The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on July 30 cut the prices of SJC-branded gold bars sold to four State-owned commercial banks and the Saigon Jewelry and Germ Stone Co. (SJC) by VND500,000 ($19.6) per tael for sale to the public.

The gold bars were offered by the central bank at VND78 million ($3,064) per tael .

As a result, the four banks of Agribank, BIDV, VietinBank and Vietcombank and the SJC also reduced the price of gold bars sold to the public by VND500,000 to VND79 million per tael.

The four banks and the SJC were solely licensed to purchase gold bars from the central bank to sell to the public from June 3 as part of measures to stabilize the domestic market.

At this level, gold price in Vietnam was around VND4.8 million ($188.6) a tael higher than world price.