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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 12/1
Housing supply increases in HCM City
As many as 1,100 villas and attached houses across 11 projects
are scheduled to hit the real estate market in the first and second quarter
of 2015, said Savills
A total of 53,000 houses from 138 projects will be available
for purchase in the next eight years, a Savills representative said,
attributing their thriving business to reasonable prices and financial
support provided to buyers.
The fourth quarter of 2014 witnessed a flourishing real estate
market, with 990 new houses for sale in District 2, District 9, and Binh
Chanh District, a 43 percent increase from the previous quarter.
Overall, the retail space market fared well in the last three
months of 2014, according to the head of Savills
In 2014, the municipal retail space market recorded 655
trillion VND (31.2 billion USD) in revenue, an annual increase of 12.5
percent, Toan revealed.
He also predicts 1.3 million square meters from 62 projects
will become operational in the retail space market, of which 65 percent will
be in District 7.-
HSBC, ANZ positive about adjusted VND/USD reference rate
HSBC and ANZ gave positive reviews on the State Bank of
Vietnam (SBV)’s decision to raise the VND/USD daily reference rate by 1
percent starting from January 7.
Under the decision, the rate is up from 21,246 VND to 21,458
VND per USD, around which VND/USD is allowed to trade within a +/- 1 percent
range.
The research department of the
HSBC experts viewed the reference rate adjustment as a
catch-up with other EM currencies. A one percent fall in Vietnamese dong
versus the US dollar actually represented a continued outperformance versus
most other Asian currencies since the start of the first quarter last year,
they said.
None notable deterioration that could lead the SBV to
devaluate the Vietnam Dong, has been recorded recently. Despite the
900-million-USD deficit in December 2014, foreign direct investment flows
maintained its momentum with total registered FDI worth 2.3 billion USD
within the same month.
Besides, inflation continued to decrease in
Based on their market research, HSBC experts expected the VND
to continue depreciating by one percent, resulting in the rate of around
21,750 VND per USD by the end of 2015.
Sharing the same opinion with HSBC,
Bright prospects for foreign investment in 2015
Government economists have forecast that the overall
improvement in the global economy would create more favourable conditions for
foreign direct investment (FDI) in
According to the Binh Dinh provincial Economic Zones’
Management Board, the province has already seen an upswing in registered
capital for the year and has plans to grant an investment licence to the
Victory Nhon Hoi-Binh Dinh oil refinery super-project in the first quarter.
If the plan materializes this year’s FDI in the project would
be much higher than last year’s figure as the oil refinery super-project
alone has an investment of US$22 billion and the province has many other
project applications on file.
Head of the Management Board Man Ngoc Ly said the province has
lately been working with two significant investors – Vietnam-Singapore
Industrial Park (VSIP) and
Ly said that if everything goes on the right track, the
province would be listed among the top localities in the nation in terms of
garnering FDI for 2015.
Ngo Sy Bich, Head of the Bac Ninh provincial Economic Zones’
Management Board, said the province has been negotiating with Singaporean
investors in the field of software and expects to grant licenses totalling
US$100 million in January.
It has also been discussing incentives with investors from
Bac Ninh has already attracted many of the world’s renowned
hi-tech groups like Canon and Sumitomo from
In Hai Phong province, a centre for heavy industrial projects
has been formed by world’s leading groups like G.E, Kyocera, Bridgestone,
Fuji Xerox and
In Vinh Phuc province, FDI projects have helped accelerate
technology transfer, positively affecting other economic sectors in the
province. After
However, to turn FDI attraction capital into reality,
localities should choose the proper promotion methods and strictly adhere to
commitments made to investors, Bich said.
According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA),
The Vietnamese Trade Office in
Restructuring efforts yield limited results
The economic re-structuring process has been implemented with
"strong determination" but has had few results, the head of the
Viet Nam Institute of Economics, said at a conference held yesterday in
Tran Dinh Thien said the scale of bad debt was still high and
increasing, and the plan to equitise State-owned companies would not reach
the goals for the 2014-15 period, as only 126 companies, or 58 per cent, were
equitised in 2014.
The conference, organised by the Viet Nam Institute of
Economics and International Business Knowledge Corporation, was attended by
more than 150 economic experts and businesspeople, many of whom noted that
the 2011 Party Resolution 13 on the re-structuring process had been carried
out in many sectors, including banking, public investment and the state-owned
economy.
However, the service and agriculture sectors have not
developed well, and there was still no support industry to encourage domestic
production, experts said.
In addition, more than 60 per cent of foreign direct-invested
companies announced losses for long periods. However, FDI was the sector with
the biggest increase in investment, Thien said.
Other experts said that many people and businesses carrying
out the re-structuring process did not understand it.
"They don't know what re-structuring is, as well as how
to and what to re-structure, so they were wrong from the beginning," an
expert said.
To improve re-structuring, experts recommended new solutions
and suggested that leaders take new approaches.
An expert said that companies should make better use of
talented human resources who have high productivity.
A businessmen at the meeting noted that the Government should
develop the private sector and not just join in projects and jobs that the
private sector cannot do.
He emphasised that the private sector must be the core of the
economy.
Meanwhile, a businesswoman from the fisheries sector suggested
strengthening the role of business associations.
She said that associations could represent companies and fight
for them, but the leaders of the associations should not be members of
state-owned agencies.
Other restructuring solutions included the study of other
countries' experiences and development of long-term plans.
The 2015 outlook for retail property in HCM City is promising
thanks to a rise in consumer demand and the large population, an industry
executive told a market review seminar in the city yesterday.
Nguyen Khanh Toan, research manager of real estate services
provider Savills Vietnam, said total retail turnover in the city last year
was VND655 trillion (US$30 billion), up 12.5 per cent from 2013.
"If excluding the inflation factor, however, the growth
stood at 8 per cent, a slight fall from 8.6 per cent the previous year,"
Toan said, adding that the overall national growth rate was 6.5 per cent.
Fewer tourists from
But
In the fourth quarter the average occupancy rate was 92 per
cent, increasing by one percentage point (ppt) q-o-q but 11 ppts y-o-y, the
highest in the last five years.
Retail podium saw average occupancy of 84 per cent, up 3 ppts
q-o-q, while for department stores it was 97 per cent and for shopping
centres, 91 per cent, up 1 ppts q-o-q and 10 ppts y-o-y in both cases.
Rents were stable compared to q3 but were down y-o-y — 2 per
cent for shopping centres, 3 per cent for department stores and 15 per cent
for retail podiums. Promotions by new projects and five supermarkets and one
shopping centre entering the market contributed to the falls.
The average rent was almost VND1.4 million per square metre
for shopping centres, over VND1.2 million for department stores and VND0.8
million for retail podiums.
In 2015 and 2016, 362,000sq.m are expected to enter the
market, two-thirds of them in District 7.
This year
Fewer international visitors in the fourth quarter meant lower
occupancy for
Toan said direct international flights to places other than
Average rent was US$87 per room per night, down 2 per cent
y-o-y, though 7 per cent up q-o-q.
Nine new hotels are expected to become operational by the end
of 2017 with a total of 1,700 rooms. This year's first half will see two new
five-star hotels in District 1 with 580 rooms enter the market.
Banking sector's assets climb
Latest data from the State Bank of
The assets was pegged at more than VND6,277.9 trillion
(US$291.99 billion), at the end of November in 2014, the central bank
reported.
Compared with December 2013, the total assets rose to VND522.035
trillion ($24.28 billion) or 8.12 per cent, data showed.
During the month, the assets of all State-owned, joint venture
and joint stock commercial banks, as well as People's credit funds, financial
and leasing companies had expanded, of which joint venture banks reported the
highest growth rate of 3.41 per cent month-on-month to VND714.699 trillion
($33.241 billion).
State-owned commercial banks also reported a 1.36 per cent
rise to VND2,749 trillion ($127.86 billion) and the increasing figure of joint
stock commercial banks was 1.55 per cent to VND2,664.878 trillion ($123.947
billion).
The equity for the entire banking industry also jumped by
VND1.845 trillion ($85.81 million) to VND499.081 trillion ($23.21 billion) by
the end of November. The appreciation was mainly due to a VND1.843 trillion
($85.72 million) increase in the equity of joint stock commercial banks.
Charter capital for the entire banking sector also inched up
VND44 billion ($2.04 million) to VND435.287 trillion ($20.245 billion) by the
end of November after a decline of VND298 billion ($13.86 million) in
October.
Though the loan-to-deposit ratio (LTD) and the ratio of
short-term capital for medium- and long-term loans by the end of November
stood at 83.63 per cent and 19.66 per cent, respectively, the central bank
said it will still remain within allowable limits.
The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the banking system by the
end of November was also reported to be 13.05 per cent.
Companies optimistic about 2015
The majority of enterprises and business associations in
Director of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(VCCI) Vu Tien Loc said this at an end-of-the-year meeting of southern
associations and businesses.
Loc asserted that the Government's efforts to maintain
macro-economic stability and rein in inflation have worked, enhancing
business confidence and helping enterprises to better design their production
strategies to overcome difficulties.
However, experts warned that Vietnamese firms still face
competitiveness, while private companies, especially small- and medium-sized
enterprises, are still facing difficulties.
Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the Viet Nam Cashew
Association Dang Hoang Giang said that businesses share the hope that in
2015, the Government will continue to roll out effective measures to remove
obstacles in tax and customs policies.
They also expect a more favourable investment environment and
more support in settling trade disputes to better protect the legitimate
rights of Vietnamese firms and goods in the international arena.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Anh Thu from the HCM City Mechanics
Association stressed that enterprises are in need of a fair and level playing
ground, as well as consultations on improving their competitiveness for
global integration.
At the same time, Chairman of the HCM City Business
Association Huynh Van Minh proposed that associations and firms should
evaluate both the economic prospects and challenges for 2015, thus mapping
out suitable development strategies.
Minh also said that business circles should give more feedback
on policies to promote their efficiency.
VCCI leader Loc noted that since the introduction of the Viet
Nam Enterprise Law, more than 700,000 firms have been set up. However, only
500,000 companies maintain their operations, with 40 per cent of them making
profit.
UPS launches worldwide express freight in Vietnam
UPS® (NYSE:UPS) has launched its UPS Worldwide Express
Freight™ service in Vietnam for urgent, time-sensitive and high-value
international heavy weight shipments.
The firm now offers the service, which is ideal for product
launches, inventory shortages or equipment failure replacement parts, to 50
origin and 51 destination countries and territories throughout the world. In
the Asia-Pacific region, UPS Worldwide Express Freight has been extended as
an origin and destination service in
Outside of the Asia-Pacific region, countries adding origin
service include:
“UPS Worldwide Express Freight is an air freight offering that
has enabled many businesses in
For customers in the industrial manufacturing, automotive,
high-tech, retail and healthcare segments with palletised shipments over 70
kilogrammes, UPS now offers the guaranteed, day-definite and door-to-door service
in more lanes than any other carrier, and with some of the fastest transit
times in the industry. For shipments originating from Asia-Pacific, delivery
can be as fast as overnight to cities within Asia and just three days to
Europe and the
UPS Worldwide Express Freight™ service offers many of the same
features as UPS's Worldwide Express® package service, including automated
shipment preparation, online tracking and proactive notification technology.
In addition, both express freight and package shipments are consolidated into
one bill for easier reading by customers.
While many local firms have complained that the unanticipated
change of the area codes for almost all of Vietnamese provinces and cities
would hurt their business, the executive of a telecom giant asserted on
Wednesday there are solutions to the issue.
With the area codes of 59 cities and provinces set to change
as of March 1, Vietnamese businesses will have to reprint any documents that
include their phone numbers. They will also have to change their brand
banners, ad signs, and product packaging.
Tran Manh Hung, general director of state-run telecom VNPT,
said the company is “working on solutions to ensure the rights and interests
of customers” when the new area codes are applied.
“We will allow the old area codes to be valid simultaneously
with the new ones for three to six months,” Hung told Tuoi Tre (Youth)
newspaper.
This means people can dial either the old or the new area code
to make a phone call, which helps them get used to the new codes, he added.
“After this period of dual codes, if people still dial a
number with the old code, they will be informed through the phone of the area
code change, and instructed to make the correct phone call,” Hung said.
Four northern provinces, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Hoa Binh, and Ha
Giang, will see their area codes remain unchanged as 210, 211, 218 and 219,
respectively, when a new decree issued by the Ministry of Information and
Communications takes effect on March 1.
The other 59 provinces and cities will have new area codes,
which have little similarity to the old ones, making it hard for people to
remember them.
The area code of the central city of
The code for
The sudden change of the area codes has left businesses in
shock as most of them have completed their plans for the new year.
“This means we have to change our banners and product
packaging,” said Lam Ngoc Minh, general director of Lien A Co., a Ho Chi Minh
City-based mattress maker.
Minh said he will have to make 1,000 new banners for stores
and dealerships countrywide and the company’s newly-printed packaging will
become useless.
“We are only given two months to do all of these things. It is
really too fast to handle,” he lamented.
Minh added that there will be other intangible damage when the
area code is changed.
“Our partners and customers may face difficulty contacting us,
and what if our foreign partners cannot reach us?” he said.
The area code change was unveiled at a time when landline
phone subscribers are steadily declining, the Ministry of Information and
Communications said in a press release on Wednesday.
“The total number of landline and mobile phone subscribers is
around 130 million, and the landline phone only accounts for nearly seven
million of these,” the ministry said.
Hung, from VNPT, also said mobile phone to mobile phone calls
account for 97 percent of the total traffic of Vinaphone, one of the
country’s largest network operators.
“Only about three percent are calls made from mobile phones to
landline numbers, and there are very few home phone to home phone calls,” he
said.
Landline phones are now mostly used by state offices and
businesses, whereas most individual subscribers have switched to mobile
phones, he added.
New
On January 7, People's Committee Vice Chairman Le Manh Ha
asked the municipal department of information and communications, in
co-operation with the department of planning and investment, to complete the
general design of the foreign investment management system, and implement the
electronic ISO application.
The government agencies were also asked to process
registrations for business licences and work permits online.
The city's Investment and Trade Promotion Centre will be
responsible for giving information to investors regarding the issue of work
permits and business registrations online that is being implemented from
January 1.
Deal signed to provide loans for
The HCM City Housing Development Bank (HDBank) and the Viet
Nam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) signed an agreement on January 7
to provide loans to stakeholders involved in large-scale rice field projects
in the Cuu Long Delta.
Huynh The Nang, general director of Vinafood 2, and Nguyen Huu
Dang, general director of HDBank, sign an agreement in
Under the deal signed in
The co-operation promises to create close links between
farmers and businesses and the bank under the large-scale rice field model in
the country's granary, which is expected to spark an improvement in rice
production and trading.
Final details are being worked out on whether
The Environment Institute under the Vietnam National
University-HCMC is completing its assessment on environmental impacts before
submitting report on the Nhon Hoi Mega Oil Complex to the Ministry of
Environment and Natural Resources.
Nhon Hoi Mega Oil Complex will be a huge boost to the economy
of
Authorities of
The mega oil complex is expected to cost USD22bn, with
capacity of 400,000 barrels of oil. The complex is expected to produce 12
million tonnes of refined oil at EURO-V standards, and 4.9 million tons of
petrochemical products a year. The main markets will be
Some experts are sceptical about the ability of the project's
investor, Thai energy firm PTT Pcl, to finance the project, as well as the
environmental impact of the refinery and its feasibility.
A visit by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco), which will be the main
crude oil supplier and strategic investor, promised to use the most modern
technology.
"If everything goes smoothly, we'll give the license to
investors by Tet Holiday," one senior official said.
Tet bonuses range from two month's wage to nothing
Annual bonuses for Tet this year rage from up to two-month's
salary to nothing at some large state-owned groups in
An official from Civil Engineering Construction Corporation
No.4 JSC (Cienco 4), one of the biggest companies in the transporation
industry, said they have yet to determine this year’s Tet bonus, but it
intends to leave the bonus unchanged from 2014 at the equivalent to
two-month's salary.
“In 2014, Cienco 4’s employees’ monthly incomes averaged more
than VND10m. This means that employees may receive a Tet bonus of more than
VND20m each,” the official said.
Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam)’s deputy
general director, Le Minh Hong, said the group’s Tet bonus for this year is
expected at about 1.5-month's salary, averaging about VND22m per employee.
Doan Duy Hoach, deputy general director of Vietnam Railway
Corporation (VRC), said the group would direct part of its VND180bn profit
this year on paying Tet bonus for its employees. Most of employees will
receive a Tet bonus of more than VND10m.
An official from the Vietnam Garment and Textitle Group
(Vinatex) said, “Commonly employees are given a one-month salary Tet bonus.”
An official from the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) said
they often pay a Tet bonus of from VND2m to VND3m to its employees each and
this is just considered a support to them during the traditional festival.
But employees at the Vietnam National Petroleum Group
(Petrolimex) may be in for some bad news this Tet. Tran Ngoc
Project to increase Vietnam-Laos goods transport
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved the basic
contents of a joint project proposed by the Ministry of Transport on
increasing goods transport between
The project outlines solutions to facilitate the movement of
land vehicles between the two countries, helping to improve the efficiency of
trans-national transport of goods and make full use of the current road
networks of the two countries.
The project is expected to help raise two-way trade to USS$2
billion in 2015 and USS$5 billion by 2020, as well as increase trade between
the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries and attract more goods from
Laos transiting Vietnam for export and vice versa.
The two countries are also members of a multilateral agreement
on facilitating cross border transport of passengers and goods among the GMS
nations.
New motivation for fishery sector
With the nation’s aquaculture export turnover in 2014 to reach
US$7.8 billion, a range of Government policies on developing the fishing
industry, implemented in 2014, promise to continue to assist the development
of the nation’s strategy export item in 2015.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, total export surplus of the agricultural sector by the end
November 2014 was at US$8.2 billion, of which fishery contributed the most
with more than US$5 billion dollars.
The spectacular figure is recognition of the outstanding
contribution of the fishery sector, in which strategic shrimp and tra fish
commodities took the lead.
Breaking forecasted figures of early to mid-2014, shrimp
exports for the whole year are expected to reach their highest peak yet of
US$3.8 billion, up 22% compared to 2013, and accounting for over 50% of total
exports throughout the fishery sector. The EU market recorded the highest
growth among the major markets of
In the context of challenges and barriers the shrimp industry
has faced, it’s products have made a significant rebound. Specifically, in
the
The duty has a direct negative impact on Vietnamese shrimp
exports to the
Therefore, with exports hitting US$3.8 billion, shrimp has
become a remarkable highlight in the fishery sector.
In addition to shrimp, tra fish is also among strategic export
commodities, ranking second after shrimp with 2014 expected revenue to reach
US$1.8 billion. The figure is the same in comparison with 2013 but surpassed
the forecast of US$1.65 billion in early 2014, due to negative consequences
of the tra fish industry in 2013 in terms of production, processing and
exports.
Farmers suffered heavy losses from previous years, leading to
a high rate of ‘abandoned ponds’, causing a decline in tra fish production.
Processing and export enterprises faced difficulties of capital and
management capacity and would be less likely to create major breakthroughs in
business expansion and trade promotion.
However, the price of tra fish exports in 2014 is uncertain.
Meanwhile, purchasing power decline arising in the two major EU and US
markets is yet another concern to the industry.
Keeping the figure at U$1.8 billion in 2013 it is a remarkable
effort of the tra fish industry, contributing significantly to the increase
of exports and trade surplus for the entire fishery sector.
The fishery sector in 2014 also bears a remarkable stamp with
the introduction of important legal documents related to aquaculture
production and exploitation, including Government’s Decision No. 540/QĐ-TTg
on incentive credit policy for shrimp and tra fish farmers and Decree No.
36/2014/NĐ-CP supporting farming, processing and export of tra fish products.
The two documents are expected to create a legal framework and
a foundation for stable and sustainable development of shrimp and tra fish
products, not to mention Decree No. 67/2014/NĐ-CP related to fishery
development policies.
Under Decree No. 67, one of the most notable features is the
credit policy offering loans to fishermen for the construction of
steel-hulled vessels with the highest level of up to 95% of the total
investment for ship building at an yearly interest rate of 7%, of which
ship-owners have only to pay 1% per year while the State budget subsidies for
the remaining 6%.
For the construction of wooden ships, ship-owners can borrow
up to 70% of the total investment with an interest rate of 7% a year, of
which ship-owners pay 3% and the State budget covers 4%. The loan term will
last for 11 years and interest is not paid in the first year. Ship-owners can
mortgage properties formed from loans to be eligible for the loans. Interest
rates remain steadily at 7% a year.
The decree was drafted, consulted and issued within four
months, proving its importance and urgency on the issue. It is also the first
synchronous and comprehensive decree offering support for both fishermen and
businesses to promote maritime economic development on various fields of
aquacultural exploitation, service development, infrastructure investment and
reorganisation of operations and service delivery.
It could be said that the Decree has created a motivation for
authorities from central to local levels and especially fishermen on every
part of the country whose goals of heading to seas are barred by the lack of
capital. On the other hand, in terms of national security and defence, the
Decree is an important ‘relay’ to protect the country’s sovereignty over its
seas and islands.
The 2014 production and exports of the fishery sector have
almost reached expected targets. However, realising the dream of sustainable
development is still a concern.
Policies have not yet created enough momentum for the
development of aquacultural farming, exploiting, processing and exports. For
example, Decision No. 540/QĐ-TTg was issued in due time but complicated
eligible conditions made it difficult to farmers to access loans. Or Decree
No. 36/2014/NĐ-CP was issued in April 2014 but so far no guidance circulars
have been provided implementing the document, confusing businesses and
farmers.
Specifically, Decree No. 67/2014/NĐ-CP regarding fishery
development policies, including providing loans for steel-hulled fishing
vessel construction came into effect in August 2014 with more than ten
implementation guidelines, yet no fishermen or organisations have accessed to
loans so far.
The cause for this delay stems from related stakeholders, from
local governments, commercial banks, insurance companies to Fisheries
Societies. Most localities still stay at the stage of evaluating the list for
eligible fishermen for loans.
Differences also appear in some localities between local
governments and banks in determining the criteria for eligible farmers,
simply because offshore fishing is still considered by banks an industry with
risks and difficulties in repayment. If these problems are not resolved in the
near future, the programmes effectiveness will be small.
For years, the fishing industry has been a key division not
only for agriculture but also for the entire economy. Shrimp and tra fish
farmers have enormously contributed to the sector exports worth billions of
dollars. They are not just labourers of the sea but also an important force
to protect the nation’s maritime sovereignty.
For that reason, investing in the development of the fishery
sector is critically essential, requiring joint efforts and co-ordination
between related agencies, localities, banks, Fisheries Societies and
fishermen to bring leveraged policies into life.
The export value of aquacultural products by the end of
November 2014 reached US$7.22 billion, up 19.3% compared with the same period
in 2013. The
Exports to this market in the first ten months last year
reached US$1.43 billion, up 19.97% from previous years. During that period,
seafood exports to most other markets also saw remarkable increase, such as
Green light given to KSA titanium plant
Binh Thuan Mineral Industry JSC (KSA) on December 26 last year
was given the investment certificate to start construction on a 60,000 tonne
per year Titanium slag processing plant.
The plant, located on 10.5 hectares in the Thanh Hai
Industrial Cluster, plans to produce titanium slag for export to
KSA has been building the infrastructure for the project for
four years, from basic design and equipment selection to researching markets
and preparing an appraisal for submission to the prime minister.
To ensure material input, KSA acquired shares in companies
that have existing mines or were already co-operating with existing mines.
Thang Hai Industrial Cluster was the first in the country to
specialise in titanium processing and is considered
Outlook bright for domestic market recovering in 2015
Many experts have forecast bright prospects for the Vietnamese
stock market this year.
Last year was quite a stormy year for stocks, owing to the
effects of the
Market capitalisation rose 19 per cent, compared with 2013,
while transaction volume doubled.
Vietnamese securities watchdogs had urgently adopted measures
to restructure the market in 2014 and created new products, such as new
indices and domestic exchange-traded funds, in preparation for the
development of a derivative market.
Bang expects to see many of these opportunities for investors
this year.
Tran Van Dung, chairman of the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, also
said the stock market will see an uptrend this year, due to a stable
inflation and interest rate platform.
In addition, Bang believes that if the aforementioned positive
steps are taken, foreign investors will return to the Vietnamese market.
Meanwhile, Duong Van Thanh, general director of the Viet Nam
Securities Depository, pledged to offer both policy and technical changes to
boost the accuracy and convenience of transactions, as well as expand
liquidity.
Securities firms shared the same view.
According to VNDirect Securities, investment opportunities
will be available in shares that dipped late in 2014. In addition,
real-estate, banking and logistics shares will also recover.
Although showing signs of recovery through Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) Growth rate, Vietnam’s economy was still facing a lot of risks,
said head of Vietnam Institute of Economics Tran Dinh Thien in Ho Chi Minh
City yesterday.
Speaking at a seminar on risks from economic restructuring and
development, Mr. Thien said that the country’s economic restructuring has
brought limited results.
GDP growth rate shows that the economy has recovered but does
not fully reflected the economy’s nature, meaning it is just a bit better, he
added.
Economist expert Vo Dai Luoc from the Vietnam Asia-Pacific
Economic Center agreed that Vietnam’s economic restructuring would meet with
a lot of risks and barriers such as slow institutional reform, complicated
administrative procedures...
Experts at the seminar said that the key solution for the
Vietnam’s economy is to reform growth modals basing on productivity and
effectiveness and improve competitiveness.
Most delegates affirmed that private sector always play a
basic role deciding internal resource for development in all modern market
economies. The implementation of polices for the development of this sector
should be sped up to increase the internal strength of Vietnam’s economy.
At the seminar, experts focused on discussing economic
restructuring and state-own enterprises (SOEs) equitization.
According to statistics by the end of last October, the
country had equitized 143 SOEs, far behind the plan of 432 businesses in the
period of 2014-2015.
Government’s reports showed that parent companies of SOEs
still invested VND957 billion in the stock market, VND549 billion in
investment funds, VND1,498 billion in insurance, VND16,101 billion in banking
and finance, and VND13,176 billion in real estate field at the end of 2013.
State-own groups and corporations have withdrawn VND4.4
trillion out of VND21 trillion in 2013 and the first ten months of 2014.
According to plan the capital withdrawal will reach VND16,367 billion this
year, which experts said a big challenge.
Australian investment in Vietnam exceeds 1.65 bln USD
Australia had 320 valid foreign direct investment (FDI)
projects worth over 1.65 billion USD in Vietnam by the end of 2014, ranking
19th among 101 countries and territories investing in the country, according
to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).
In 2014 alone, Australia funnelled 142.84 million USD into
Vietnam through 24 new projects and 6 existing projects.
FIA’s Director Do Nhat Hoang said Australia has become an
important investment partner of Vietnam, adding that the two governments
should work to create more favourable policies so as to enable the respective
business communities to forge strong links, further promoting trade and
investment cooperation between the two nations.
Economic experts are forecasting increasing amounts of foreign
capital flow into Vietnam in the coming years, including additional projects
from Australia.
As of December 15, 2014, Australian investors have invested in
18 of 21 national economic sectors in Vietnam, though they have focused primarily
on the processing and manufacturing industry with 119 projects totalling 1.03
billion USD, or 62.7 percent of the country’s total investment in Vietnam.
Australian investors are currently operating in 39 of the 63
provinces nationwide, most notably in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung
Tau with 11 projects valued at 252.17 million USD, or 15.3 percent of
Australia’s total registered capital in Vietnam.
Amr Nickel Limited is the largest Australian investor in
Vietnam, with a 136 million USD project in the northern mountainous province
of Son La, specialising in exploring, exploiting, processing, and exporting
ores. FBG Vietnam Holding Pty Ltd., is closely following with a beer and
beverage production project worth 126.4 million USD in the Mekong Delta
province of Tien Giang.
SBV devalues dong to underpin exports, growth
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) adjusted the VND/USD exchange
rate up by one percent effective January 7 in a move aimed at buttressing
exports and economic growth by increasing the purchasing power of the US
dollar in the domestic market.
The average interbank exchange rate was adjusted to increase
from VND21,246 to VND21,458 per dollar.
In making the announcement the SBV said the devaluation was
appropriate given the developments in the global and domestic financial
markets, after the exchange rate stayed unchanged for more than six months.
The adjustment is among measures being taken to give effect to
the national plan for socio-economic development and State budget operations
this year, following Government Resolution 01/NQ-CP issued January 3.
Many of the nation’s leading economists have welcomed the
weakened dong as a positive development considering the favourable
macroeconomics, monetary market and banking activities over the past year.
They said that a weaker dong reference rate is the appropriate
policy to maintain exports as the engine driving the Vietnamese recovery.
They also said the move by the SBV is reasonable and in line
with similar movements in other local and international currency markets such
as the Republic of Korea’s Won, Japanese Yen, Philippine Peso and Thai Baht.
The adjustment helps increase the competitiveness for
Vietnamese exports in the global market by making them less expensive, an
economist from HCM City said, adding that on the flip side it will cause a
small increase the cost of imports.
Nguyen Tuan Nam, deputy director of Muoi Day Steel Trading Co,
Ltd. in turn said the cost of its imports has not been affected much.
At a recent banking conference, SBV Governor Nguyen Van Binh
said that exchange rates will rise by two per cent maximum this year.
Tuesday's increase is the first adjustment of the rates in
2015.
Northwest region attracts US$1.73 billion FDI
By early 2015, foreign businesses have invested US$1.73
billion in 106 projects in the northwest region, according to latest
statistics released by the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry
of Planning and Development.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the region focuses on the
processing and manufacturing industries with 68 projects which are
capitalised at US$90.5 million (accounting for 78% of total registered FDI
capital). Following are the mining industry with three projects worth
US$151.1 million and the entertainment industry with three projects worth
US$86 million.
China topped the 18 foreign investors in the region with 40
projects capitalising at US$890 million (making up 51.4% of total FDI
capital). Coming after are Japan and Australia with an investment capital of
US$147.8 million and US$136 million, respectively.
Lao Cai took the lead among six northwestern provinces with 35
projects worth US$875 million (accounting for 50.5% of total registered
capital), followed by Hoa Binh with 33 projects worth US$435.4 million, Son
La with 10 projects worth US$280 million, Yen Bai with 23 projects worth
US$137.6 million, Lai Chau with 5 projects worth US$4 million.
According to FIA, tough mountainous terrain, difficult
transportation and poor infrastructure hinder investors from coming to the
northwest region.
Vinalines to sell Hai Phong Port shares to foreign investor
The Prime Minister has authorised the Vietnam National
Shipping Lines Corporation (Vinalines) to sell a portion of its Hai Phong
Port shares to foreign investor Vietnam-Oman Investment Joint Stock Company
(VOI).
According to the terms of the deal, Vinalines will be
permitted to sell a minimum of 19.68% of its holdings up to a maximum 29.58%.
Vinalines currently owns 94.68% of the total outstanding
shares of the port.
In other terms of the agreement, VOI must pledge to hold its
shares for at least 10 years and provide technical assistance and training of
human resources.
A representative from Vinalines said both sides are speeding
up the necessary formalities to sign the agreement in the near future.
Source :
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Chủ Nhật, 11 tháng 1, 2015
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