On May 28, at a working session with the Central Committee for Policy and Strategy on mechanisms and policies for effective management of the gold market, General Secretary To Lam requested to abolish the monopoly on gold bars and study gold transaction tax.
Speaking to the press on the National Assembly's corridor, delegate Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi Delegation) said that the monopoly on gold bars formed from Decree 24 2012, aimed at combating the situation of goldification of the economy, when many people have used gold bars as a payment unit for buying and selling vehicles, assets or borrowing.
"That context leads to a situation where people rush to buy gold and hold gold, making money no longer meaningful.
Decree 24 was issued, implementing the monopoly on the production, trading and export of gold to avoid the phenomenon of free gold trading. The State has a monopoly on producing gold bars with national brands to supply the market," said the delegate.
According to the delegates, the exclusive gold bar and the exclusive import of gold also led to the difference in gold price in the current period, because the import quota of gold material has restricted the gold supply for the market.
Especially when the VND exchange rate fluctuates strongly in the direction of depreciation against the USD, forcing the State Bank to limit gold imports to avoid putting pressure on the VND.
On the other hand, monopoly also leads to high SJC gold prices, causing a price difference, up to several million VND higher than other brands.
According to delegate Hoang Van Cuong, due to monopoly, the amount of gold supply to the market is limited; when supply is low - demand is high, of course, gold prices increase to balance supply and demand. The monopoly also leads to a very high price difference between the domestic market and the world market due to lack of connectivity.
The delegate said that up to this point, the economy is no longer at risk of goldening. Therefore, it is not necessary to have a monopoly on trading and importing gold bars, but should be for companies and large enterprises with real capacity and reputation to have the right to participate in trading, producing and exporting gold bars.
When there is competition, it will break the monopoly on gold prices and there will be competition on prices, fighting the situation of the Vietnamese gold market being one market, one price alone, limiting the difference between gold types and the difference between domestic gold prices and world gold prices.
The delegate said that authorities need to seriously implement the elimination of gold monopoly. At the same time, use tax policies to regulate gold import and export, manage gold, open new business methods for trading on exchanges and have many gold mobilization channels. This will ensure stability in the gold market and return the gold market to the true sense.
Sharing the same view, delegate Tran Anh Tuan (HCMC delegation) said that gold bar production, distribution, consumption, and import activities are all under control, which is not true in terms of market principles, causing difficulties in handling and resolving the gap between domestic and world gold prices as well as gold bar smuggling.
If handled according to market principles, creating conditions for businesses to be able to produce and trade gold like other commodities, the gap between domestic and world gold bar prices will decrease.
"We have currently controlled gold bars right from the time of import, according to inter-sectoral coordination and the application of information technology.
Now we must create conditions for many licensed entities to participate in importing according to their capacity, thereby creating more abundant supply, creating a more balanced price level with the world", the delegate emphasized.
