Economic and market news on March 24, 2024: Gold price fluctuates; USD continues to increase

Gold price today

The gold market appears to be dominated by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and interest rate expectations. Immediately following its midweek policy meeting, markets seemed more certain that the Fed would implement three interest rate cuts this year. This weakened the US dollar and pushed gold to its highest levels. However, the gold rally was short-lived as the strong recovery of the USD put downward pressure on the precious metal.

Today's gold price (March 24th) on the Kitco exchange closed the week at $2,164 per ounce. Gold futures for June 2024 delivery on the Comex New York exchange traded at $2,166 per ounce. At current prices, the world gold price, converted to VND (including taxes and processing fees), is approximately 14.44 million VND per tael higher than the domestic SJC gold price.

Gold prices are fluctuating, making it difficult for experts to predict the direction of gold prices next week.

Domestically, at 9:00 AM this morning, the SJC gold price was listed at 78.05 million VND/ounce for buying and 79.95 million VND/ounce for selling. Thus, compared to early yesterday morning, the SJC gold price has been adjusted upwards by 300,000 VND in the selling price.

Gold rings have also fallen below the 70 million VND/ounce mark. At Bao Tin Minh Chau at 9 am this morning, the listed price for gold rings was 68.33 million VND/ounce for buying and 69.63 million VND/ounce for selling.

The US dollar continues its upward trend.

Early this morning, the State Bank of Vietnam announced that the central exchange rate of the Vietnamese Dong against the US Dollar increased by 24 dong this week, reaching 24,003 dong. The USD Index (DXY), which measures the fluctuations of the US dollar against six major currencies, increased by 0.96% this week, reaching 104.43.

In contrast to the strengthening US dollar, the euro hit a three-week low, falling 0.5% in the last trading session to $1.0806.

Proposed adjustments to the personal allowance deduction.

According to the Personal Income Tax Law effective from July 2020, the personal allowance for individual taxpayers is VND 11 million per month, and the allowance for each dependent is VND 4.4 million. The personal allowance is the amount deducted from taxable personal income before calculating tax on income from salaries and wages of the taxpayer.

However, many opinions suggest that the personal allowance of 4.4 million VND per dependent is too low. Furthermore, the current progressive tax system with seven brackets and tax rates ranging from 5% to 35%, and the narrow gaps between brackets, easily lead to increased tax payments. Starting the progressive tax from the 5% bracket (meaning monthly income exceeding 5 million VND above the taxable threshold) is considered too low.

In the Resolution of the regular meeting in January 2024, the Government assigned the Ministry of Finance to research and propose adjustments to the personal allowance in calculating personal income tax to support and alleviate difficulties in people's lives.

Rice exports are estimated at around 1.6 million tons.

It is projected that by the end of March 2024, Vietnam's rice exports will reach approximately 1.6 million tons, generating over $1 billion in revenue, an increase of about 50% compared to the same period last year.

In the first quarter of 2024, while rice export volume increased by only about 15%, export value saw a significantly higher increase of over 45% compared to the same period last year. Notably, after several adjustments, the price of Vietnamese rice remains higher than that of Thai and Indian rice.

Currently, one ton of fragrant rice exported to Europe and Asia fetches over $700. Focusing on processing and exporting fragrant rice varieties is a solution to enhance the value of Vietnamese rice.

The Prime Minister directed to speed up the allocation and disbursement of public investment capital.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has just signed and issued Official Dispatch No. 24 on accelerating the allocation and disbursement of public investment capital in 2024. The dispatch states: In the first months of 2024, the Government and the Prime Minister have decisively directed the allocation and disbursement of public investment capital plans, and ministries, central agencies, and localities have made many efforts. By the end of February 2024, the detailed allocation of public investment capital plans for 2024 reached 94.9%; disbursement is estimated at 9.13% of the plan, higher than the same period in 2023 (6.97%).

However, a significant amount of unallocated capital (approximately 33 trillion VND) remains unspent by 21 ministries and central agencies and 43 localities; 40 ministries and central agencies and 26 localities have disbursement rates below the national average in the first two months of the year, with 29 ministries and central agencies not having disbursed their 2024 plan (disbursement rate of 0%).

Source: https://congthuong.vn/diem-tin-kinh-te-thi-truong-ngay-2432024-gia-vang-troi-sut-dong-usd-tiep-da-tang-310517.html