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BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 13/5
Steel giant
chairman faces sack due to poor performance
Vietnam Steel
Corporation (VNSteel) has been warned that if it continues to run at a loss
this year, its management, particularly the chairman could be replaced.
Controversy has
dogged the corporation. Prior to the company’s shareholder annual general
meeting in late April, its general director was replaced on the back of poor
performance leading to the company’s running at losses for the past two
years.
VNSteel’s
cumulative losses mounted to VND830 billion ($39.5 million) in 2012-2013
period. This year, the company sets to post VND12.7 trillion ($605 million)
in net revenue and approximately VND36 billion ($1.7 million) in pre-tax
profits.
Poor performance
has been blamed for the company’s failure to secure a foreign strategic
partner despite VNSteel holding its initial public offering back in 2011.
Four foreign investors, including well-known international players such as
Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp and Marubeni Itochi Steel Inc., Russia’s
Novolipetsk Steel and
Luxembourg-based
Evraz Group SA all initially expressed a desire to become the company
strategic partners, but none pursued the opportunity.
Techcombank
receives prestigious international awards
Vietnam
Technological & Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) has become the
first and only bank in Vietnam honoured by Global Banking & Finance
Review- a globally leading online portal in banking and finance of UK- with
four category awards in 2014, namely “Best Internet Bank Vietnam 2014”, “Best
Retail Bank Vietnam 2014”, “Best Customer Service Bank 2014” and “ Best
Commercial Bank Vietnam 2014” for its outstanding achievements in retail,
commercial, and internet banking; simultaneously well satisfying the needs of
individuals and enterprises.
Along with many
awards on technology as Asia Award 2013 on “E-commerce solutions for bridging
digital divide” by Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic
Business (AFACT), “Best Internet Bank Vietnam 2013” by Global Banking &
Finance Review, “Best Retail Bank Vietnam” in 2011, 2012, 2013 by Asian
Banking & Finance, “Tin & Dung” award 2013 by Vietnam Economic Times,
and many others domestic and international valuable awards, these four awards
by Global Banking & Finance Review again recognise the bank’s strong
commitments to investing in technology infrastructure, improving its products
& services, hence, better satisfying the increasing demands of customers,
and contributing to the development of Vietnamese businesses.
Cai Mep-Thi
Vai port complex tightens global security
Vietnam Customs
introduced a radiation screening system for goods at ports in the Cai Mep-Thi
Vai port complex on May 9.
Accordingly, goods
transited via each port in the Cai Mep- Thi Vai port complex will be screened
to detect radiation. The system has been installed at three ports including
Tan Cang-Cai Mep port, Tan Cang-Cai Mep International Container Port and
SP-PSA International Port.
The project aims to
prevent the illegal transport of nuclear and radiation materials at the Cai
Mep-Thi Vai port complex under the framework of the Megaports Initiative
between the US and Vietnam.
Vietnam Customs and
the US Department of Energy have conducted surveys and carried out the
installation of the system. The
Japan group
opens acerola plant in Tien Giang
Built at a total
cost of VND90 billion (US$4.2 million) 14 months ago, the plant now occupies
3,500 sq.m, making it possible to store nearly 130 tonnes of the fruit from
the shrub, much more than its daily capacity.
Currently, over
1,200 local farming households are relying on 230ha of acerolacultivation for
a living, mostly in BinhAn, BinhNghi and Tan Dong communes in Go Cong Dong
district.
Their annual output
is estimated at 4,000 – 5,000 tonnes, which is distributed across the nation
and overseas.
Earlier, Nichirei
Suco
Ministry
urges market price stabilization
The Ministry of
Finance (MoF) has asked cities and provinces across the countries to firmly
keep prices of essential goods and services under control amidst worries that
recent increased transport costs will fuel market prices.
General Statistics
Office (GSO) statistics show the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April rose
slightly (at 0.08%) over March due to a 0.33% increase in transport costs.
The Ministry of Transport’s
recent decision to examine overloaded trucks caused transport costs to soar,
affecting the prices of essential goods on the market.
In addition,
complications from epidemics in humans and livestock are putting inflationary
pressure on the prices, requiring localities to address the matter
appropriately.
The MoF asked
provincial and municipal People’s Committees to strictly monitor businesses’
listed prices towards stabilized goods including transports costs and milk
prices for children under six, as well as prices of pharmaceuticals, cement,
iron and steel, gas and cattle feed.
AIA,
Citibank team up to offer life insurance products
AIA Vietnam and
Citibank NA Vietnam officially signed a strategic agreement in
Pursuant to the
agreement, Citibank will exclusively distribute AIA’s life insurance products
in
In
Citibank
AIA Vietnam CEO
Stephen Clark said that such a cooperation model will help foster
RAL raises 2013
dividend rate to 35%
Rang Dong Light
Source and Vacuum Flask Company (RAL) has decided to increase its cash
dividend for 2013 by 5 per cent to 35 per cent thanks to positive business
results.
The company had
already made a 30 per cent dividend payout on April 29. Last year, the
company earned a total profit of VND116 billion (US$5.5 million), exceeding
its annual target by 66 per cent.
However, business
slowed down in the first quarter of this year, with net profit reaching just
VND18.2 billion ($863,000), down 33.4 per cent from the same period last
year.
PM approves
Vinatex IPO plan
The State-run Viet
Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) will sell a portion of its
stock and issue more shares to raise capital under an IPO (initial public
offering) plan that the Prime Minister has approved.
Vinatex will sell
nearly 122 million shares to the public, equivalent to 24.4 per cent of its
capital, while offering 120 million shares, or 24 per cent of total capital,
to strategic investors, and three million shares to employees.
The State will
retain a 51 per cent stake after the IPO.
The Prime Minister
has authorized the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), representative of
State capital in the group, to decide the opening price for the IPO and
select an intermediary financial institution and stock exchange to sell
shares.
Lotte to
build $2b complex in
South Korean Lotte
Group has been approved to establish a hi-tech complex in Thu Thiem New Urban
Area in the city's District 2.
The $2 billion
project is expected to become one of the key constructions in the city and
the Southeast Asian region.
Covering an area of
10 hectares, the complex will include major commercial centre, hotels,
apartments and offices.
The project is
expected to complete detailed planning this year and develop in several
phases in line with the infrastructure development of the Thu Thiem New Urban
Area.
National
Housing to build 25,000 apartments
The National
Housing Organisation Company (NHO) has announced to build 25,000 apartments
with a total investment of VND20.6 trillion ($1billion).
Accordingly, the
company will implement 14 projects with total areas of 230 hectares in
NHO has made a
commitment with the Construction Ministry to provide around 100,000
apartments to the market in the next 10 years. It was expected to start
constructions of some major projects such as First Home An Giang in May,
First Home Binh Duong in August, First Home District 9 in October and First
Home Ha Noi in December.
Dong Nai to
set up four new industrial parks
Southern
Under the
province's planning, by 2020 with a vision to 2025, the four IPs will include
Phuoc Binh, Gia Kiem, Cam My and Suoi Tre with total areas of 970 hectares.
In addition, the
areas of existing IPs, including Amata, An Phuoc, Long Duc, Dinh Quan, Xuan
Loc, Tan Phu and Agtex Long Binh, will be expanded to 1,002 hectares.
The province will
also call for investment in Long Thanh Hi-tech IPs with an area of 400
hectares and for establishing a 1,400 hectare urban and science service area.
Deputy PM
rejects proposal to stop new projects
Deputy Prime
Minister Hoang Trung Hai and head of the Central Steering Committee on
Housing Policy and Real Estate Market has instructed to continue allowing new
residential projects this year.
In a document
responding to the Ministry of Construction's proposal to stop new property
projects, Hai required the localities to keep the limit of new commercial
housing projects to a maximum but not forbid it.
In addition, he
asked the ministry to implement administrative reforms in investments of
social housing projects to ease the difficulties for businesses.
The ministry stated
that the proposal was raised due to a large inventory in the property market,
and that the supply of high-end housing was higher than the supply of low-and
middle-level segments.
Vietnam
Medi-Pharm expo 2014 to open in Ha Noi
The 21st
International Medical-Pharmaceutical Exhibition will take place at
The exhibition is
jointly organised by the Vietnam Advertising and Exhibition Joint Stock
Company and Vietnam Medical Products Import-Export Joint Stock Company from
May14–17. The four-day expo expects 350 businesses from 30 countries and
territories, including Argentina, Korea, India, the United States, Japan,
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore to participate.
About 450 booths
will display medical and pharmaceutical technical equipments. The organiser
of the event announced that the exhibition will provide opportunities for
businesses to exchange experiences, to invest, to establish joint ventures
and to advertise their pharmaceutical products.
Vietnamese students in regional business contest
A team of five
Vietnamese students will travel to
The Spart team
consists of Pham Thien Phu of RMIT Viet Nam, Nguyen Thi Kim Yen of
Their group beat
four others who reached the final from out of more than 1,500 students. The
final was a week-long intensive challenge to develop a marketing strategy for
a global P&G brand meeting corporate objectives while addressing business
and management issues faced in a global organisation.
Positive
signs of textile, footwear exports
The Ministry of
Industry and Trade (MoIT) reports the textile and leather & footwear
sectors achieved impressive growth in April buoyed up by numerous export
contracts.
MoIT
statistics show that garment and textile export earnings reached over
US$5.9 billion by the end of April, up 20% compared to the same period last
year.
Le Tien Truong,
Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group
(VINATEX), says the sectors’ strong growth was projected at the beginning of
this year due to large numbers of orders. Many businesses are currently
operating at full capacity to meet orders till the end of the third quarter,
even late this year.
The textile sector
is working hard to ensure shipments to
The 24th
International Fair on Garments and Textiles Equipment and Accessories (Saigon
Tex 2014), the largest of its kind, was held in
Recently, the
Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), Foshan Sanshui Jialida
Company (
The goal of the
project is to develop a textile supply chain from spinning, knitting, dyeing,
printing and finishing. As planned, the project, covering an area of 1,400
-1,500 hectares, will generate approximately 200,000-300,000 jobs. It is a
large project in terms of scale and investment capital, to turn Nam Dinh into
one of the biggest textile centres in the country.
Acknowledging the
textile sector’s achievements, MoIT Deputy Minister Le Duong Quang notes the
sector will enjoy many advantages when
The leather and
footwear sector earned US$2.9 billion from exports in the first four months
of the year, an increase of 21.9% over the same period last year. Of the
total, export earnings of handbags, suitcases, umbrellas, and hats rose 48.1%
to US$821 million.
It maintained high
export growth in its traditional markets such as the
Furthermore,
economic recovery from key export markets, especially the EU, helped fuel
The Vietnam Leather
and Footwear Association (Lefaso) is upbeat about the export prospect of the
sector in the near future, attributing it to incentives from the Generalized
System of Preferences (GSP) and the upcoming signing of the TPP.
Vietnamese footwear
and leather handbags for example will have competitive advantages in
powerhouses like the
However, Lefaso
warns that businesses need to upgrade their technologies, modernise
production, and develop brand names, aiming to increase quality and quantity
for export products.
Incentives
lure investors to Phu Quoc Island
With the recent
introduction of a number of preferential policies, Phu Quoc island district
is attracting strong domestic and foreign investment, says Huynh Quang Hung,
vice chairman of the district.
Between 2011-2013,
as many as 94 projects, covering 4,214 hectares, were licensed with a total
investment capitalisation of more than VND101,000 billion. Thirteen
projects, worth VND4,200 billion, were put into operation, and 16 others
capitalised at VND7,000 billion are under construction.
Phu Quoc island
achieved significant socio-economic development in the period 2011-2013 with
an annual high economic growth rate of 24.8%. In its economic structure,
trade-services accounted for over 47%, and industry – construction, 20%, and
agro-forestry-fishery making up the remainder.
One of the major
projects is the 110KV submarine cable system from Ha Tien city to
The system, the
longest in
At an investment
promotion conference held in
Singaporean
enterprises said they plan to invest in eco-tourism zones, urban areas, and
hi-tech industrial parks on the island with a total area of 4,000
hectares.
SCTV heats
up cable TV market
Saigontourist Cable
Television is challenging the pay TV market landscape.
Founded in
But from last year,
SCTV started to develop its cable network infrastructure in the north of the
country and has entered into competition with VTVCab, French-invested K+,
VTC, AVG and MyTV.
In preparation for
the move, SCTV has co-operated with Hanoi Cable Television (HCATV) to resolve
license issues and take advantages of the partner’s infrastructure and
subscriber pool for future market expansion.
SCTV has also
accompanied market expansion with technology upgrades, specifically offering
high-definition (HD) broadcasting in anticipation of the growing digitisation
of
In late 2013, SCTV
added four HD channels, raising the total number of HD channels to 30 out of
the 140 TV channels they currently offer subscribers.
SCTV currently owns
five of the ten top rated channels in
In term of pricing,
to lure customers in the north, the company has announced attractive
subscription packages.
During April and
May, customers registering for SCTV’s cable television services will receive
free HD/SD receivers and installation fees.
The company’s
monthly cable TV subscription fee is a competitive VND80,000 ($3.8), plus
VND49,000 ($2.3) per month for additional television cable services.
Vietnam Cable
Television’s current monthly subsription fee in comparison is VND110,000
($5.2).
Director of Hanoi
SCTV Trinh Hung Hanh said that SCTV was set to further improve service
packages with new channels, ensure transmission quality while offering
competitive fees customers to accelerate the pace of television
digitalisation, particularly in
SCTV is currently
the market leader holding 40 per cent cable television market share. Vietnam
Cable Television (VTVcab) is second, with 30 per cent market share and Ho Chi
Minh City Television (HTVC) claims a 15 per cent market share.
Cable television
subscribers now total 4.4 million with SCTV alone reporting more than two
million subscribers.
KPMG helps
OCB manage risks
International
consulting group KPMG on May 8 inked an agreement to give advice to Orient
Commercial Bank (OCB) on deploying a comprehensive risk management system
with a focus on internal credit rating, credit portfolio and bad debt
management.
The system is
designed to enable OCB to build an effective credit management model, improve
corporate governance and business efficiency; categorize customers; better
manage deposits and loans; provide supporting services for customers; and
protect the bank from potential risks.
OCB general
director Nguyen Dinh Tung said the bank was making great efforts to become
one of the leading retail banking services providers. This requires the bank
to manage risks effectively to ensure safety and sustainable development.
Bac Giang
reveals export target
The
Around 800 million
USD of the amount will be contributed by the garment sector, 550 million USD
from electronic products, 545 million USD from computers and components, and
approximately 51 million USD from farm produce.
Bac Giang has been
quickening up the reform of administrative formalities related to tax and
customs declarations and investment procedures. It is also planning to
attract investment in agriculture, and is encouraging the application of
advanced technologies to produce quality agricultural exports.
The province has
intensified practical activities to attract investment in its industrial
parks and has created favourable conditions for businesses to promote their
export projects by facilitating the development of supporting industries.
Besides the upgrade
of commercial facilities, the locality is active in boosting trade promotion
activities with traditional importers from
Bac Giang-based
enterprises have been required to pay more attention to renovating their
existing production technologies in order to diversify exports and improve
their quality.
According to data
released by the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, Bac Giang earned
560 million USD from its exports in the four first months of this year, a
15-percent surge year-on-year. The turnover was mainly from garments (230
million USD), computers and components (150 million USD) and electronic
products (148 million USD).
Cargill expanding
Vietnam feed, cocoa output
American
corporation Cargill has increased investment in its
Cargill’s feed and
nutrition business unit late last week celebrated the completion of its $20
million expansion of its animal feed plant in the central
The expanded plant
is one of Cargill’s eight feed production facilities in
“The expansion of
our Binh Dinh plant will allow us to even more effectively serve our
customers in Vietnam, so we can deliver the right products, expertise and
capabilities and support faster business growth,” said Jorge Becerra, general
manager for Cargill Feed & Nutrition Vietnam.
The expansion,
which began in 2012, has increased the plant’s capacity by four times, from
60,000 tonnes per year to 240,000 tonnes.
“Our investments
demonstrate our confidence and commitment to the growth and future of
Cargill is one of
Cargill has also
trained over 1.5 million Vietnamese farmers in best practices in animal
health and nutrition to help raise farming productivity and incomes. Late
this April,
Cargill opened the
first cocoa technology transfer centre in Ba Ria-Vung Tau for use by the Xa
Bang Cocoa Co-operative and the province’s Agriculture and Rural Development
Department.
The $60,000 centre,
constructed with Cargill’s support, acts as a cocoa training campus for about
2,000 novice farmers in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai and Binh Thuan.
The centre,
together with its technical training programmes, is expected to help farmers
improve yields by 30-50 per cent in three years.
Cargill started its
cocoa business in
Q1 bank
results on the up
According to its
financial statement from the first quarter, Techcombank achieved consolidated
pre-tax profit of VND673 billion ($32 million), up 69 per cent on-year and
equivalent to 57 per cent of the annual target.
Similarly, Eximbank
achieved satisfactory business results in the first four months, with profits
estimated at VND580-600 billion ($27.6-28.5 million) two-thirds of profits
made in the whole of 2013.
The bank plans to
reach a pre-tax profit of VND1.8 trillion ($85.7 million) in 2014, double
that of 2013.
Another strong
performer in the first quarter was Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), with pre-tax
profits of VND271.5 billion ($12.9 million), a VND53.9 billion ($2.56
million) increase against last year. The lender’s credit growth rate, pre-tax
profit and dividend rate are expected to stay at 22.8 per cent, VND1.27
trillion ($60.47 million) and 9 per cent through this year.
The first quarter
also saw credit grow more quickly at many banks. VIB’s was at 7.1 per cent
and TPBank at 12 per cent. Some other bank such as BIDV and Techcombank also
reported a 2-3 per cent rise.
Such increases are
considered very high compared with common rate of the banking system of 0.62
per cent as of April 20.
These increases are
astronomical compared to the banking sector’s 0.62 per cent average.
Many experts have
said banks are seeing solid profits. For joint stock banks, profit centers
are mainly banking services and retail while for state-run banks they are
credit activities thanks to their relationships with SOEs.
Outstanding loans
to individuals make up 30-40 per cent of the total at joint stock banks while
at big state banks 75-80 per cent is made up of loans to state groups and
enterprises.
Businessmen
seek eternity through pagoda-building
Several Vietnamese
wealthy businessmen have recently been donating large sums to towards
building pagodas and temples not only through their devotion, but also to
keep their names alive.
One such example is
the 450ha Dai Nam Quoc Tu tourism project, with a price tag of nearly VND3
trillion (USD142.8 million) funded by Huynh Huy Dung. It includes a
chain of temples, walls, artificial rivers, mountains and live animal
exhibits. The grounds stretch nearly 20km.
“I even thought
about this project in my sleep. I was determined to carry out it by any
means.” Dung said he now eats vegetarian food four days per month.
Dung disclosed that
he will sell his entire property, estimated at around VND2 trillion (USD95.2
million), to build 17 temples nationwide; five in the north and six in the
central and the southern regions.
Nguyen Van Truong,
another wealthy businessman who rarely appears in the news, is in the process
of building Bai Dinh Pagoda. Another converted vegetarian, he is focusing his
efforts and capital on constructing the 80ha religious complex to be located
adjacent to the old capital Hoa Lu.
Not to be outdone,
entrepreneur Tram Be broke ground on yet another pagoda in
Tram Be, a
Chinese-Vietnamese businessman who grew up in the Khmer community, sees this
as a way to remember his origins, and has so far spent hundreds of billions
of VND building pagodas in disadvantaged Khmer regions.
VFA revises
down rice export target
The Vietnam Food
Association (VFA) has adjusted this year’s rice export target down to 6.2
million tons due to tougher competition on global markets.
The association
earlier projected the country could ship 6.5-7 million tons this year.
VFA explained
The VFA estimated
Those countries
importing large volumes of Vietnamese rice in previous years are eyeing
Therefore,
Vietnamese rice exporters have to count on
However, experts
have warned local exporters of undercutting and contract cancellation risks
when global rice prices fluctuate.
As for the nation’s
one-million-ton rice stockpiling scheme for the winter-spring crop in 2013-2014
that ended on April 30, VFA said 130 rice exporters purchased 995,494 tons,
or 99.55% of the target.
Ministry
okays textile growth plan
The Ministry of
Industry and Trade has ratified the textile and garment industry development
plan 2020, with a vision for 2030.
The plan is
expected to boost the industry's growth, said deputy minister Do Thang Hai at
a meeting early this week.
Under the plan, the
industry aims to achieve 55 per cent localisation rate by 2015, which will
increase to 65 per cent and 70 per cent by 2020 and 2030 respectively.
During the
2013-2020 period, the industry plans an annual production growth rate of 12
to 13 per cent.
Exports in the
2013-2015 period are expected to increase by 10 to 11 per cent yearly,
increasing by 9 to 10 per cent in the 2016-2020 period, and by 6 to 7 per
cent in the 2021-2030 period.
The growth rate of
the domestic market will be 9 to 10 per cent in the 2013-2015 period and
10-12 per cent in the 2016-2020 period, according to the plan.
Labour-intensive
textile and garment firms will be moved to the rural areas, while those
specialising in fashion production as well as in the supply of related
services will be placed in urban areas.
According to the
Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association, Vietnamese clothing products are
being exported to 50 countries and territories. The
Textiles and
garments currently make up 13.6 per cent of the country's total export value.
That percentage is expected to rise when the country signs trade agreements.
The country is
currently negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and the
Viet Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement, which are expected to come into effect in
the next couple of years.
When these
agreements are signed, Vietnamese garment and textile products will enjoy
zero per cent tax rate in the
KfW may up
VN development fund
KfW, the German
Development Bank, has targeted a loan commitment of EUR500 million (US$692
million) per year for development projects in Viet Nam, up from EUR200-300
million per year over the last two years, an official from KfW has said.
"It has not
been done yet, but our target depends on the criteria to be met by Viet
Nam," Dr Ulrich Schroder, CEO of KfW, a state-owned German bank, told
Viet Nam News on Wednesday during his visit to HCM City.
"We see a huge
potential for
However, to have
more access to financial assistance like Official Development Assistance
(ODA), Viet Nam needs to simplify administrative procedures, fight corruption
and improve its secondary school and higher education system, he said.
In addition, he
noted that the energy and health sectors remain dominated by the State
sector.
"So it's a
good thing for the country to open these sectors to the foreign private
investment sector," he said. "Of the loan commitment, we would
focus on long-term investments such as energy like wind power,
infrastructure, roads, and the health and education sectors."
He said that German
companies believe
Commenting on the
slow progress of the Metro's Line No. 2 in
In general, the
delay of projects in
Total investment
capital that KfW committed to
Govt to
control prices of low-cost apartments
The Government will
control ceiling prices for social and low-income housing projects to prevent
investors from selling these apartments at high prices, said Trinh Dinh Dung,
construction minister.
Dung spoke to
reporters on Wednesday at a conference held in
Social housing
projects have been given support in land-use rental, taxes and preferential
credits. This is why such projects should have lower prices.
However, apartment
prices of low-income housing projects have been higher than commercial
projects despite a frozen property marke.
Two years ago, Sai
Dong low-income housing project in Ha Noi's Long Bien District was sold at
VND13 million a square metre , VND3 million per square metre higher than
flats at Dai Thanh commercial project in south of Ha Noi
Several low-income
projects offer prices VND3-6 million per square metre higher than commercial
ones. Pham Sy Liem from the Viet Nam Construction Association, said the
Government should remove low-income housing projects as the definition was
unclear
The recent
investigation by the Ministry of Construction revealed that several investors
have misused 20 per cent of the land fund for social housing projects.
The investigation
revealed that only three out of 11 projects had built social housing areas in
the allotted land, three others had changed into rehabilitation apartments.
The remaining projects were asked to change into commercial housing projects.
The ministry also
reported that it has approved 13,000 social housing apartments. However, most
of the projects had started construction.
The ministry
reported that in Ha Noi alone, demand for social housing apartments was
80,000, of which those for officers in ministries and central units was
around 30,000.
Soft
inflation may ease money policy
Persistently soft
inflation may encourage further money easing in Viet Nam, ANZ Bank states in
an economic update dated May 8.
April headline
inflation was at 4.45 per cent year-on-year, with a sequential marginal gain
of 0.08 per cent month-on-month. Inflation undershoots market expectations,
reflecting weak domestic demand.
In a bid to nudge
credit growth, the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) in March slashed its
refinancing rate by 50 basis points to 6.5 per cent, and reduced caps on
various deposit rates. It had earlier planned to reduce interest rates by
150-200 basis points throughout the year.
"We remain of
the view that further policy easing would have a limited impact on credit
growth due to tight credit supply as banks continue to grapple with high bad
debt ratios," the report said.
The central bank
estimates non-performing loans (NPLs) at VND308 trillion, or US$14.7 billion,
by the end of February, about 9.71 per cent of the total loan books in the
system.
Despite the
decrease in the refinancing rate, credit barely rose 0.62 per cent as of
mid-April. Due to the lack of credit, failures of local business continue to
rise.
According to the
Department of Business Registration Management, total dissolution of
enterprises or temporary suspension of operations reached 21,500 in the first
quarter of this year, rising by 9.4 per cent over the same period last year.
The report said,
while banks remain hesitant to extend credit as most borrowers fail to
present feasible plans to clear inventory, domestic liquidity remained ample
with increasing deposits, healthy foreign direct investment inflows, and the
manageable external trade.
ANZ expects the
weak growth in domestic demand to remain within the next three to four years,
while the robust backdrop provided by the external sector will underpin
overall growth prospects.
Most ISPs
connected with IPv6 network: official
Eleven out of 18
Internet providers have connected with the national Internet Protocol Version
6 (IPv6) network, after it came into operation on May 6 last year.
The information was
provided by Nguyen Truong Thanh, director of the technical department from
the Viet Nam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC), at a conference on
Tuesday in Ha Noi.
The event is part
of the country's activities organised by the Ministry of Information and
Communications (MIC) to summarise its achievements in boosting transition
from IPv4 to IPv6 and popularise IPv6 supporting devices.
Thanh said that
there are six enterprises in
Year 2014 is
considered a hinge year for the second phase of MIC's national action plan
for IPv6. The ministry was the first organisation to implement IPv6 on its
online portal at.
Speaking at the
conference, Deputy Minister Le Nam Thang said that in the first quarter of
this year, the ministry had asked the task force to carry out its main
duties, including issuing a set of standards for IPv6 and building a roadmap
to import devices for IPv6 into Viet Nam. He also referred to Decree No. 72
of the government regulating IPv6 as advanced technology, with priority for
investment and development. Activities relating to research, production and
importing devices and software for IPv6 would receive preferential treatment
and support as written in the High Technology Law, he said.
Tomohiro Fujisaki,
from Japan Network Information Centre, said that in Japan, fixed line
Internet service providers offered commercial IPv6 service not only to
enterprises but also to consumers. Its big mobile operators such as NTT
Docomo and KDDI also provided IPv6 service in their 3G networks.
Not only Japan but
other countries in the world have also seen an increasing number of consumers
using IPv6. Since launching IPv6 on June 6, 2012, there have been 21,500
websites, including Facebook, Google and Yahoo, implementing IPv6. In the
United States, the rate of IPv6 usage increased from 0.9 per cent to seven
per cent to date. In the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea, Singapore and
Australia have gained remarkable results.
According to the
ministry's action plan, Viet Nam will finish its introduction period in 2015
and move to a transition period from 2016 to 2019.
In preparation,
programmers of content providers and Internet service providers attended a
training course on programming based on IPv6, receiving instruction from
Malaysian experts, from May 5-7. Along with the conference, the course will
help enterprises and organisations to build and implement IPv6 applications.
MoIT to
control petrol prices
Deputy Prime
Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)
and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to complete the draft decree on petrol
trading.
Accordingly, Hai
required the two ministries to complete the draft decree and submit to the
prime minister before May 16 for consideration, including a period for the
calculation of petrol base price. In addition, they were asked to adjust the
amplitude of fuel retail prices in line with the economic conditions
including three levels: less than 2 per cent, over 2 per cent to less than 7
per cent and above 7 per cent.
Specifically, if
the base price is increased by 2–7 per cent, authorities will review
stabilising measures, such as using stabilisation fund.
If the base price
is higher than 7 per cent or affects the economy, the prime minister will
decide a stabilising solution. If the price is less than 2 per cent, petrol
traders will be allowed to self-decide selling price or increase VND500 per
litre.
Hai has also
approved the handing over of control rights in the domestic fuel market from
MoF to MoIT.
In addition, the
provincial Department of Industry and Trade will have the authority to grant
certificates to agencies to sell petrol. Previously, the MoIT was granting
certificates.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Hai, 12 tháng 5, 2014
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