from the Chinese tóng qián (Traditional Chinese: 銅錢; Simplified Chinese: 铜钱). The term refers to Chinese bronze coins used as currency during the dynastic periods of China and Vietnam. The term hào is a loanword from the Chinese háo (Chinese: 毫), meaning a tenth of a currency unit.

The sign is encoded U+20AB DONG SIGN (HTML ₫).

North Vietnam

In 1946, the Viet Minh government (later to become the government of North Vietnam) introduced its own currency, the đồng, to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par. Two revaluations followed, in 1951 and 1958; the first was at a rate of 100:1, the second at a rate of 1,000:1.

South Vietnam

Notes dually denominated in piastres and đồng were issued in 1953 for the State of Vietnam, which evolved into South Vietnam in 1954. On September 22, 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the currency in South Vietnam was changed to a "liberation đong" worth 500 old Southern đồng.

United Vietnam

After Vietnam was reunified, the đồng was also unified, on May 3, 1978. One new đồng equalled one Northern đồng or 0.8 Southern "liberation" đồng.

On September 14, 1985, the đồng was revalued, with the new đồng worth 10 old đồng. This started a cycle of chronic inflation that continued through much of the early 1990s.

Coins

For earlier modern Vietnamese coins, please see North Vietnamese đồng or South Vietnamese đồng.

First đồng

In 1978, aluminium coins (dated 1976), were introduced in denominations of 1, 2, and 5 hào and 1 đồng. The coins were minted by the Berlin mint in the German Democratic Republic and bear the state crest on the obverse and denomination on the reverse. Due to chronic inflation, these coins lost all their relevant value and no coins circulated for many years after this series.

Commemorative Issues

Commemorative coins in copper, brass, copper-nickel, silver, and gold have been issued since 1986, but none of these have ever been used in circulation.

2003 Issue

The State Bank of Vietnam resumed issuing coins on December 17, 2003. The new coins, minted by the Mint of Finland, were in denominations of 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 đồng in either nickel clad steel or brass clad steel. Earlier, Vietnamese had to exchange banknotes for tokens with a clerk before purchasing goods from vending machines. This was also to help the state ease the cost of producing large quantities of small notes which tended to wear hard. Many residents expressed excitement at seeing coins reappear after many years, as well as concern for the limited usefulness of the 200 đồng coins due to ongoing inflationary pressures. There had been rumors of coins being mistaken for candies by children and as fakes by some vendors since coins had long been absent from use in Vietnam, these reports have been difficult to verify.

Since the launch of the 2003 coin series, the State Bank has had some difficulties with making the acceptance of coins universal despite the partial discontinuation of smaller notes, to the point of some banks refusing coin cash deposits or the cashing in of large amounts of coins. This has prompted laws requiring private and municipal banks to transact and offer services for coins and the full discontinuation of small denomination and cotton based notes.

Bearer's checks 1992–2002

To support the growing industrial need for large money transactions, the State Bank issued "Bearer's Checks" or "State Bank Settlement Checks" (Ngân Phiếu Thanh Toán) in denominations from 100,000 to 5,000,000 đồng. To prevent counterfeiting, these notes had many degrees of protection, their designs were changed every five to six months, and they had expiration dates five or six months after the date of issue. The checks worked until the banking system was upgraded to handle electronic transfers of large amounts of đồng, making most large cash transactions unnecessary.

Other uses of đồng

In the Vietnamese language, "đồng" can be used as a generic term for any currency by adding the name of a country as a qualifier. This practice is more common for more esoteric units of currency.

In present-day Vietnam, một ngàn / một nghìn (one thousand) is widely understood as one thousand đồng.

Exchange rate

After the revaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar on 1 August 2006, the đồng became the least valued currency unit for months. Around 21 March 2007, the revalued Zimbabwean dollar regained least valued currency status (in terms of black market exchange rate), and on 7 September 2007 in terms of official exchange rate. After the use of the Zimbabwean dollar ceased on 12 April 2009, the đồng was the second least valued currency unit after the Iranian rial as of 28 November 2014. Since 19 June 2014, the Vietnamese dong has been devalued a total of five times in an effort to help spur exports and to ensure the stability of the currency.

(Sources: tradingeconomics.com, imf.org)

References

Vietnamese đồng Wikipedia