However, while the law says Vietnamese coins should be accepted as legal tender, some businesses, and even banks, may refuse them. Once travelers get over the new realities of being a millionaire and that not meaning much, the next big surprise usually comes when they go to make a purchase and realize that coins are rarely used in Vietnamese currency.ĭue to chronic inflation, the Vietnamese government has paused the production of coins at various points, last resuming production at the end of 2003 when they minted coins in 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 5,000 đồng denominations. That is roughly the amount that a tourist would spend per day vacationing in Hanoi. While that’s technically true, having a million đồng does not make you wealthy.Īt the time of this writing, for example, 1 million đồng is worth about $43 U.S. For visitors to Vietnam, this often leads to the surprise that they’re “instant millionaires” upon converting foreign currency into đồng. Surpassed only by the Iranian Rial, the Vietnamese đồng is the second-lowest-valued currency in the world. You won’t be able to retire on 1 million Vietnamese đồng. In the mid-1980s, the currency was revalued, making every new đồng worth 10 old đồngs.ġ.The fall of Saigon in 1975 led to the currency in South Vietnam being converted to the liberation đồng.In the early 1950s, the South Vietnamese government adopted a different form of the national currency.The đồng officially replaced the French Indochinese piastre in 1946, when it was introduced by the Viet Minh government (later known as the government of North Vietnam ).If you fancy using US dollars whilst you’re in Vietnam, they’re widely accepted and used in most Vietnamese cities, although you’re likely to get a much better rate by converting your dollars to dong instead.Further reading A brief history of Vietnamese currency Although the dong is not freely convertible, it remains loosely pegged to the dollar in an arrangement known as a ‘crawling peg’. The relationship between the Vietnamese dong and the US dollar is an important one. This was followed again in January 2015 with a devaluation of 1% and again in May of 2015 with a devaluation of 2%. In June of 2014, the dong was still valuing at around ₫20,000 and was devalued by 1% in the hopes that it would help economic growth, as well as the growth and competitiveness of exports. These rates continued to rise steadily, reaching ₫21,464 to $1 by August 2011, remaining around this level over the next couple of years. The country’s new leaders were unhappy with the lack of economic improvements in the country after the end of the Vietnam War and they put reforms in place to change Vietnam from a ‘planned economy’ to a ‘socialist-oriented market economy’.īy October 2008, Vietnamese dong were exchanging at a rate of ₫10,437 to 1 Australian dollar. In 1986, a major economic reform was undertaken in Vietnam. A look back at Australian dollar to Vietnamese dong rates One new dong was equal to one Northern dong and 0.8 Southern Liberation dong – until it was revalued again on Septemdue to inflation, with the new dong worth 10 of the old. Vietnam was reunified on and the dong followed suit by merging into one currency. When the city of Saigon fell on September 22 1975, South Vietnam’s currency became the Liberation dong, worth 500 of the old South Vietnam dong. In South Vietnam, both piastres and dong banknotes were issued in 1953. In 1951, the rate was revalued at 100 to 1 and by 1958, it had been raised again to 1000 to 1. In 1946, the Viet Minh government – who later became the government of North Vietnam – introduced the dong to replace the French Indochinese piastre at the same value. It’s related back to the Chinese term tóng qián, which refers to the Chinese bronze coins that were used as currency during the ancient dynastic periods of China and Vietnam.
The word dong itself comes from the term đồng tiền which simply means ‘money’. Standing proud as the currency of Vietnam since its unification on May 3 1978, the Vietnamese dong may just make you feel like a millionaire – $100 will get you about 1.6 million dong!
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