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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 29/5
Rubber
companies in despair as price falls
As rubber companies
totally depend on export price, they are likely to fail in achieving their
business targets for this year, with rubber prices currently at their lowest.
Losing trend in the
global rubber market started from 2012, mainly caused by the economic crisis,
especially the sovereign-debt crisis in Europe which urged these countries to
cut spending, seriously affecting automobile industry, leading to a slump in
the rubber processing industry.
Experts forecast
that rubber prices would rebound in the first quarter of this year as global
economy showed signs of recovery and
However, things
happened differently. At the end of the first quarter of this year, RSS
rubber future price on Tocom trading floor fell 16 percent compared to that
in the beginning of this year, due to the ongoing European debt crisis, slow
economic growth in main rubber consuming countries, and high inventory in
Currently, 90
percent of rubber production of
For now, there are
five rubber companies listed on the stock markets, including Phuoc Hoa Rubber
Joint Stock Company (PHR); Dong Phu Rubber Joint Stock Company (DPR); Tay
Ninh Rubber Joint Stock Company (TRC); Hoa Binh Rubber Joint Stock Company
(HRC); and Thong Nhat Rubber Joint Stock Company (TNC).
The area for rubber
trees of most companies increased last year as they expanded growing area in
As for TRC,
according to a research by FPT Securities Company, this company has been
putting all efforts in a project to grow rubber trees in an area of 7,600
hectares in Siem Reap. In comparison with total mature rubber tree areas in
Vietnam of TRC of 5,407 hectares out of total rubber growing area of 7,300
hectares, the Cambodia-based project is considered as the most important
project that affects the company’s development in the long term.
The company has had
land allocated by the Cambodian Government, but it is still waiting for an
investment certificate from
Although rubber
growing area increased significantly, business performance in the first
quarter for rubber companies remained slow as rubber export price declined.
Of which, HRC saw a decrease of 97 percent in its income statement; PHR
dropped 83 percent; and TNC plunged 75 percent. Hence, this year’s business
result of rubber companies is expected to drastically drop compared to the
previous year and the possibility that they will fail to achieve business
targets looms large.
VietinBank
partners with Japanese Finance Corporation
The Vietnam Joint
Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) signed a
cooperation agreement with the Japan Finance Corporation (JFC) in
Under the
agreement, JFC will introduce VietinBank to small and medium-sized Japanese
enterprises (SMEs) and issue Standby Letters of Credit (SBLC) to guarantee
the enterprises’ VietinBank loans.
VietinBank and JFC
also agreed to expand their information exchanges and supplementary service
activities, as well as to introduce potential partners and share clients with
each other.
Last year,
Vietinbank sold a 19.73 percent stake to the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ
(BTMU), its Japanese strategic investor.
Vietnamese Minister
of Transport Dinh La Thang and Indian Minister of Shipping Shri G.K.Vasan
served as the agreements signatories.
The agreement is
designed to expand maritime transport between
It will also
provide a foundation for both sides to cooperate in shipbuilding and cadre
and crew training exercises.
The agreement’s 18
articles aim to facilitate the transport of goods and passengers between
Minister of
Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang expressed his hope at a working session with
former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who visited
At the meeting,
Hoang acknowledged the efficiency of French-invested projects in
He noted two-way
trade between
Former French PM de
Villepin said the government and businesses of
Agricultural
exports hit US$10.7 billion
Agro-forestry and
fishery exports fetched nearly US$2.2 billion in May, bringing their total
five-month export earnings to US$10.7 billion, down 4.6% from a year ago.
In five months, the
fishery sector raked in US$2.2 billion from exports, a year-on-year decrease
of 5.6%. The
Coffee businesses
delivered 697,000 tonnes to foreign importers, earning US$1.49 billion, down
23.2% in volume and 21.7% in value.
Rubber earnings
also fell 26.8% in value to US$759 million from exporting 287,000 tonnes,
down 16.3% in volume.
To the contrary,
tea, pepper, cashew nut and timber products saw impressive export growth.
Cashew nut exports
increased 9.7% in volume and 0.8% in value to 85,000 tonnes and US$535
million.
Businesses earned
US$446 million from exporting 68,000 tonnes of pepper in five months, up
13.9% in volume and 9.6% in value.
Five-month tea
exports hit 48,000 tonnes, earning US$73 million, down 5.6% in volume, but up
1.3% in value.
Timber export
earnings also rose 10.4% to US$2 billion in the reviewed period.
Vietnam
invests in largest sugar project in Cambodia
The largest complex
of sugarcane, ethanol and thermal power plants in
Addressing the
ceremony,
The main investment
came from Kamdhenu Ventures Cambodia Limited (KVCL) whtin the framework of a
joint venture between
The factory,
considered as one of the largest foreign-invested projects in Cambodia, has a
total investment of around US$90.7 million, including US$25.3 million from
KVCL and US$65.4 million from the Bank for Investment and Development of
Vietnam (BIDV).
Construction work
started in late 2010 on an area of 7.635 hectare with latest advances in
Japanese and Indian technologies.
The sugarcane
factory is designed to produce 3,500 tonnes of sugar per day while the
ethanol and thermal power plants are expected to produce 30,000 litre of
ethanol and 20MW per day respectively.
Apart from its
economic efficiency, the complex creates thousands of jobs and generates
around US$23 million in revenue to contribute to
Also on May 26,
representatives from the five-star international fertilizer group - one of
Exports to
The Turkish
Statistical Institute reported that
Overall, between
2009 and 2012
Deflation
deemed not too worrying
Although the
national economy is not quite out of the woods yet, we are not too worried
about deflation, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh.
Ninh played down
the public’s increasing worries about the deteriorating health of the
national economy after the General Statistics Office announced that the
consumer price index (CPI) tumbled in May for the third consecutive month.
On the sidelines of
the National Assembly’s current session, he told the media that the low CPI
is mainly the result of falling food and foodstuff prices.
Deputy PM Vu
Van Ninh is still upbeat about economic recovery in the long run (Photo:VNE)
“The industrial
production index has already improved, and inventories are no longer as high
as before,” Ninh said. “Credit growth has also slowed, but it is still higher
than in the same period last year.”
He said the
government is considering accelerating the VND30 trillion real estate bailout
because the public has been complaining that the market is still stagnant. It
is also planning to pool more resources to support the economy.
The National
Assembly’s Economic Committee has proposed loosening the financial and
monetary policy to ease difficulties and stimulate economic growth.
“Whether we loosen
the policies or not should be carefully considered as specific inflation is
low, but core inflation remains high,” said Ninh.
According to the
Deputy PM,
“Although the world
economy is showing signs of recovery, it has yet to fully ride out the
recession. If the recovery is on track, material and fuel prices will
eventually go up.”
“The government
will consider the NA Committee’s proposal to facilitate the national
economy’s increased aggregate demand.”
Ninh further
elaborated on ways to mobilise additional resources for the national economy
that will not affect the National Assembly’s set public debt ceiling targets
and budget deficit levels.
“The government
manages its credit policy flexibly. It is fine if we meet this year’s 12%
credit growth target and public debt is currently within safe limits.”
The Deputy PM, who
is also the former Finance Minister, said the government plans to mobilise
more resources to help the country weather the storm and it will propose that
the legislature ease the debt ceiling slightly.
Five-month
FDI hits US$8.5 billion
Of the total,
US$5.091 billion came from 398 newly licensed projects, up 5.8 percent, and
US$3.426 billion was worth of additional capital from 160 operational
projects, up 14 percent.
The processing and
manufacturing sector took the lead, attracting US$7.6 billion in newly
registered and additional capital from 191 projects, according to the Foreign
Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
It was followed by
the real estate and wholesale, retails and repair sectors that attracted
US$387.7 million and US$147.5 million in combined capital, respectively.
The Foreign
Investment Agency reported that US$4.58 billion worth of FDI projects has
been disbursed, a year-on-year increase of 1.6 percent.
FDI businesses are
estimated to fetch US$32.741 billion from exports(including crude oil), up
23.3 percent against the same period last year and making up 65.56 percent of
the country’s total export turnover.
They imported
US$28.674 billion worth of commodities, up 25.4 percent and accounting for
55.29 percent of total imports.
Property
investor seeks partners
Pacific Property
and Infrastructure Development Joint Stock Company (PPI) is calling for
investment into its two property projects in
The projects are
the riverside complex
Pham Duc Tan,
chairman of PPI, said land had been cleared for the projects and investment
procedures finished, but due to difficulties in the property market and
difficulty in assessing capital sources, the firm was incapable of carrying
out those projects on its own.
Therefore, PPI had
called for investors who had financial capabilities and wanted to co-operate
with PPI to develop them. Partners can choose suitable cooperation models,
but the prior solution is to set up a joint venture, Tan said.
Work begins
on tourism complex
Delta-Valley Binh
Thuan Co Ltd has started work on the US$400 million Thung Lung Dai Duong (
The project covers
a total area of about 985ha in Tien Thanh commune and will provide
entertainment spaces, parks, golf courses, restaurants, hotels, villas and
trade complexes. It is expected to create 3,000 jobs when open.
Suppliers
attend food safety course
Thousands of
customers and food suppliers are learning about food safety at a mobile
demonstration facility set up at Metro Cash&Carry Viet Nam stores in
The demo facility
will stay for two weeks at each of Metro's stores and then will tour around
the country. It is expected that 30,000 customers, employees, suppliers and
students will take part in the training from now until 2014.
Launched last year,
the training sessions are organised by the German Investment and Development
Agency, Metro Cash&Carry Viet Nam, and Assist, a non-profit
organisation.-
Malaysia Airlines
is offering package tours for three days and two nights to travellers from
Each tour covers a
two-way economy class flights, airport tax and transfer and accommodation at
Equatorial Hotel and daily breakfast. The airline operates three flights a
day to
Economy class and
business class tickets for its flights from
MoU aims to
boost energy efficiency
The Ministry of
Construction signed a memorandum of understanding with the International
Finance Corporation yesterday on implementing the Building Energy Efficiency
Code of Viet Nam.
The ministry issued
the code in 2005, aiming to improve energy efficiency in the engineering
sector to reduce costs and greenhouse-gas emissions.
However, according
to Nguyen Cong Thinh from the ministry's Department of Science, Technology
and Environment, the code has not been widely implemented due to a lack of
both specific instructions and enforcement.
Making the comments
at the MoU's signing ceremony, Thinh said specific instructions will be
published at the end of this year.
About 15 per cent
of energy consumption per square metre of floor space is expected to be saved
by 2017 in new buildings. Thinh said.
Authorities plan to
have officials from construction departments in 63 localities along with
teachers and students from the universities of architecture and construction
in Ha Noi and HCM to be provided with more knowledge on energy efficiency.
Deputy Minister
Phan Thi My Linh said the four-year MoU, which is set to end in June 2017,
aims to help
Wendy Werner, the
IFC's investment climate change advisory services manager for East Asia and
the Pacific, said a greater focus on energy efficiency will help building
developers reduce operating costs and contribute to low-carbon economic
growth.
According to Thinh,
the engineering sector now accounts for about 36 per cent of national energy
consumption.
The MoU has been
implemented in partnership with the Government of Switzerland.
Petrol cuts
help reduce CPI in May
The consumer price
index in May inched down by 0.06 per cent against the previous month, making
it the second month this year to show a decline, said the General Statistics
Office (GSO).
The CPI in the
first five months increased 2.35 per cent against December last year and 6.36
per cent against May last year.
Director of the
GSO's Price Derpartment Nguyen Duc Thang attributed the slight decline to two
petrol price cuts late last month. Thanks to the cuts, transport prices
declined 0.57 per cent in May.
A 0.35 per cent
reduction in prices of food and restaurant services also contributed to the
index's slide in May, Thang said, adding that product prices even reduced
during the country's major holiday seasons in May including International
Labour Day and Hung King Death Anniversary.
Housing and
construction materials also saw a price reduction of 0.53 per cent while post
and telecommunication was down 0.07 per cent in the month.
In May, except for
medicines and health-care services, prices of seven remaining commodities and
services used to calculate CPI increased 0.02 per cent to 0.41 per cent.
Prices of medicine
and health-care services reported the highest rise of 1.58 per cent on the
back of fee increase and rising demand due to summer diseases.
As May was the
second month for a CPI decline this year, some people were concerned it was a
signal of a stagnant economy.
Though the
statitistics office hasn't released the country's GDP growth yet, enterprises
said their production and business performance faced difficulties and they
had to cut production due to high inventories.
Industrial
production growth was mainly dependent on foreign invested firms, which
created a low added value for the country. Vietnamese firms were facing more
difficulties and had to gradually narrow their production.
However, experts
recommended the Government insist on keeping the macro economy stable.
A report from the
Institute for Policy and Development said the country's GDP growth mainly
depended on capital so that when the investment efficiency was low, it would
cause a high credit demand and a high money supply, which were risks for high
inflation.
The institute
warned that, in the short term, targeting to meet both high economic growth
and low inflation at any cost, risks falling into a spiral of high inflation
and low economic growth.
VN eyes
trade balance with China
Domestic firms have
been urged to boost exports to
However, it said
that only a few Vietnamese enterprises had successfully utilised
opportunities to introduce their products and services to Chinese consumers.
As well as
facilitating exports to
According to the
deputy general director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Asia Pacific
Market Department, Dao Ngoc Chuong, these conditions could support the
industrial production and export processes.
Chuong also
encouraged firms to improve the value of Vietnamese exports for which
The General
Department of Customs said
During the period,
Since 2000, the
structure of Vietnamese goods exported to
During the eighth
session of the
This was an
important agreement helping the partners in this sector, especially as
Investors
see many opportunities in
The Lao stock
market holds opportunities for Vietnamese investors, with a newly born
securities firm and a recent memorandum of understanding between the Lao Stock
Exchange and
In March, Lao
Airlines met with the country's Securities and Exchange Commission Office to
formally announce its intention to list.
There are currently
only two listed stocks in the market: Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao
(BCEL) and electricity firm EDL-Generation (EDL-Gen). BCEL has fallen around
7 per cent since the beginning of the year, but EDL-Gen has risen 13.8 per
cent.
Also in March, the
Lao stock market welcomed a new securities company, Lao-China Securities Co
Ltd. It expects to deliver a variety of services including brokerage and
underwriting by July.
Another securities
company – Lanexang Securities – is a partnership between Sacombank Securities
(SBS) and the Lao Development Bank which opened in 2011.
On May 10, the Lao
Stock Exchange met with the Vietnamese bourses to work on developing
securities products and exchange of information. Accordingly, investors in
"The system
will create more favourable conditions for Viet Nam – the 4th largest foreign
investor the Lao stock market in 2012," a representative from the
meeting commented.
According to data
from the Lao Stock Exchange, the current playground is dominated by foreign
investors, who accounted for 58.46 per cent of the market last year.
However, foreign
ownership is capped at 20 per cent in
The Lao government
is considering increasing the cap following recommendations by its securities
companies, but there has been no official decision.
The Lao stock
market has high growth potential. It rose more than 35 per cent last year,
becoming the 8th fastest stock market in the world, data from the Lao Stock
Exchange showed.
As of yesterday,
the LSX Composite Index had grown over 11 per cent since the beginning of
this year.
Gasoline
import tax cut to 18%
The Ministry of
Finance on Thursday issued circular 70/2013/TT-BTC to adjust the gasoline
import tax to 18 per cent from previous 19 per cent.
The circular took
effect immediately.
Goods that are
subjected to import tax are: gasoline, tetrapropylen; white spirit, and other
solvents such as naphtha, reformate and alpha olefin.
This is the first
decline of gasoline import tax so far this year.-
Bad debt
causes bank shares to lose lustre
Bank shares are
losing their attraction due to low profits caused by increasing bad debt in
many lending institutions.
Although shares
listed remain stable, it is not easy for them to rise in the sluggish market.
Finance experts
think local banks, especially the big ones, have potential growth. However
they also predict that banks profits will be less, making their stocks less
attractive.
For example,
Eximbank is considered one of the top banks with an expected dividend rate of
12 per cent. It plans to have pre-tax profit of VND3,200 billion(US$152.3
million) this year, an increase from VND2,828 billion ($134.6million) in
2012.
However, bank
chairman Le Hung Dung says the bank is under pressure to complete the above
target. He said that if Circular 02/2013/TT-NHNN of the State Bank on bad
debt classification and risk management in the banking system is applied this
June, his bank's profits will definitely be affected.
"In the first
four months, Eximbank has only VND500 billion($23.8million) in pre-tax profit,
failing to meet its target. If bad debts increase, Eximbank will have to
reduce dividends.
In the same
situation, Sacombank only set its target of VND2.8 trillion($133.3million)
this year. Sacombank chairman Pham Huu Phu said the current bad time plus
debts made it hard to achieve high returns. Like Eximbank, Sacombank thinks
it must spend more on the provisional fund. This year, Sacombank expects to
have the dividend of 9-10 per cent.
Despite
complaining, Eximbank and Sacombank are still doing much better than other
small banks whose dividend rate to shareholders were reduced significantly,
even much lower than the saving rates of 7.5 per cent per year.
Dividends in the
Southern Bank in 2012 was 2.1 per cent, in the Mekong Bank 3 per cent and in
Nam A Bank more than 3 per cent.
Besides bad debts,
the current trend of bank restructuring and mergers also directly impacts on
shares of small banks, which merge to become stronger.
Le Xuan Nghia,
former vice chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, said
bank restructuring put so much pressure on small banks and the trend would
increase in the near future.
Nghia also said
bank stocks could not gain points at present.
TrustBank
approved to rename
Dai Tin Commercial
Joint Stock Bank (TrustBank) on Thursday received approval from the State
Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) to change its name to Viet Nam Construction Joint
Stock Commercial Bank (Viet Nam Construction Bank).
Accordingly, the
southern-based bank shall register with the competent State agency; disclose
information; amend related articles and clauses in its charter; register
amended charter as prescribed.
Viet Nam
Construction Bank will focus activities on providing unique banking services
to corporate clients operating in the fields of manufacturing and trading
building materials and constructing social houses.-
Travelport
hooks up with Gallileo
A global provider
of transaction processing solutions and data for the tourism industry,
Travelport, has signed a new contract with Gallileo.
With this 10-year
contract the company will continue being the national distributor of the
former's technology and services.
Gallileo
Property
price index falls
The price index for
residential properties fell in Ha Noi and
The SPPI, based on
Savills
Meanwhile, the Ha
Noi index was 108.3, a drop of 6.4 per cent points QoQ and 16.7 per cent YoY.
The index has decreased for seven consecutive quarters by approximately 22
per cent since its peak of 138.7 in Q2/2011.
Licensed
software could pay dividends for economic growth
A 1 per cent rise
in the use of properly licensed software would add US$50 million to
The study by
Software Alliance (BSA) and INSEAD, one of the world's leading business
schools, found that a 1 per cent increase in the use of licensed software
would generate an estimated $87 million in national production, compared to
$37 million from a similar increase in pirated software.
The study, entitled
the Economic Impact of Properly Licensed Software, draws on data from 95
economies, including 15 in the Asia Pacific.
"Using
properly licensed software reduces risk and creates operating efficiencies
that go directly to the bottom line for enterprises," said Roland Chan,
BSA's marketing director for Asia and the Pacific.
Cloud
security software helps protects business data
Trend Micro, a
global leader in cloud security, introduced a Worry-Free Business Security
Version 8.0 in
Providing fast,
effective and simple security, the version 8.0 offers a comprehensive
solution to help small- and medium-sized enterprises to protect their data
from viruses, threats, and dangerous websites.
The new version can
be used for all Windows, Mac and Android devices.
According to Trend
Micro, the solution helps companies manage all of their devices from any
location.
It is powered by
the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network, a worldwide early warning system
that blocks threats before they can reach computing devices.
"One of the
important things is that the solution can block employee access to unwanted
websites. It works with Windows 8 and integrates with Microsoft Windows
Servers 2012," said Ngo Viet Khoi, director of Trend Micro in
Little
growth in bank capital, assets during first quarter
Assets and capital
owned by lending institutions showed little progress in the first quarter,
although the data in March improved significantly compared with the previous
month.
This was reported
by financial website cafef.vn, citing sources from the State Bank of
In March, the total
asset value of all institutions increased nearly VND137 trillion (US$6.5
billion) over February. It was up VND60.8 trillion ($2.9 billion) over the
end of last year.
Assets of
State-owned commercial banks added about VND64.6 trillion ($3.1 billion) in
March to reach VND2,200 trillion ($104.8 billion), but this value rose by
only VND1.4 trillion ($66.7 million) from last December's figure.
Assets of joint
stock commercial banks rose sharply in March by VND42.9 trillion ($2
billion), but increased only VND16.4 trillion ($781 million) in the first
quarter, reaching about VND2,180 trillion ($103.8 billion) on March 31.
Central credit
funds and joint-venture banks posted high asset-value growth rates in the
quarter at 10 per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively, but with small market
shares, they couldn't help drive up total assets of the whole banking system.
Total equities of
lending institutions slumped more than VND10.7 trillion ($501 million) in the
first quarter, although their combined ownership capital went up VND1.7
trillion ($81 million) in March.
Equities of joint
stock banks alone dropped by VND10.3 trillion ($490.5 million), making up 96
per cent of the total decline. Only joint-venture banks witnessed ownership
capital rise by VND2.4 trillion ($114.3 million) in the quarter.
Last year, the
return on assets (ROA) ratio of the whole system reached 0.48 per cent and
the return on equity (ROE) reached 3.97 per cent.
The profitability
indicators were 0.76 per cent and 11.37 per cent for State-run banks and 0.22
per cent and 1.36 per cent for joint stock banks, respectively.
For financial
companies, the indicators declined 0.48 per cent and 3.97 per cent,
respectively.
Capital city
faces tax collection difficulties
Capital city
authorities are facing a tax shortfall from local businesses, especially in
real estate, as the country continues to battle the global economic downturn,
according to the Ha Noi Taxation Department.
As of May, the city
tax department had collected VND1.873 billion (US$89 million) in land use
tax, just 61 per cent of the figure from the same period last year.
Tax collection from
land leases jumped by VND495 billion - an increase of 31.35 per cent over the
same period last year - but only accounted for 45 per cent of the total
estimated tax collection.
Tax collection from
non-agricultural land use is estimated to raise VND42 billion, accounting for
17.1 per cent of the total collection.
The Ha Noi Taxation
Department said it had continued to work closely with relevant agencies in
managing State revenues in order to promptly collect arrears.
The department
predicted that if the real estate market remained sluggish, real estate
businesses would not have enough money to pay their taxes.
Promotions
focus on city's SMEs
The capital city
plans to launch major promotional activities to stimulate consumer demand for
products from small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).
A conference here
yesterday was told that the Government would spend VND3 billion (US$140,000),
including about VND1.2 billion from its budget, on the promotions.
The small
businesses operate in the fields of food, beverage, essential goods, fashion,
garments and textiles, footwear, household devices, interior decoration, arts
and handicrafts, automobile, motorbike, hotel and restaurant services.
The conference was
told that SMEs faced cumbersome administrative procedures, difficulties in
accessing loans, production space shortages and high inventories.
Trung Thanh Co
general director Phi Ngoc Chung said that most commercial banks were devoted
to large enterprises, making it hard for small businesses to access loans.
He said that to
take advantage of low interest rates, it was still hard for SMEs to meet all
bank conditions.
Municipal People's
Committee vice chairman Nguyen Van Suu said that the capital would send seven
teams, including representatives from departments and sectors, to work
directly with local enterprises to remove obstacles to business development
and foster growth in production.
He said attention
would be given to improving investment and business climates and creating
more favorable conditions for firms. This would include trade promotion
programmes to help reduce high inventories.
Foreign
firms expect benefits from trade pact
A proposed trade
deal between several Pacific rim countries is expected to benefit foreign
businesses based in
The news was
released at a forum organised by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in
The Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP), which is being negotiated, would make it easier to find
partners once the tariffs are cut by the members, Josephine Yei, a
representative of the Malaysia Business Chamber, said.
The admission to
the TPP would require Vietnamese authorities to improve the country's legal
framework, which would enable Malaysian businesses to gain better protection
and access to proper channels for handling trade disputes and arbitration,
she added.
But Malaysian
businesses would still have some concerns since under the trade deal workers
would have the right to set up unions and negotiate the provisions of their
labour contracts with employers.
In a country they
find attractive because of the "easy access" to labour, they fear
this could make things harder for them in the future, according to Yei.
Considering the
potential of the TPP, there should be more FDI coming into
For instance, his organisation
has noticed that some Taiwanese investors in the textile industry plan to
enlarge production in
"We have
noticed some large investors conducting comprehensive feasibility studies for
investment in this country. "They are looking at enhanced market access
opportunities once tariff elimination or reduction under the TPP is in
effect."
Antony Nezic, vice
president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the TPP offers an
opportunity to advance Canadian interests in the Asia-Pacific, which is one
of the fastest-growing regions in the world and a key driver of the global
economy.
It also offers
Junn Huyn Soo of
the Korea Chamber of Commerce, who is also the chairman of the 500-strong
Korean Textile and Garment Association here, said: "The essence of the
TPP is to provide a winning strategy for all Pacific nations."
The agreement would
contribute to
Last year the
country exported textile and garments worth $15 billion, of which Korean
firms accounted for around 30 per cent.
Korean textile and
garments firms plan to double their investment in
The 17th round of
TPP negotiations was held in Peruvian capital Lima from May 15 to 24, with
negotiators planning to complete work on some chapters and accelerate
progress on more challenging issues like intellectual property;
competition/State-owned enterprises; environment; market access for goods,
services, and investment; and government procurement.
Also on the agenda
are trade in services, rules of origin, competition, and labour standards.
They hope to hammer
out solutions to sensitive issues so that after the 18th round in July,
everything will be ready for the political decisions that need to be made for
a comprehensive agreement that can be signed this year at the October 1-8
APEC Leaders Meeting in Indonesia.
The TPP will bring
together the US, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Viet Nam.
In April, Japan
indicated it wanted to be part of the TPP.
New finance
minister aims to balance budget
Newly-appointed
Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung has said that finance authorities would
continue with tight fiscal policies to stabilise the economy, control
inflation and accelerate growth.
In what his termed
"a major direction" for coming months, he said top priorities were
to balance State budget revenues and spending, intensify fiscal discipline
and guarantee transparency in policy implementation.
"I'll spend
most of my time studying measures to handle tax-revenue losses, assuring
national financial security, innovating tax and fee policies, and enhancing
price-management for essential goods such as petrol, electricity and public
services," he said.
He said the
ministry would continue to help enterprises solve difficulties, assist
markets and deal with bad debts.
It would also
promptly apply revised laws on corporate income and value-added taxes if they
were adopted by the National Assembly.
In a context that
this year's State budget balancing goals were difficult to be achieved —
according to a recent Government report before the NA — Dung said major
solutions should be solving budget losses, economising expenses, and
stimulating production, business development and consumption.
He said social
welfare and important projects would be given priority while cutting car
purchases, meetings and the use of power, water and phones.
Former State Audit
chief Dinh Tien Dung assumed the ministerial office last Friday.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Thứ Ba, 28 tháng 5, 2013
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