Government advisers want gold transactions taxed

"Taxing gold will reduce the demand of some buyers, especially those who buy to speculate and to manipulate price", said Nguyen Thi Mui, a member of the Financial Policy Advisory Council, said at a meeting with the SBV on Sunday.

Taxing gold buyers will urge them to invest in other assets and eventually lower gold prices, and this also ensures fairness with non-gold investors, she added.

Vietnam imposes an income tax on stock and property buyers but not on gold buyers.

Le Xuan Nghia, former deputy chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Committee, said that taxing is the most efficient measure to prevent smuggling.

"It is sometimes even more effective than administrative policies in preventing smuggling".

Gold has been the most profitable asset this year with a 22% gain in five months, exceeding that of bank deposits, stocks and bonds.

Analysts have said that the lack of safe-haven assets have urged people to buy gold while property recovery is slow and stocks have yet to be popular among the majority of the population.

Gold prices have been since last week as the central bank began selling gold bars through four state-owned lenders at prices lower than market rates to narrow the gap between domestic and global rates.

Gold is now at VND76.98 million ($3,028.32) per tael, unchanged since Friday.