Vietnam Says It Bought $25 Billion Of Dollars Over Past 2 Years

(Bloomberg) — Vietnam’s central bank bought about $25 billion worth of U.S. dollars over the past two years, according to a deputy governor.

The move helped inject the Vietnamese dong into the banking system and boost the economy, Pham Thanh Ha told an economic forum in Hanoi Sunday.

The U.S. Treasury last week announced that Vietnam met all the criteria again of being currency manipulator though it was “satisfied” with the progress made by the country to date on addressing exchange-rate issues.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, deputy head of the central economic committee, told the forum that economic damage from the pandemic over the past two years could reach 500 trillion dong. The government must try to boost public investment, domestic consumption and export oriented businesses to help economic recovery, he said.