In the narrow alleys of Hanoi's Old Quarter, the proprietor of the gold shop looks to his left and right cagily before asking, "How much do you want?"

"You want $200,000, or $500,000? I can give you," he says.

The mood is somehow different these days in Ha Trung lane, Hanoi's money-changing hub. Back in June, crowds thronged the shops to discreetly change their dong, the Vietnamese currency, into U.S. dollars or gold as double-digit inflation stirred fears of an economic crisis.

Since then, authorities have come down hard on speculators. They tightened controls, raised interest rates and pulled the dong back from a precipitous fall...

Full story: Inflation returns to haunt a dollarised Vietnam - Vietnam Business Finance