VIETNAM BUSINESS NEWS MARCH 30
16:34
Gov’t approves
extension on bad debt settlement scheme
The
Government has agreed to a proposal by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to
extend the pilot bad debt settlement of credit institutions based on
Resolution 42/2017/QH14. Under a decision issued late last
week, the Government has assigned the SBV to coordinate with relevant
agencies in urgently mapping out the draft resolution on extending the
application of Resolution 42 to submit to the National Assembly (NA). The NA approved Resolution
42/2017/QH14 on piloting the bad debt settlement of credit institutions in
2017, however, the policy will expire on August 15 this year. The SBV has so far also completed the
draft resolution and made it public for comments. Under the draft, the SBV
has proposed extending the application of Resolution 42 until August 15, 2025.
During the extension, the Government will be responsible for studying and
proposing to develop a new law on bad debt settlement of credit institutions. To meet the current legal regulations
related to procedures and deadlines, the Government will propose the NA allow
the application of the shortened procedures to pass the extended resolution
at the NA’s meeting in May 2022, according to the draft. Hanoi's CPI expands 2.66
percent in Q1  The consumer price index (CPI) of Hanoi in the first quarter of 2022 rose by 2.66 percent against the same period last year, the municipal Statistics Office reported on March 29. In March, the city’s CPI increased
0.91 percent from the previous month, and 3.21 percent year-on-year. Ten out of eleven commodity groups
posted increasing prices in the month. According to the General Statistics
Office (GSO), the nation's CPI recorded a year-on-year rise of 1.92 percent
in the first three months of 2022. CPI in March rose by 0.7 percent
month-on-month, the highest monthly increase since 2012. Hikes of petrol and gas prices in
tandem with global fuel prices, and prices of essential goods and services,
contributed to the increase in the overall CPI in the last quarter. Core inflation in the quarter was up
0.81 percent compared to a year ago, the GSO said. Construction of Long Thanh
int’l airport accelerated Construction work at the Long Thanh
International Airport project in the southern province of Dong Nai is accelerated
to ensure the project's scheduled pace. The ground leveling and water drainage
bidding package of the project is ahead of schedule, according to Nguyen Khac
Phong, vice director of the project management board under the Airports
Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), the investor of phase one of the airport
project. The ACV said it has completed bomb and
mine clearance on more than 1,500 ha out of the total area of phase one of
1,800ha, and built boundary walls in cleared areas. Meanwhile, the contractor
for the foundation work expects to finish the work in October. The ACV is urgently preparing
necessary conditions to complete the appraisal and selection of contractors
for the building of the passenger terminal in June, while construction of two
routes connecting the airport is scheduled to commence in December this year. Work on the airfield infrastructure
such as take-off and landing runways, taxiways, and aprons will start
simultaneously at the end of this year and be completed in the fourth quarter
of 2024. Meanwhile, work on auxiliary facilities is expected to begin in
March 2023 and completed in January 2025. Taiwanese textile firm wants
help to start expansion project in Binh Duong Authorities of the southern province
of Binh Duong on March 29 met with Yeh Ming Yuh, Director-General of Polytex
Far Eastern Vietnam, to discuss how to help the textile firm to resolve
issues facing its expansion project at Bau Bang Industrial Park. Yeh proposed the authorities of Binh
Duong to help his company remedy difficulties in completing legal steps to
lease land for the building of a workers’ dormitory. He also asked for
assistance in fulfilling paperwork for the investment of a 10MW solar power
plant as the company wants to secure sufficient supply of electricity for the
expansion project. Binh Duong is committed to always
being investors’ companion, he said, adding that he expects the textile firm
will continue strictly observing Vietnam’s current rules in production,
environment protection and protection of workers’ rights, and taking part in
social responsibility activities in the province. In 2015, Far Eastern Group, a
multi-industry corporation from Taiwan, invested 274 million USD to develop a
fiber manufacturing and spinning facility at Bau Bang Industrial Park, which
was put into operation at the end of 2016. The company has been busy
preparing for the start of the third phase of the facility’s expansion. Vietnamese furniture firms
strive to further join global supply chain The Vietnam Furniture Matching Week
2022, a major event of the domestic wood and furniture sector this year, will
take place from April 13-20 in Ho Chi Minh City, heard a press conference on
March 29. With diverse activities, to be held in
both online and offline forms, the event is intended to seek solutions to
help local firms expand their business network and further integrate into the
global supply chain. Within the framework of the programme,
there will be Furniture Sourcing Day on April 13-14, which will enable
businesses to approach international buyers and suppliers of support
services, along with exchanges and workshops, according to organisers. The programme will bring together some
500 businesses, more than 100 representative offices and international
buyers. Online activities will take place on
HOPE (hopefairs.com) platform, which has been upgraded to make it easier for
participating businesses and international buyers to hold meetings anytime
and anywhere. HCM City’s CPI up 1.51
percent in Q1 Ho Chi Minh City’s consumer price
index (CPI) in March increased 0.6 percent month-on-month and 2.03 percent
year-on-year, pushing up the index in the first quarter of this year by 1.51
percent. According to the municipal Statistics
Office, last month, five out of 11 groups of commodities and services saw
price decreases, namely restaurant and catering services; garment-textile,
headwear and footwear; household utensils, medicine and health services; and
telecommunications. Meanwhile, prices of the remaining six
groups rose from the previous month, with the highest jump recorded in
transport services, at 4.94 percent. The office explained that the price
hike in restaurant and catering services was due to price adjustments by
suppliers because of surging oil and gas prices. It also noted that the COVID-19
pandemic has affected the export of agricultural products to China, leading
to the abundant supply at home and the price drop of vegetables and fruits. The prices of gas and other fuels
jumped 10.01 percent, and kerosene, up 18.31 percent in the month. Local gold prices also soared 8.48
percent in March and 13.64 percent in the first quarter. The rate of US
dollar increased 0.25 percent this month, but dropped 0.11 percent in the
three-month period. Bac Giang province moves to
boost lychee export to US The People’s Committee of northern Bac
Giang province and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a teleconference on
March 29 to promote the export of lychee, a local specialty, to the US. Vice Ambassador of Vietnam to the US
and Minister Counsellor Hoang Thi Thanh Nga affirmed that the embassy will
provide maximum support to introduce the province’s potential and advantages
to US partners. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese
Entrepreneurs Association in the US said joint efforts among the
administration, businesses, and transport firms, including airlines, are
necessary for lychee export to the US. In the time ahead, the province will
continue to develop high-quality and organic agriculture so as to foster
export, he went on, pointing out that 40 - 50 percent of the local lychee
output has been shipped abroad, but the majority is fresh fruit while
processed products remain modest. Given this, it will attract investment
to lychee processing and upgrade production technology in order to step up
the overseas shipment of processed products, Duong noted. On this occasion, lychee trading
businesses and relevant agencies signed memoranda on cooperation in lychee
export to the US. Over 800 million USD of trade
surplus recorded in Q1 Vietnam enjoyed trade surplus of 809
million USD in the first quarter of 2021, according to the General Statistics
Office (GSO). In the first quarter of this year,
total trade value reached 176.35 billion USD, up 14.4 percent year on year,
including exports of 88.58 billion USD. In the period, the domestic economic
sector earned 23.27 billion USD, a rise of 22 percent year on year, while the
foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) enjoyed 65.31 billion USD, up
10 percent. Export revenue of over 1 billion USD
was seen in 15 export commodities, accounting for 80 percent of the country’s
total. Processing-manufacturing products contributed 89 percent to the total
exports, while contributions by agro-forestry products, fisheries, fuel and
mining products were 6.9 percent, 2.7 percent, and 1.4 percent, respectively. In the January-March period, the
country imported 87.77 billion USD, a rise of 15.9 percent over the same
period last year, with 29.43 billion USD by the domestic sector and 58.34
billion USD by foreign-invested sector. As many as 93.8 percent of the
imported goods were materials serving production. In the first three months of this
year, the US was the largest export market of Vietnam, consuming 25.2 billion
USD worth of goods. It was followed by China with 27.6 billion USD. Vietnam Airlines Group to
offer some 750,000 seats for upcoming holidays Member carriers of the Vietnam
Airlines Group, comprising Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines, and VASCO,
will supply the market with nearly 750,000 seats on close to 4,000 flights
serving travel demand on upcoming national holidays. On the holiday in commemoration of the
Hung Kings, the legendary founder of Vietnam, which lasts from April 9
through 11, Vietnam Airlines and VASCO will operate close to 1,400 flights
accommodating 266,000 seats between April 8 and 12. The number of seats is 10
percent higher than that of the same holiday in 2019 – the year before
COVID-19. Meanwhile, Pacific Airlines will offer nearly 200 flights with some
37,000 seats. During the occasion of National
Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day (May 1), the Vietnam Airlines Group
will run about 450,000 seats within seven days from April 28 to May 4. Of the
sum, more than 395,000 seats, up 10 percent from 2019, on 2,000 flights will
be offered by Vietnam Airlines and VASCO. Work starts on bridge project
in Mekong Delta Construction on Rach Mieu 2 bridge in
the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre began on March 29, in the presence of
Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai. Rach Mieu 2 bridge crosses the Tien
River, connecting Tien Giang and Ben Tre provinces. Invested by the Ministry of Transport,
the bridge measures 17.6 km in length with six lanes and a designed speed of
80km/h. The project has a total investment of
over 5.17 trillion VND (over 226 million USD) sourced from the central
budget. It is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2025. According to Chairman of the Ben Tre
provincial People’s Committee Tran Ngoc Tam, the project is one of the 11 key
infrastructure ones in the locality. Report on Business Law Flow
2021 released The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (VCCI) on March 29 publicised its Report on Business Law Flow in
2021, the fourth edition since 2018, which reviews laws related to business
in the year and reflects the view of enterprises to drafted or issued
policies. The report analyses various important
legal issues affecting the business environment. This edition focuses on the
quality of circulars, dispartches and the Sandbox legal space. The report pointed out a number of
problems in circulars and official dispatches which are closely related to
businesses’ operations. It also clarified that amid the Government’s efforts
to promote administrative reform activities and cut down compliance costs, a
number of proposed policies in 2021 tended to increase business conditions. Consumer goods and services
survey to start The Vietnam Consumer Protection
Association (VCPA) will start a survey programme for consumer-trusted goods
and services in 2022. To effectively implement the Party
Central Committee’s Secretariat on strengthening the campaign “Vietnamese
people give priority to using Vietnamese goods,” goods and services will be
surveyed according to quality, information, consumer choice, models and
reasonable and competitive prices. The survey will be posted on the
VCPA’s website. From April 1 to November 20, customers
will take the survey through a questionnaire, which will then be appraised
through the council. After the survey, the top 100 goods and services will be
chosen. The ceremony to announce survey
results and award Certificates to 100 trusted consumer goods and services in
2022 will be held on November 26 in Hanoi. President Biden welcomes
VinFast facility project in North Carolina US President Joe Biden has welcomed a
VinFast invested project to build its first factory in North Carolina as part
of the Vietnamese firm’s investment strategy to expand operations in the
United States. “Today, Vinfast announced it will
build an electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facility in North
Carolina – US$4 billion to create more than 7,000 jobs. It’s the latest
example of my economic strategy at work,” President tweeted on March 29. In a statement released by the White
House on the same day, Biden said since taking office, he has promoted an
industrial strategy to revitalize domestic manufacturing and create jobs,
strengthen American supply chains, and supercharge the industries of the
future like electric vehicles (EV). “We see that strategy paying off day
after day,” noted Biden. “Last year, I signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law to build out EV charging infrastructure and brought together the United
Autoworkers and automakers at the White House to sign an executive order to
get 50% electric vehicle sales share in 2030.” VinFast, the carmaker under Vietnam’s
largest private conglomerate VinGroup, announced its facility project in
North Carolina, the first of its kind in the US. It plans to pour US$2 billion in the
first phase and will continue to pump more capital in future phases. The
factory that will sit on 1,976 acres has been designed to produce 150,000
vehicles annually in the first phase. Socio-economic performance
brisk in Q1 with COVID-19 under control Thanks to the safe, flexible
adaptation, and effective control of COVID-19, the labour market in the first
quarter of the year has shown signs of improvement, with the number of
employed people and their average monthly income seeing an increase compared
to the same period from last year. This information was provided by the
General Statistics Office (GSO) during a press briefing to discuss
socio-economic performance in the first quarter of the year held on March 29
in Hanoi. During the press conference, Nguyen
Thi Huong, general director of the GSO, said that both the unemployment and
underemployment rates in the working age declined compared to the previous
quarter despite still being higher than the same period last year, showing a
gradual fall. Specifically, the country's labour
force aged 15 and over the first quarter of the year stood at an estimated
51.2 million people, an increase of more than 441,000 people compared to the
previous quarter and a rise of roughly 159,000 compared to the same period
from last year. The labour force participation rate
was at 68.1%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter and a drop
of 0.6 percentage points from last year's corresponding period. Employed labourers aged 15 were
estimated to be at 50 million people, an increase of 132.2 thousand people
over the same period last year. 17,100 businesses withdraw
from market each month of Q1 The first quarter of the year saw
35,700 enterprises forced to temporarily suspend operations, a rise of 49.7%
on-year, with 17,100 businesses withdrawing from the market every month on
average, according to the National Business Registration Information System. During the three-month period, there
were approximately 34,600 newly-registered enterprises with a total
registered capital of VND471.2 trillion, while the number of registered
employees reached roughly 243,500, an increase of 18.1% in the number of
firms. This represents an increase of 5.2% in terms of registered capital and
a fall of 0.9% in relation to the number of employees over the same period
last year. The average registered capital of a
newly-established enterprise in the first three months of the year stood at
VND13.6 billion, a year-on-year fall of 10.9%. Furthermore, a total of 25,600
enterprises resumed operations, up 73.6% on-year. This therefore brought the
total number of newly-established enterprises and enterprises returning to
operation throughout the reviewed period up to 60,200, an increase of 36.7%
on year. On average, 20,000 new businesses are
established and resume operations each month, while an average of 17,100
businesses withdraw from the market every month. Local furniture firms seek
ways to engage in global supply chain Vietnam Furniture Matching Week 2022
will take place from April 13 to April 20 in Ho Chi Minh City as a means of helping
businesses seek solutions to deeply become involved in the global supply
chain. The purpose of the function is to help
Vietnamese furniture and handicraft manufacturers to expand both their
domestic and export markets, connect with international buyers while
simultaneously strengthening trade exchange through business-to-business
(B2B) platforms. Moreover, the event is expected to
update businesses on the latest information relating to materials, logistics,
and digital transformation through a series of seminars that will attract the
participation of a total of 500 enterprises. The occasion will also see a series of
online activities held on the 360-degree virtual exhibition technology
platform named HOPE (hopefairs.com), which will serve as a modern trade
channel for Vietnamese manufacturers to gain greater access to international
buyers based worldwide. HCM City all set to collect
port infrastructure fees Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, director of the HCM
City Inland Waterway Port Authority, said a trial run of the fee collection
system had been made since February 16, and it had worked smoothly. The online system would not interfere
with custom clearance, he assured. For goods imported for re-export or
deposited in bonded warehouses and for transit and transhipment goods the fee
is VND50,000 (US$2.19) per tonne for liquid and bulk cargo, VND2.2 million
($96.5) for a 20-foot container and VND4.4 million ($193) for a 40ft
container. For goods declared outside the city,
the rates are VND30,000, VND500,000 and VND1 million. For imports and exports declared in
the city, the rates are VND15,000, around VND250,000 and VND500,000. Goods meant for national defence,
disaster relief and some others are exempt from the fees. The city expects to collect over VND3
trillion a year. Vietnam's garment industry
goes green The association’s president Vu Duc
Giang said that most fashion brands in the US, Japan and the European Union
(EU) were now more demanding on the quality of products, adding that many
importers required the production to be friendly to the environment, such as
through water-saving and not using coal. Giang said that the requirement to
green the garment industry’s production chain was not new but became a
pressing issue since the COVID-19 pandemic. Especially the Vietnamese
Government’s commitment at the COP26 to achieve net-zero emission by 2050,
which would push the garment industry to go green. Although greening the garment supply
chain is a trend, the investment was mostly in upgrading the production to
save water or use solar energy, while little attention was paid to developing
new environmentally–friendly materials, according to VITAS. Singapore's SP Group partners
with CJ OliveNetworks Vina set up rooftop solar power SP Group and CJ OliveNetworks Vina Co.
(CJ ONS) on March 28 announced a partnership to boost Vietnam’s clean energy
transformation through the development of rooftop solar projects. Sustainable energy solutions provider
SP from Singapore and CJ ONS, a subsidiary of South Korea's CJ OliveNetworks
in Vietnam, signed an MoU to develop up to 50MWp of rooftop solar projects
across Vietnam over the next two years. The partnership includes its first
project to operate a 2.5MWp rooftop solar unit at CJ Vina Agri Co., Ltd.'s
plant by June. CJ ONS will take on the engineering, procurement, and
construction for all joint solar projects with SP. CJ Vina Agri, which will host the
first solar unit under the MoU, specialises in the production of high-quality
livestock, poultry, and aquaculture feed. The deployment of the 2.5MWp
rooftop solar solution for CJ Vina Agri marks the company’s first large-scale
injection of solar power into its energy mix. Vietnam tries to boost
exports to South Korea Yesterday, the Trade Promotion
Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Vietnam Trade
Office in Korea jointly organized a consultation about export to the Korean
market in the Northern Province of Hung Yen. According to Mr. Pham Khac Tuyen,
First Secretary in charge of the Vietnam Trade Office in South Korea, Korea
is a very attractive market for Vietnamese businesses. Vietnam has made
efforts to export goods such as agricultural and aquatic products, processed
food, textiles, footwear, furniture to Korea. Businesses had a chance to
learn more from the consultation for promoting exports to this country. The Ministry of Industry and Trade
reported that in 2021, the bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and South
Korea reached US$78.1 billion, an increase of 18.33 percent compared to 2020. Last year, Vietnam's export turnover
to South Korea reached $21 3.9 billion, up 14.9 percent and import turnover
reached $56.2 billion, up 19.7 percent over the same period in 2020. In the first two months of 2022,
bilateral trade turnover continued to grow strongly when the total
import-export turnover of Vietnam and South Korea reached US$13.8 billion, up
19.03 percent over the same period in 2021. S.Korean firm joins hands
with Shire Oak International to accelerate renewable energy HWASEUNG Enterprise, a South Korean
footwear, headwear and apparel producer, has signed a series of Solar Rooftop
Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with Shire Oak International in Vietnam to
reduce carbon emissions and accelerate renewable energy in Southeast Asia. HWASEUNG has partnered with Shire Oak
International, a unit of Shire Oak Energy, a UK developer of tidal power and
solar power, to install and operate the first four photovoltaic (PV) plants
with annual output of 18 GWh. The four PPAs are just the beginning
of an extensive plan to install solar rooftop PV systems across all existing
and new facilities operated by HWASEUNG Enterprise worldwide in the near
future. VEC to start non-stop
expressway toll collection in Q3 Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC)
will choose electronic toll collection (ETC) service providers for its
expressway projects next quarter, according to the Ministry of Transport. VEC is managing and operating five
expressways, comprising Cau Gie-Ninh Binh, Noi Bai-Lao Cai, Danang-Quang
Ngai, Ben Luc-Long Thanh and HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay. Of them, only the non-stop ETC system
on the Cau Gie-Ninh Binh Expressway has been put into operation since June
10, 2020. The service has yet to be launched on the rest. Based on the number of lanes on
expressways and the volume of vehicles passing through tollgates, VEC will
develop 140 ETC lanes. As for capital for the ETC systems,
the Ministry of Transport has received the prime minister’s approval to use
the costs for the current toll management. VEC affirmed that it had drawn up a
plan to hire ETC service providers and completed bidding procedures to choose
eligible ones. Source:
VNA/VIR/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP |
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