Vietnam Jumps On The Gold Bandwagon

According to Reuters, "Vietnam grants quotas for 10 tonnes gold imports":

HANOI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Vietnam's central bank has granted quotas for the import of 10 tonnes of gold since lifting an import ban earlier this month and 6.8 tonnes had already come in, state broadcaster VTV said on Wednesday....

And, as Vincent Fernando reports in the Business Insider, "Panicked Gold Buying Forces Vietnam To Devalue Currency":

...The dong has been under substantial pressure all year due to Vietnam's rapidly expanding trade deficit, which hit $8.7 billion during the first ten months of 2009. Inflation has also been picking up, hitting 4.35% in November.

Yet it appears that gold arbitrage may have been the straw that finally broke this currency's back:

NYT: The immediate reason for the dong’s weakness, traders say, is that demand for dollars has risen because the spread between gold prices in Vietnam and in foreign markets has widened. Vietnam lifted an 18-month old ban on gold imports Nov. 12 in a bid to curb panic buying that had sent the dong plummeting.

How long before we see a conspiracy theory floating around that casts goldbugs as the conspirators?