“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. Huong is among millions of Vietnamese who hold an estimated 300 tons to 400 tons of bullion to store their wealth — 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. To reduce contraband and persuade people to sell their bullion, the central bank made itself the sole importer and Saigon Jewelry Co. the only legal producer of gold bars.”
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