Vietnam's foreign exchange reserves near record US$80b

[HANOI] Vietnam's foreign exchange reserves hit a new high of almost US$80 billion, with a quarter of it bought this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at a forum on Monday.

Foreign exchange reserves of the South-east Asian country have been growing steadily in recent years, backed by robust exports.

"The increase in foreign exchange reserves, used to stabilise currency and control inflation, is a positive economic indicator of 2019, although there remained concerns over growth as the scale of the economy has expanded in the past few years," Mr Phuc said, adding the State Bank of Vietnam had bought US$20 billion in foreign currencies this year.

The South-east Asian country posted GDP growth above seven per cent for second year running, with a US$9.94 billion trade surplus in 2019, official data showed.

REUTERS