Vietnamese dong

"VND" redirects here. For other uses, see VND (disambiguation).

Vietnamese dong
đồng Việt Nam (Vietnamese)
500,000 đồng 500 đồng
ISO 4217 code	VND
Central bank	State Bank of Vietnam
Website	www.sbv.gov.vn
User(s)	Vietnam
Inflation	4.1%
Source	2014
Subunit
1/10	hào
1/100	xu both subunits have been unused in Vietnam for several years
Symbol	₫ U+20AB ₫ DONG SIGN (HTML ₫)
Coins	200₫, 500₫, 1000₫, 2000₫, 5000₫ (no longer in use)
Banknotes	100₫, 200₫, 500₫, 1,000₫, 2,000₫, 5,000₫ (these five - except for 100- are old issue, but still in circulation), 10,000₫, 20,000₫, 50,000₫, 100,000₫, 200,000₫, 500,000₫

The đồng (/ˈdɒŋ/; Vietnamese pronunciation: [ɗôŋm]) (sign: ₫; code: VND) has been the currency of Vietnam since May 3, 1978. Issued by the State Bank of Vietnam, it is represented by the symbol "₫". Formerly, it was subdivided into 10 hào, which was further subdivided into 10 xu, neither of which is now used.

Etymology

The word đồng is from the term đồng tiền ("money"), a cognate of the Chinese tóng qián (Traditional Chinese: 銅錢; Simplified Chinese: 铜钱). The term refers to Chinese bronze coins used as currency during the dynastic periods of China and Vietnam. The term hào is a cognate of the Chinese háo (Chinese: 毫), meaning a tenth of a currency unit.

The sign is encoded U+20AB ₫ DONG SIGN (HTML ₫).

History

North Vietnam

Main article: North Vietnamese đồng

In 1946, the Viet Minh government (later to become the government of North Vietnam) introduced its own currency, the đồng, to replace 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

Main article: South Vietnamese đồng

Notes dually denominated in piastres and đồng were issued in 1953 for the State of Vietnam, which evolved into South Vietnam in 1954. On September 22, 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the currency in South Vietnam was changed to a "liberation đong" worth 500 old Southern đồng.

United Vietnam

After Vietnam was reunified, the đồng was also unified, on May 3, 1978. One new đồng equalled one Northern đồng or 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.

Coins

For earlier modern Vietnamese coins, please see North Vietnamese đồng or South Vietnamese đồng.

First đồng

In 1978, aluminium coins (dated 1976), were introduced in denominations of 1, 2, and 5 hào and 1 đồng. The coins were minted by the Berlin mint in the German Democratic Republic and bear the state crest on the obverse and denomination on the reverse. Due to chronic inflation, these coins lost all their relevant value and no coins circulated for many years after this series.

Second đồng

Commemorative Issues

Commemorative coins in copper, brass, copper-nickel, silver, and gold have been issued since 1986, but none of these have ever been used in circulation.

2003 Issue

The State Bank of Vietnam resumed issuing coins on December 17, 2003. The new coins, minted by the Mint of Finland, were in denominations of 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 đồng in either nickel clad steel or brass clad steel. Earlier, Vietnamese had to exchange banknotes for tokens with a clerk before purchasing goods from vending machines. This was also to help the state ease the cost of producing large quantities of small notes which tended to wear hard. Many residents expressed excitement at seeing coins reappear after many years, as well as concern for the limited usefulness of the 200 đồng coins due to ongoing inflationary pressures. There had been rumors of coins being mistaken for candies by children and as fakes by some vendors since coins had long been absent from use in Vietnam, these reports have been difficult to verify.

Since the launch of the 2003 coin series the State Bank has had some difficulties with making the acceptance of coins universal despite the partial discontinuation of smaller notes, to the point of some banks refusing coin cash deposits or the cashing in of large amounts of coins. This has prompted laws requiring private and municipal banks to transact and offer services for coins and the full discontinuation of small denomination and cotton based notes.

2003 Series
Image	Value	Technical parameters				Description		Date of
		Diameter	Thickness	Mass	Composition	Obverse	Reverse	first minting	issue
	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
	1,000₫	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
	2,000₫	23.5 mm	1.8 mm	5.1 g	Steel plated with a copper-zinc alloy		Ethnic house		April 1, 2004
	5,000₫	25.5 mm	2.2 mm	7.7 g	Copper alloy (Cu92Al6Ni2)		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. These notes were discontinued in 1985 as they gradually lost value due to inflation and economic instability.

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 became endemic, these first banknotes were followed by 200, 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 đồng notes in 1987, by 10,000 and 50,000 đồng notes in 1990, by a 20,000 đồng note in 1991, a 100,000 đồng note in 1994, a 500,000 đồng note in 2003, and a 200,000 đồng note in 2006. Banknotes with denominations of 5,000 đồng and under have been discontinued from production, but as of 2015 are still in wide circulation.

Five banknote series have appeared. Except for the current series, dated 2003, all were confusing to the user and lacked unified themes and coordination in their designs. The first table below shows the latest banknotes, of 100 đồng or higher, prior to the current series. 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. State Bank of Vietnam 10,000 and 20,000₫ cotton notes are no longer in circulation as of January 1, 2013.

Pre-2003 Banknotes in Circulation
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Color	Description		Date of
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	printing	issue
		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
		1,000₫	134 × 65 mm	Multicolor on lime background		Lumber productions		October 20, 1989
		2,000₫	134 × 65 mm	Multicolor		Textile factory
		5,000₫	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.

In 2003 Vietnam began replacing its cotton banknotes with plastic polymer banknotes, claiming that this would reduce the cost of printing. 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. The government clamped down on these criticisms by banning two newspapers from publishing for a month and considering other sanctions against other newspapers. Even though the 2003 series banknotes listed in the table below have now completely replaced the old notes of the same denominations, as of 2015 the cotton fiber banknotes of 200, 500, and 5,000 đồng still remain in wide circulation and are universally accepted.

2003 Polymer Series
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	The first two digits of the serial number give the last two digits of the year of issue.	August 30, 2006
		20,000₫	136 × 65 mm	Blue		Covered 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 fiftieth anniversary of the State Bank of Vietnam was issued in 2001, but its face value is so tiny that it clearly was meant only for collectors. The note is available in three forms, by itself, in a presentation folder or in a presentation folder in and envelope.

Bearer's checks 1992–2002

To support growing industrial 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. To prevent counterfeiting, these notes had many degrees of protection, their designs were changed every five to six months, and they had expiration dates five or six months after the date of issue. The checks worked until the banking system was upgraded to handle electronic transfers of large amounts of đồng, making most large cash transactions unnecessary.

Other uses of đồng

In the Vietnamese language, "đồng" can be used as a generic term for any currency by adding the name of a country as a qualifier. This practice is more common for more esoteric units of currency.

In some Vietnamese-speaking communities, notably in America, it is used to denote the local currency (United States dollars), and one must refer to Vietnamese đồng as đồng Việt Nam ("Vietnamese đồng"). Similarly, hào and xu are occasionally used to translate the American "dime" and "cent", respectively, into Vietnamese.

In present-day Vietnam, một ngàn / một nghìn (one thousand) is widely understood as one thousand đồng.

Exchange rate

Current VND exchange rates
From Google Finance:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR CNY
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From XE:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR CNY
From OANDA:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR CNY
From fxtop.com:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR CNY
From Currency.Wiki:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD INR CNY

After the revaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar on 1 August 2006, 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. After the use of the Zimbabwean dollar ceased on 12 April 2009, the đồng is the second least valued currency unit after the Iranian rial as of 28 November 2014.

See also

• Vietnamese cash
• VND Index
• Economy of Vietnam
• Zimbabwean dollar
• Iranian rial

External links

• Current exchange rates
• Coins and Banknotes of Vietnam and French Indochina
• VND Index, a measure of global strength of Vietnam Dong
• Vietnam money through time
• Bringing money to Vietnam

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