Vietnamese đồng

Vietnamese đồng
đồng Việt Nam (Vietnamese)
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ISO 4217 Code	VND
User(s)	Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Inflation	2.4%
Source	Vietnam Business Finance, September 24, 2009
Subunit
1/10	hào
1/100	xu both subunits have been unused in Vietnam for several years
Symbol	₫
Coins	200₫, 500₫, 1000₫, 2000₫, 5000₫
Banknotes	100₫, 200₫, 500₫, 1000₫, 2000₫, 5000₫ (these first six are old issue), 10,000₫, 20,000₫, 50,000₫, 100,000₫, 200,000₫, 500,000₫
Central bank	State Bank of Vietnam
Website	www.sbv.gov.vn

The đồng (English pronunciation: /ˈdɒŋ/, Vietnamese: [ɗôŋm]) (sign: ₫; code: VND) is the currency of Vietnam since May 3, 1978. It is issued by the State Bank of Vietnam. It has the symbol ₫. It is subdivided into 10 hào. However, the hào is now worth so little that it is no longer issued.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 North Vietnam 2.2 South Vietnam 2.3 United Vietnam 3 Coins 3.1 First đồng 3.2 Second đồng 3.2.1 Commemorative Issues 3.2.2 2003 Issue 4 Banknotes 4.1 First đồng 4.2 Second đồng 5 Bearer's checks 1992-2002 6 Other uses of đồng 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Etymology

The word đồng is from the term “đồng tiền” (lit. money) which is a cognate of the Chinese tóng qián (Traditional Chinese:銅錢; Simplified Chinese: 铜钱). The term refers to Chinese bronze coins which were used as currency during the dynastic periods of China and Vietnam. The term hào is a cognate of the Chinese "háo" (Traditional Chinese: 毫) which means 1/10th a currency unit.

History

North Vietnam

In 1946, North Vietnam's government introduced their own currency, the đồng, which replaced 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 1000:1.

South Vietnam

Notes dual denominated in piastre and đồng were issued in 1953 for the use in South Vietnam. On September 22, 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the currency in South Vietnam was changed to the "liberation" đồng worth 500 old southern đồng.

United Vietnam

After Vietnam was reunified, the đồng was also unified, on May 3, 1978. 1 new đồng = 1 northern đồng = 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 ^[1].

Coins

First đồng

In 1978, aluminium coins (dated 1976), were introduced in denominations of 1, 2 and 5 hào and 1 đồng. Due to chronic inflation, no coins circulated for many years.

Second đồng

Commemorative Issues

Commemorative coins in copper, brass, copper-nickel, silver, and gold were issued since 1986 but these coins have never been in circulation.

2003 Issue

The State Bank of Vietnam resumed issuing coins on December 17, 2003.^[2] The new coins, minted by the Mint of Finland, were in denominations of 200, 500, 1000, 2000 and 5000 đồng. Before that, Vietnamese had to exchange banknotes for tokens with a clerk before purchasing goods from vending machines. Many residents expressed excitement of seeing coins again after many years, as well as concern for the usefulness of the 200 đồng coins.^[3]

2003 Series [2]
Image	Value	Technical parameters				Description		Date of
		Diameter	Thickness	Mass	Composition	Obverse	Reverse	first minting	issue
[1] [2]	200₫	20 mm	1.45 mm	3.2 g	Steel plated with nickel	Coat of arms	Denomination	2003	December 17, 2003
	500₫	22 mm	1.75 mm	4.5 g	Steel plated with nickel				April 1, 2004
[3] [4]	1000₫	19 mm	1.95 mm	3.8 g	Steel plated with a copper-zinc alloy	Coat of arms	Water Temple, Đô Temple	2003	December 17, 2003
[5] [6]	2000₫	23.5 mm	1.8 mm	5.1 g	Steel plated with a copper-zinc alloy		Ethnic house		April 1, 2004
	5000₫	25.5 mm	2.2 mm	7.7 g	Copper alloy (CuAl6Ni92)		Một Cột Pagoda (One Pillar Pagoda)		December 17, 2003
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimeter. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

Banknotes

First đồng

In 1978, the State Bank of Vietnam (Ngân hàng Nhà nước Việt Nam) introduced notes in denominations of 5 hào, 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 đồng dated 1976. In 1980, 2 and 10 đồng notes were added, followed by 30 and 100 đồng notes in 1981.

Second đồng

In 1985, notes were introduced in denominations of 5 hào, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 and 500 đồng. As inflation took hold, these first banknotes were followed by 200, 1000, 2000 and 5000 đồng notes in 1987, 10,000 and 50,000 đồng in 1990, 20,000 đồng in 1991, 100,000 đồng in 1994, 500,000 đồng in 2003 and 200,000 đồng in 2006.

There have been five banknote series. Except for the current 2003 series, all previous series were rather confusing and did not have a unified design theme. The first table below shows the latest banknotes prior to the 2003 series, 100 đồng or higher.

On June 7, 2007, the government ordered cessation of the issuance of the cotton 50,000 and 100,000₫ notes. They were taken out of circulation by September 1, 2007.^[4]

Pre-2003 Banknotes in Circulation[2]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	printing	issue
		100₫[5]	120 × 59 mm	Brown on green background	National designs	Phổ Minh Pagoda	1991	May 2, 1992
		200₫	130 × 65 mm	Orange	Ho Chi Minh	Agricultural production	1987	September 30, 1987
		500₫	130 × 65 mm	Pink		Port Haiphong	1988	August 15, 1989
		1000₫	134 × 65 mm	Multicolor on lime background		Lumber productions		October 20, 1989
		2000₫	134 × 65 mm	Multicolor		Textile factory
		5000₫	134 × 65 mm	Blue		Trị An hydropower plant	1991	January 15, 1993
		10,000₫	140 × 68 mm	Red		Halong Bay	1993	October 15, 1994
		20,000₫	140 × 68 mm	Blue		Canned food factory	1991	March 2, 1993
		50,000₫	140 × 68 mm	Green		Nhà Rồng Port	1994	October 15, 1994
		100,000₫	145 × 71 mm	Brown		Ho Chi Minh's ethnic house		September 1, 2000
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimeter. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Since 2003, Vietnam has replaced its cotton banknotes with plastic polymer banknotes, which it claims will save money^[6]. Many newspapers in the country criticized these changes, citing mistakes in printing and alleging that the son of the governor of the State Bank of Vietnam benefited from printing contracts^[6]. The government clamped down on these criticisms by banning two newspapers from publishing for a month and considering other sanctions on other newspapers.

2003 Polymer Series[2][7]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	printing	issue
		10,000₫	132 × 60mm	Dark brown on greenish yellow	Ho Chi Minh	Offshore platform	First 2 digits of serial	August 30, 2006
		20,000₫	136 × 65 mm	Blue		Japanese bridge in Hoi An		May 17, 2006
		50,000₫	140 × 65 mm	Pink		Huế		December 17, 2003
		100,000₫	144 × 65 mm	Yellowish green		Temple of Literature		September 1, 2004
		200,000₫	148 × 65mm	Brownish-red		Halong Bay		August 30, 2006
		500,000₫	152 × 65 mm	Cyan-Green		Ho Chi Minh's birthplace in Kim Lien		December 17, 2003
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimeter. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

A commemorative, polymer 50 đồng banknote dedicated to the 50^th anniversary of the State Bank of Vietnam was issued in 2001, however, its face value is so minimal it was meant only for collectors. The note usually comes with a presentation folder.

Bearer's checks 1992-2002

To support the growing industry's 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.^[8] To prevent counterfeiting, these notes had many degrees of protection, changed their design every 5–6 months, and had expiration dates in 5 or 6 months from the day of issue. The checks worked until the banking system was upgraded to handle electronic transfers of large amounts of đồng, so most large cash transactions were no longer needed.

Other uses of đồng

In the Vietnamese language, đồng can be used as a generic term for any currency by adding the country name as a qualifier. This practice is more common for more esoteric units of currency. In some overseas Vietnamese-speaking communities, notably Vietnamese Americans, it is used to denote the local currency (USD) and one must refer to VND as đồng Việt Nam (Vietnamese đồng). Similarly, hào and xu are occasionally used to translate U.S. "dime" and "cent" respectively into Vietnamese.

In modern-day Vietnam, because the value of the currency is so small, one đồng could also be understood as one thousand đồng.

Current VND exchange rates
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After the revaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar on 1 August 2006 [7], 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. Since the revaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar on 1 August 2008 the đồng was again the least valued currency unit until 11 September 2008, when the Zimbabwean dollar once again surpassed it and on about 20 October in terms of cash rate. On 17 November 2008, the official rate of the Zimbabwean dollar fell below the đồng.

On 3 February 2009, the đồng had this title again as Zimbabwean dollar redenominated, although in March 2009 the title was briefly held by São Tomé and Príncipe dobra.

See also

• Vietnamese cash
• VND Index
• Economy of Vietnam

References

External links

• Coins and Banknotes of Vietnam and French Indochina
• VND Index, a measure of global strength of Vietnam Dong
• Vietnam money through time

First đồng

Preceded by: North Vietnamese đồng Location: North Vietnam Reason: currency unification Ratio: at par	Currency of Vietnam 1978 – 1985 Note: banknotes are dated 1976	Succeeded by: Second đồng Reason: inflation Ratio: 1 second đồng = 10 first đồng
Preceded by: South Vietnamese liberation đồng Location: South Vietnam Reason: currency unification Ratio: 1 new đồng = 0.8 liberation đồng
Preceded by: Moneyless economy Reason: Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia Note: It is unclear whether the North, the South đồng, or nothing at all was used after the invasion in January 1980 and before the issuance of a united đồng in May	Currency of Cambodia 1978 – 1980 Concurrent with: Thai baht and some other foreign currencies, to some extent	Succeeded by: Cambodian riel Reason: reintroduction of a national currency Ratio: 1 riel = 3 đồng = 0.25 U.S. dollar = 1kg rice

Second đồng

Preceded by: First đồng Reason: inflation Ratio: 1 second đồng = 10 first đồng

Currency of Vietnam 1985 –

Succeeded by: Current

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