finance & business news 12 January 2018...Intellasia 12 January 2018 2 / 47 FINANCE Vietnam finance & business 12 January 2018 VND/USD. During the week, the State Bank adjusted the

12 January 2018

finance & business news

FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Reference exchange rate down 7 VND 1Interbank interest rate tends to increase sharply in the

first week of the year 2G-bonds worth over 7 billion USD issued in 2017 2State Treasury enters bond market as special investor 3Domestic lenders reclaim financial trust 4New move: foreign chairs at state-owned banks 5Difficult choices of bankers 6Sacombank to use loan origination system 7EIB okays new loan for metro line project in Hanoi 8MobiFone to offload stakes in SeABank, TPBank 8Vietinbank lowers interest rates for loans to five priority fields 9'Life Protection 2018' press award launched 9FTAs under negotiation between Vietnam and 60 world

economies 10Vietnam business eyes the world 10Vietnam aims to become new economic tiger in Asia 11PM: Vietnam must continue to pursue new growth model 12Sustainable growth a 'marathon race': PM 14Efforts called for stronger international economic integration 15Improving productivity in the context of industrialisation 16Vietnamese consumers the fifth most optimistic in the world 17Positive equitisation and divestment outlook in 2018 18New circular puts Asean incentives in SMEs' reach 19Lower tax helps reduce E5 bio-fuel price 20New emission standard fuels rough changeover 21Customs revenue surpasses target 22Single window launched for chemicals 23Preferential policies designed for Da Nang hi-tech park 24Manufacturing sector in dire need of manpower 24Vietnamese manufacturers use high-tech to compete in

productivity 25Vietnam fashion industry suffers setback 25Domestic pharmaceutical businesses can hardly retain

market share 26The most impressive events in the startup community in 2017 27JLL: Supply of southern IPs relatively constant 28

Binh Thuan pledges to roll out red carpet for investors 28Tra Vinh calls for investment in agricultural projects 29Phu Yen pours over 2.1 trillion VND into aquaculture 29Japanese businesses in Vietnam hunger for middle and

senior staff 30BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Business Briefs 12 January, 2018 31VN Index steady amidst rising profit earning 32Market rally loses steam 32The Vietnamese Stock Market and the Magic of Compounding 33Real estate and stock markets to rise above market in 2018? 34Hot bourse plays host to billionaires 35Nearly $500 million spent on importing meat 36Deputy PM urges ministries to address illegitimate fee

collection at airports 36Transport firms lower charges 37Hanoi to develop additional 11 million sq.m of housing in 2018 37City seeks more funds for metro lines 1, 2 38Thai fruits, vegetables to flood Vietnamese market 39VNR launches luxury trains on North-South route 39Real estate brokers association opens office in Thanh Hoa 39Dozens of illegal villas found in Danang 40Thua Thien-Hue issues code of conduct for tourists 40Four loss-making fertiliser projects likely to be revitalised 41Phu Yen to get high-tech bitumen plant 41Vietnam develops air routes to key markets 42Vietnam Airlines ends year with record pre-tax profit 421,500 register to buy apartments in Phu My Hung's latest

project, The Signature 43Grab explains increase in share from bike fares 43HCM City GrabBike drivers go on strike 44Hyundai considers plant in Vietnam or Indonesia 44Vung Ro Petroleum shakes hands with DenimoTech 44Prosecutors seek life sentence for fugitive oil executive 45Exchange programme promotes Vietnamese startups 46HCM City to host Blockchain Week 46Complast plastics exhibition opens in HCM City 47

FINANCE
FINANCEReference exchange rate down 7 VND
12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNA

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate for VND/USD at 22,406 VND/USD on January 12, down 7 VND from the previous day.With the current trading band of +/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,075 VND and the floor rate 21,739 VND per USD.The opening hour rates at major commercial banks remained stable.Vietcombank, Vietinbank and BIDV all listed the buying rate at 22,675 VND/USD and the selling rate at 22,745 VND/USD, unchanged from January 11.On the first day of the week (January 8), the reference exchange rate was set at 22,401

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Vietnam finance & business 12 January 2018

VND/USD. During the week, the State Bank adjusted the reference exchange rate down three times, on Monday, Thursday and Friday, and up twice, on Tuesday and Wednesday.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-down-7-vnd/124744.vnp

Interbank interest rate tends to increase sharply in the first week of the year

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| BIZLIVE

The report on bonds in the first week of 2018 by Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC) shows that last week, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) newly injected 107.2 billion dong via the Open Market Operation (OMO) while the amount of matured capital reached 2.266 trillion dong. As such, the State Bank net withdrew more than 2.158 tril-lion dong via this channel.Besides, through T-bill channel, the State Bank issued 29.707 trillion dong worth of new bills while the amount of money due in the week was 16.4 trillion dong. As such, last week, the State Bank net withdrew 13.307 trillion dong through T-bill channel.Accordingly, on OMO and T-bill channels, the State Bank net withdrew more than 15.465 trillion dong from the market. This shows that the system's liquidity is more abundant than the previous week.The average interbank interest rate last week tended to increase quite strongly for overnight, one-week and two-week terms with a margin of 0.36-0.6 percent.Specifically, the average interest rate for overnight term increased 0.49 percent, to 1.5 percent/annum. The average interest rate for one-week term swelled 0.36 percent to 1.59 percent/annum; the average interest rate for two-week term improved 0.6 percent to 2.09 percent/annum.

G-bonds worth over 7 billion USD issued in 2017


G-bonds worth 159.9 trillion VND (7.04 billion USD) and having an average maturity of 13.52 years, up 4.81 years against 2016, were issued last year, according to the Min-istry of Finance.The bonds had an average interest rate of some 6.07 percent per year, down 0.2 per-centage points against 2016.The National Financial Supervisory Commission forecast that the G-bond market in 2018 would see modest change thanks to the economic growth of more than 6.7 percent and inflation of below 4 percent.The value of G-bonds issued in 2018 is estimated at some 180 trillion VND, with the focus being on long term maturity and keeping the interest rate at low levels.The government in 2017 approved the roadmap for the development of the bond mar-ket from 2017 to 2020 with a vision for 2030, in which the outstanding debt in Viet-nam's bond market is targeted at 45 percent of the total GDP in 2020 and some 65 percent of the GDP in 2030.Under the plan, the outstanding debt of the government bond, government-guaran-teed bond and municipal bond market is aimed at some 38 percent of the total GDP in 2020 and 45 percent in 2030. The corporate bond market's outstanding debt is expected to reach some 7 percent of the GDP in 2020.The roadmap aims for stable development, larger size and better quality of Vietnam's bond market, which should have more diverse products, proactively integrate into the global market, and gradually operate, in line with international standards and practic-es.For this, Vietnam is set to complete its policy framework for the bond market, develop the primary and secondary markets, diversify investors, and facilitate intermediary in-stitutions and market services.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/gbonds-worth-over-7 billion-usd-issued-in-2017/124689.vnp

State Treasury enters bond market as special investor

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIR

In order to cure the sluggishness of the government bond market, Vietnam State Treas-ury (VST) has decided to join as a secondary investor. Tran Thi Hue, director of the De-partment of Treasury Management, spoke with VIR's Huu Hoe about the state office's specific plans for the upcoming participation as well as expectations for the new course

Intellasia 12 January 2018 2 / 47

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of the government bond market in 2018.Other than being the main issuer on the primary market of government bonds, it is said that Vietnam State Treasury (VST) is planning to become a secondary investor in this market. How has VST prepared for this new function?Decree No.24/2016/ND-CP on national treasury management has, for the first time, al-lowed temporarily idle funds to be used to repurchase government bonds.In more details, temporarily idle funds will be used in the following order of priority: advancing the central budget, advancing the provincial budget, be deposited at com-mercial banks with high safety ranking from the State Bank of Vietnam, and repur-chasing government bonds. Based on this juridical mechanism, for the first time, VST is allowed to participate in the government bond market as a secondary investor.The decree was enacted on January 1, 2017, but in 2017, VST's participation was post-poned due to complex preparation procedures, including staff training, and finalising procedures. Therefore, starting from 2018, VST will participate as a secondary investor in the government bond market.Another remark of the 2018 government bond market is the introduction of the policy for investors to lend bonds for selling purposes, satisfying the diverse demands of in-vestors, and accordingly, providing instruments for market leaders.In your opinion, how will VST's new role contribute to improving the government bond market's liquidity?As a secondary investor, the possibility of VST partaking in the government securities market depends on the availability of temporarily idle funds.While VST's participating as a secondary investor will help support market liquidity (the current transaction rate is around VND9 trillion per day), as a special member holding a significant impact on the market, VST will remain cautious before and dur-ing participation.What changes will VST see as an issuer in 2018?VST's guidelines to attract capital in 2018 will continue to closely follow the quotas as-signed by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). MoF is allocating room for issuance to each unit as well as constructing guidelines for the amount of capital to attract from the do-mestic and the international market. After receiving the quotas for 2018, VST will im-mediately start the operation.Following the positive results on the primary market, while keeping the issuing guide-lines for 2018, VST will strive to extend the terms of government bonds so that bonds with a term of five years or longer will account for 80 per cent of the total issued bonds.In 2018, in an effort to restructure loans through government bonds, VST will focus on judging categorised debts to calculate issuance plans to rotate debts at maturity and extend peak debt for the upcoming period.Also in 2018, a new feature of the bidding operation is that VST will encourage Viet-nam Social Insurance to directly participate in the process instead of directly purchas-ing from VST. This will help the market function more smoothly and transparently.In order to increase the attractiveness of primary bonds products, will VST introduce new products such as floating rate notes in 2018?The idea of issuing floating rate bonds has been studied by the Department of Finance and Banking under the management of MoF since the end of 2016. However, an opin-ion poll of market participants indicated that not many are intrigued by the idea.Therefore, in 2018, VST will not issue such products, and along with conducting re-search on possible products to satisfy investor demand, VST will continue to issue tra-ditional products based on the expectations of investors.A draft decree on issuing, registering, posting, and transacting government debt tools, which was composed to replace Decree No.01/2011/ND-CP on issuing government bonds, government-guaranteed bonds, and local government bonds with lots of new content, is currently being surveyed by MoF.Likewise, this decree is expected to be enacted and enter into effect on July 1, 2018, at around the same time when the amended law for regulating public debt comes into ef-fect. VST will then deploy new solutions to drive the bonds market in a more profes-


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sional and effective direction.english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193468/state-treasury-enters-bond-market-as-special-investor.html

Domestic lenders reclaim financial trust


Vietnam's bank stocks are making their way back onto investors' radar, as the sector recovers from lingering bad debt issues and strives towards Basel II standards.Reclaiming the crownIn recent months, stocks of Vietnamese banks have earned significant attention thanks to their renewed appeal with foreign investors.Most recently, Ho Chi Minh Development Bank HDBank raised $300 million from in-ternational investors, after selling shares to existing investors through the book-build-ing method.The $300 million HDBank deal was the second-largest ever in the Vietnamese banking sector, just below Vietcombank's $460 million deal in 2007. The number of registered purchases tripled the amount of shares on offer, similar to the heavily-subscribed deal of VPBank last May.Following the share sale, HDBank made its debut on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange last Friday, hitting the price ceiling on the first trading day.Late last year, the Holland-based PYN Elite Fund spent $40 million on 4.99 per cent of TPBank's shares, making its first foray into the domestic banking sector. Last October, Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF), managed by VinaCapital Group, acquired nearly 5 per cent stake at Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) in a deal valued at $11 million. This is the first banking investment made by VOF since 2012, signalling the fund's growing optimism about the sector.In a recent note to investors, Vu Huu Dien, fund manager at Dragon Capital, main-tained a positive view on Vietnam's banks, as they benefit from recent restructurings that are reducing non-performing loans and repairing their balance sheets. Banking is currently the biggest sector in the portfolio of Vietnam Enterprise Investment Limited, the flagship fund of Dragon Capital.Analysts pointed out that Vietnamese lenders can now push their cleanup of bad debts thanks to a recovering economy, growing consumer confidence, and especially Reso-lution 42, which paves the way for banks to sell collaterals at market prices.Dennis Hussey, CEO of ANZ Vietnam and head of the Greater Mekong Region, ex-pressed his optimism that the upcoming Basel II will force Vietnamese lenders to im-prove risk management, raise capital, and manage non-performing loans. All of these improvements will bode well for the financial sector in general.Banks versus investment fundsDespite warming sentiments from investment funds, it seems like foreign banks are thinking otherwise. Recently, a number of foreign banks have withdrawn their stake in Vietnamese lenders after years of partnership. The latest case is BNP Paribas who divested its entire 18.68 per cent stake from OCB last week, ending a 10-year alliance between the two lenders.Previously, HSBC Vietnam also withdrew from Techcombank, while Standard Char-tered exited Asian Commercial Bank.These divestments have sparked concerns that these overseas institutions are trying to exit Vietnam. There is also speculation that international banks have a lower risk ap-petite than investment funds, prompting them to get rid of their stake in debt-ridden Vietnamese lenders while funds are flocking in.However, these rumours have been put to rest by industry insiders. Aymar de Liedekerke Beaufort, HCM City-based country head for Vietnam at BNP Paribas, con-firmed to VIR that the OCB stake a minority stake without strategic involvement was not in line with their overall business development plan in Vietnam anymore."This is the reason we decided to dispose of our remaining holdings [at OCB]," said de Liedekerke Beaufort. He stressed that BNP Paribas remains committed to the Vietnam-ese market with two branches and significant stake in the Vietcombank Cardiff Life In-


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surance Company.Similarly, ANZ's Hussey repeated that the bank has huge plans for Vietnam, following the sale of its retail banking arm to Shinhan Bank. The bank only sold its retail business due to strategic changes on the corporate level and not because it wants to exit Viet-nam, said Hussey.Lien Le, head of institutional research at Maybank Kim Eng Securities, told VIR that these withdrawals are due to either changes in the global banks' strategies or in their domestic partners."Those divestments do not necessarily mean they have a lower risk appetite than in-vestment funds," Le said.The analyst further pointed out that increased appetite by foreign funds towards do-mestic banks is likely to increase in 2018, as more banks such as TPBank and Techcom-bank gear up for listing or plan to raise capital to comply with Basel II. Banking is also the second-largest sector in Vietnam's stock market, taking up 20 per cent of the VN Index."With all of these new listings, investment funds who allocate their capital based on sectors will have more bank stock options to choose from," said Le.http://www.vir.com.vn/domestic-lenders-reclaim-financial-trust.html

New move: foreign chairs at state-owned banks

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| NHIP CAU DAU TU

The presence of foreign personnel is normal in private banks but completely new in state-owned banks. It is unclear how the business results this new wind will bring about, but the thinking of those banks which have long been said as conservative is now much more open in the context of Vietnam's deep integration with the global.In October 2017, Vietcombank appointed the first foreign personnel. Accordingly, Thomas William Tobin, Northern Asia's director of international card organisation Vi-sa, was selected as Vietcombank's director of retail division.Thomas Tobin is no stranger to the financial market of Vietnam. As being HSBC's gen-eral director in Vietnam since 2006, he made HSBC to become the first foreign bank to establish a subsidiary bank in Vietnam which went into operation in 2009. By 2011, he gave the position to Sumit Dutta, who previously was Techcombank's Personal Finan-cial Services, and started working for Visa.It can be seen that the high-level management positions have been rotated in the in-dustry, but a significant change has made, in which the game now includes state-owned banks, which have been said as being less flexible and open as the group of pri-vate banks.Even in the group of state-owned banks, only Vietcombank has employed foreign per-sonnel. Meanwhile, there are no new foreign employment seen at BIDV and Viet-inBank. In fact, recruiting people is easy, but changing visions is hard. In this group, BIDV seems to be slower. The bank has also not yet sold shares to foreign investors. BIDV in the recent time has experienced changes in senior management and the chair position is still vacant. Recently, Pham Quang Tung, chair of Vietnam Development Bank (a bank focusing on policy lending) was transferred to BIDV and his position re-mains unknown.A common thing is that the rebound of both BIDV and VietinBank seems to be weaker than Vietcombank, reflected in recent business results. In the first nine months of 2017, despite recording significant net interest income growth (37.7 percent compared to 18.4 percent of Vietcombank and 15.8 percent of VietinBank), the after-tax profit of BIDV recorded negative increase, due to the strong rise of risk provisions. The bank's bad debt size (debt group three to five) grew by 19.5 percent compared to the end of last year.Although there is no highlight of new personnel, the common point of these three banks is the shift from wholesale to retail. Penetrating more deeply in retail banking is a modern trend, which is forecasted by the consulting firm PwC to become one of the five hot growing areas in the near future.Vietcombank's Chair of the Board of directors (BOD) Nghiem Xuan Thanh said that


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high-level personnel will be the key and prerequisite for the way to become the first retail bank. "Vietcombank's recruitment of a foreigner who is qualified, experienced and knowledgeable of Vietnam's, regional, and global market to the position of Retail director showed the bank's determination to become the leading bank in retail in Viet-nam by 2020", Vietcombank's report mentioned.The race in retail field among state-owned banks has become much fiercer in the con-text of competition with private banks which are also using foreign personnel. For ex-ample, in the management board of VPBank, there are two deputy general directors, including Fung Kai Kin, who is also in charge of the division of small corporate clients, and Kira Babu Kosaraju (appointed in November 2017), who is in charge of small busi-ness lending. These are also the two strategic areas that VPBank is targeting in the fu-ture, in addition to the consumer credit area which is led by Kalidas Ghose.Meanwhile, at VIB, Loic Faussier is currently the bank's deputy general director cum Head of Risk Management. He joined the bank in July 2012. The human resource at VIB is also expected to see changes in the near future, after it acquires the Hochiminh city branch of Commonwealth Bank of Australia.More and more enterprises are inviting high-ranking executives to hold their impor-tant positions in the apparatus, from finance to business development fields. They ex-pect these experts to bring their experiences in multinational organisations, management and working styles, and even the build of platforms, and supervision and operating procedures. According to representative of a large-scaled private bank, a workforce meeting the growth expectation is a combination of talented and knowl-edgeable local personnel; and foreign personnel with good level of knowledge and ex-periences who come from large organisations around the world.Thus, the more frequent presence of foreign factor is normal in the opening period when Vietnam has more trade with other countries. Moreover, the growth of the fi-nance market requires highly qualified personnel that Vietnamese education can hard-ly provide at the early days of the opening.General director of HSBC Vietnam Pham Hong Hai believed that local banks now need experienced personnel to boost their business ambitions. "We are seeing domes-tic banks actively attracting high-quality personnel, including those with international experience. The main purpose is to improve the quality of human resource, utilise in-ternational human resource to develop sophisticated and complex products and serv-ices", said Hai.There is no evidence showing that foreigners will work more effectively than local em-ployees, but the importance is the relevance to the organisation. It can be seen in the example of HSBC Vietnam, in which Hai is the first Vietnamese person to hold the top position in an international finance organisation. What HSBC needs from Vietnam's market is someone who understands the local situation.In fact, there is also a race in attracting foreign personnel among private banks, but it is not always successful due to many reasons. Some banks hired foreign CEOs but then these banks were merged with other banks, such as the case of Mekong Bank; or Tech-combank, which has changed its strategy after many years recruiting foreign CEOs.Despite failures or successes, the positive point for banks is to collect valuable experi-ence for themselves in the integration context. Learning and gaining experience from international personnel is also a quick way to approach new standards and technolo-gies in the financial sector.

Difficult choices of bankers

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTCK

Due to strict requirements on financial security and the importance to the economy, the operations of banks are increasingly subject to more stringent regulations on man-agement.The story about many businesspeople accepting to give up the chair in their own busi-nesses to only hold the top seats at banks in complying with the new regulation of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) from January 15th 2018 shows that the business has be-come increasingly professional. The market expects that this move will create new


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changes to the banking system. With a healthier heart, the economy will have more op-portunities to be stronger.Frankly speaking, many banks are currently having great challenges and they need steady governance from the leaders. Meanwhile, for the private groups founded by these leaders, the workforce to take over the tasks has been trained, and corporate gov-ernance system has been established so that the chairmen can have long break while things are still working well.This positive movement and the determination to limit cross-ownership, specifically the close relationship of enterprises and banks are expected to have a positive impact on the economy.In fact, cross-ownership is not simple. They are often the indirect ownership via many different intermediaries, and even the ownership relationship was replaced by spon-sorship relationship. The consequence of this circular relationship is that capital easily approved and can lead to bad debts.In addition, the current policy of SBV is limiting banks to pay high dividends and en-couraging them to use profits to enhance financial capacity. However, major share-holders of banks may use their soft power to force the bank to approve loans to related companies, and the loans may be very large.In 2018, messages from the government clearly demonstrate the spirit of continuing to create a healthy business environment and allocating resources according to the effec-tiveness of the projects, etc.One of the solutions to well carry out this policy is said to be the determination to dras-tically eliminate cross-ownership in the banking system.The clearer selection of management positions and focus on a more difficult field which requires very high level of governance and transparency shows that the finan-cial market is step by step moving towards professional and indispensable trends that developed markets have experienced.

Sacombank to use loan origination system

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (Sacombank) clinched a deal on January 10 with a foreign consortium comprising Aurionpro Solutions and Integro Technologies to carry out the Loan Origination System (LOS), a credit loan origination and risk man-agement platform.The platform is a leading software solution that is expected to help Sacombank achieve their business and risk management objectives to overcome limitations in their current credit management.Sacombank deputy general director Phan Dinh Tue said the system which requires more than VND100 billion (US$4.4 million) is expected to be in service early next year.The application of the LOS is aimed at shortening the time required to handle credit data because all the procedures such as creating customer files and approving loans will be automatically done.For example, loan applications for purposes such as purchasing vehicles will take around eight to 24 hours compared with the current one to two days.He stressed decisions on loan applications which will be made on the system will mainly take quantitative factors rather than qualitative ones into consideration. There-fore, the system will facilitate risk management at the bank.Sacombank will be the third bank after the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and the Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) to operate the system, thanks to the cooperation with the Aurionpro-Integro consortium.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/57973/Sacombank-to-use-loan-origination-sys-tem.html

EIB okays new loan for metro line project in Hanoi


The European Investment Bank (EIB) will offer a loan of 143 million euros (US$171.4 million) for a project to develop metro line No. 3 in Hanoi City, connecting Hanoi Sta-tion and Nhon Station, said EIB vice president Jonathan Taylor.


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At a press conference in Hanoi on January 10, Taylor said the 12.5-kilometer elevated urban railway with 12 stations would improve public transit in the capital.Asked by the Daily over a threefold increase in the project's capital and slow progress (some three years behind schedule), Taylor said he had visited the project site and was informed of the project progress. The contractor has committed to speeding up the construction pace.EIB attaches no conditions to the loan, so Vietnam has the right to apply any technol-ogies from any providers, Taylor noted.EIB has provided more than 710 million euros in loans for investment in Vietnam since 1998.Ambassador Bruno Angelet, head of the Delegation of the European Union to Viet-nam, noted at the press conference that EIB is willing to offer soft loans for Vietnam at a time when international donors are reducing concessional funds for the country. At a meeting with EIB, Vietnamese officials said Vietnam has high demand for EIB's loans as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have stopped offering official de-velopment assistance (ODA) for the country.EIB, which is the world's largest international public bank and is owned by 28 Europe-an Union (EU) members, offers an interest rate of 0 percent, Angelet said.The ambassador expected Vietnam could receive more such loans from EIB after the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is ratified and takes effect.At an earlier meeting with EIB, Vietnamese deputy prime minister Trinh Dinh Dung proposed the bank continue supporting Vietnam to develop infrastructure, especially traffic and energy facilities, and response to climate change and rising sea levels.As for traffic infrastructure, Vietnam has plans to build the North-South Expressway, airports, seaports and connecting facilities to develop logistics services to help enter-prises reduce costs and increase the economy's competitiveness.In addition, Vietnam, which is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, needs loans to cushion severe impacts of climate change and develop highly vulnera-ble areas, the deputy PM said.Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The introduced some large projects in Vietnam such as the North-South express railway and Long Thanh International Airport.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/57966/EIB-okays-new-loan-for-metro-line-project-in-Hanoi.html

MobiFone to offload stakes in SeABank, TPBank


State-owned mobile network operator MobiFone will offload its holding of 38.95 mil-lion shares in two joint stock commercial banks in February.The Hanoi Stock Exchange has announced that it will conduct two auctions of the shares of SeABank and TPBank held by MobiFone on February 7.At 8.30am on that day, MobiFone will auction more than 33.4 million SeABank shares, equal to 6.11 percent of the bank's charter capital. With a starting price of 9,600 VND (42 US cents) per share, if successfully auctioned, MobiFone will gain more than 320 billion VND (14.1 million USD) and no longer be a shareholder of SeABank.MobiFone is currently the third-largest shareholder in SeABank, after Societe generale and Phu My Investment Co, which hold 19.52 percent and 11.55 percent of the bank's charter capital, respectively.At 10am on the same day, MobiFone will auction more than 5.55 million TPBank shares, or 1 percent of the bank's charter capital. At a starting price of 12,800 VND (56 US cents) per share, MobiFone is expected to gain at least 70 billion VND (3.1 million USD) and cut its stake in the bank to 4.76 percent.The divestment from the two banks is in line with MobiFone's policy of divesting in-vestments from its non-core business lines.This is the second round of MobiFone's programme of capital withdrawal from TPBank and SeABank. In April, 2017, MobiFone failed to sell shares of SeABank as no bidders showed interest. It could sell just 61 percent of the offering of more than 14.28 million TP-Bank shares. Industry insiders attributed the failure to tepid investor sentiments.


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According to experts, the auctions of the shares will test the local stock market, which has jumped over 50 percent in the past 12 months, supported by local and foreign in-flows and the country's stellar economic performance in 2017.TPBank and SeABank shares are priced at some 26,000 VND and 14,000 VND each in the OTC market. Finish fund PN Elite Fund bought a 4.99 percent stake of TPBank in December 2017 for nearly 40 million USD, valuing the bank's shares at 30,000 VND each.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/mobifone-to-offload-stakes-in-seabank-tpbank/124753.vnp

Vietinbank lowers interest rates for loans to five priority fields


The Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) has decided to reduce interest rates for short, medium and long term loans to five sectors deemed as priority by the government.The decision is taken in line with the government's Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated January 1, 2018, and the direction of the State Bank's Governor.Accordingly, as from January 11, interest rates will be cut by 0.5 percent per year for short, medium and long term loans in dong to firms operating in agriculture-rural de-velopment, for-export production and business, small- and medium-sized enterprises, support industry and hi-tech production.Start-up firms with feasible business and production plans and household businesses that were upgraded into official firms, are also eligible for the preferential loans.Besides, credit programmes with special interest rates will continue to be applied to businesses with good financial status and effective production and business activities.Lending to five priority sectors of the government account for nearly 60 percent of Vi-etinbank's total outstanding loans, which demonstrated the bank's vanguard role in implementing policies of the Party, the government and the State Bank, as well as in providing capital to the national economy's key fields.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietinbank-lowers-interest-rates-for-loans-to-five-priority-fields/124730.vnp

'Life Protection 2018' press award launched

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Annual press award to recognise journalists writing about Vietnam's life insurance in-dustry.The Vietnam Insurance Association (IAV) has officially launched the "Life Protection 2018" annual press award for journalists and reporters writing about the life insurance industry.The award will honor journalists who have contributed to raising awareness about the humanistic nature of the life insurance industry and the importance of the sector to lo-cal and national socioeconomic development."Life insurance has been established and developed in Vietnam for more than 20 years," Than Hien Anh, IAV vice President and Head of the Organising Committee, said at the launch. "Since its foundation, life insurance has developed rapidly, contrib-uting to stabilising social security, attracting idle capital from people to invest in the economy, and creating jobs for about 600,000 people."In recent years, the average growth of life insurance premiums in the market has fluc-tuated around 30 per cent; a substantial figure compared to the growth of the national economy and the average growth of countries in the region and the world. However, the proportion of people with life insurance in Vietnam remains modest, at only 8 per cent; much lower than the global average.The jury for the award consists of five members, in which journalist Ho Quang Loi, Standing vice Chair of the Vietnam Journalists' Association, is Head. Than Hien Anh, IAV vice President, is deputy director, with the remaining members including Le Huong Ly, IAV Executive director, Bui Gia Anh, IAV Secretary general, and Ngo Trung Dung, IAV deputy Secretary.The award consists of five categories, each of which will feature one of the most prom-inent types of newspapers (print, electronic, radio and television). Each prize winner


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will receive a certificate of merit, a travel voucher valued at VND5 million ($220), and a voucher worth VND3 million ($132).The Journalist of the Year award will be presented to the journalist with the most arti-cles and most positive content in the life insurance industry. Entries will reflect the per-spectives of Vietnam's life insurance industry, the humanistic meaning of life insurance, and its contribution to the economy.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/banking-finance/life-protection-2018-press-award-launched

FTAs under negotiation between Vietnam and 60 world economies

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV

2018 is of paramount importance for Vietnam's roadmap to undertake its international economic integration commitments, said deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue at this year's first meeting of the Inter-sectoral Steering Committee for International Eco-nomic Integration in Hanoi on January 11.In his speech, the deputy PM reviewed what Vietnam achieved in 2017, such as the 22nd anniversary of the country's entry into Asean, half century of establishment of re-gional grouping, and its successful hosting of the Apec Year with a broad range of ma-jor conferences and new initiatives, which made significant contributions to expediting the process of cooperation and economic integration across the Asia-Pacific region.Vietnam accelerated its international integration through negotiations and pro-grammes for international economic cooperation while promoting domestic integra-tion in line with its commitments to international economic integration, institutional reform, and economic restructuring based on renewed growth model.The country has so far ratified 10 bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with regional and world partners and it is going ahead with negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Comprehensive and Pro-gressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and bilateral FTAs with Is-rael and Cuba.Around 60 world economies have been conducting negotiations with Vietnam includ-ing key trade partners who account for approximately 90 percent of the Southeast Asian nation's trade turnover.Deputy PM Hue called for closer coordination between relevant ministries and sectors in drafting viable plans for early conclusions on negotiations towards the signing of FTAs such as RCEP, Vietnam- European Free Trade Association (EFTA) including the four countries of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, and Vietnam-Israel FTA.He underlined the need for them to research international economic integration-relat-ed issues to provide advice to the Inter-sectoral Steering Committee, and to fully actu-alise action programmes and government resolutions so as to review the first five-year implementation of resolutions on international integration and international economic integration after Vietnam has extensively engaged in regional and international organ-isations and FTAs.http://english.vov.vn/economy/ftas-under-negotiation-between-vietnam-and-60-world-economies-366489.vov

Vietnam business eyes the world

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VNS

Deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue said that international economic integration would be the focus of economic restructuring in 2018, requiring breakthroughs in ne-gotiation, signing of free trade deals and improving the legal framework.Hue was speaking at the 2018 first meeting of the Inter-sectoral Steering Committee for International Economic Integration on Thursday."It is necessary to enhance free trade agreements (FTAs) and national competitiveness as well as competitiveness of different industries," Hue said. "Preparations must be taken to actively adapt to integration, especially in fields expected to be the most vul-nerable, such as husbandry, cultivation and sugar industries."


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He said that integration would bring benefits from tariff cuts and/or removal, but this would also mean a drop in budget revenue. "The adjustments of domestic taxes are needed, but must be implemented with appropriate roadmaps."International integration would also require the flawless cooperation between mem-ber countries in implementing procedures and creating favourable conditions for busi-nesses, he said.As some major partners of Vietnam are considering changes in their trade policies, Hue asked the steering committee to enhance the analysis of cooperation trends and forecasts about new-generation FTAs.Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said that Vietnam was also hastening integration in the domestic market through the implementation of international inte-gration commitments, institutional reforms and growth model renovation.FTAs positively contributed to boosting economic development, expanding export markets and helping Vietnam engage more deeply into the global value chain."FTAs provide significant opportunities for Vietnam if they are enforced effectively," Tuan Anh said.Deputy minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh told the meeting that EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA) would be split into two separate dealsa free trade agreement and an investment-protection agreement.The former would include all the contents of the current EVFTA, but investment would only include the liberalisation of foreign-direct investment. The agreement would be under the authority of the European Commision and the approval of the Eu-ropean Parliament.The latter, consisting of contents about investment protection and investment-dispute resolution, would have to be approved by the European Parliament and the member countries.The slicing of EVFTA into two agreements was planned to be completed this month to prepare for the official signing, Khanh said.To date, Vietnam has passed 10 bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, including Asean Free Trade Area, five Asean+1 FTAs, and FTAs with Japan, South Korea, Chile and the Eurasia Economic Union.Vietnam has also concluded FTA negotiations with the EU and was negotiating Re-gional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Comprehensive and Pro-gressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).About 60 countries had already negotiated or were negotiating FTAs with Vietnam, which accounts for 90 per cent of Vietnam's trade.http://bizhub.vn/news/viet-nam-business-eyes-the-world_291342.html

Vietnam aims to become new economic tiger in Asia


Vietnam needs to consistently pursue the productivity-based growth model and inno-vation to become a new economic tiger in Asia, said prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a dialogue with delegates attending the Vietnam Economic Forum 2018 in Ha-noi on January 11.Themed "Fast and sustainable economic growth of Vietnam: challenges and new mo-tivation", the 2nd Vietnam Economic Forum held by the Party Central Committee's Commission for Economic Affairs saw the attendance of approximately 1,500 domestic and international economic experts and scholars.In his speech, prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that with a 6.81 percent growth rate, Vietnam is among the highest growth groups in Asia and the world. The country has also accelerated economic reform, and promoted transparency and anti-corrup-tion.Significantly improved business environment, healthy and fair competition have helped consolidate the confidence of investors and the business community, creating a new vitality for the national economy."Although Vietnam has recorded positive socio-economic development achievements after more than 30 years of pursuing the Doi Moi (renovation) process, we should not


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be satisfied with obtained results. Vietnam should continue to persist with the new growth model based on productivity and innovation." PM Phuc emphasized.A huge challenge for the Vietnamese economy is how to ensure rapid and sustainable development, thus escaping the middle income trap, Phuc said while calling for great-er efforts by ministries, sectors and localities to achieve this year's 6.7 percent growth target through improving the quality of growth and sharpening competitiveness of the national economy.Phuc pointed out challenges facing Vietnam's economy saying that the country needs to take specific actions, seize opportunities, and exploit economic potential to achieve this goal.The government leader described the event as an opportune occasion for delegates to discuss and share views on macroeconomic developments and Vietnam's economic situation, and propose measures to help the government tackle bottlenecks and accel-erate growth drivers to reach set targets.In response to delegates' questions on the government's measures to increase the Viet-namese economy's resistance against external shocks, prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said, "We need to improve productivity, particularly the Total Factor Productiv-ity or TFP, apply science and technology, and take advantage of the 4th industrial rev-olution. We need to strengthen economic restructuring at all levels, sectors, and enterprises to improve national, local, and product competitiveness."The government leader also underscored the need to ease the rely on traditional com-petitive advantages like natural resources or low-cost labour, especially in the context that the country's golden population structure will last for no longer than two decades and international pressures are getting tougher.The first edition of this kind last year with theme of "Unleashing the potential for sus-tainable economic growth." covered a host of useful and significant discussions and recommendations, evaluated Vietnam's economic situation, and proposed medium- and long-term solutions for the Vietnamese economy.The same day, a workshop on technology, green energy, and sustainable growth" was held in Hanoi as part of the Vietnam Economic Forum 2018.In his address, Head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Economic Af-fairs Nguyen Van Binh said research and use of green technology such as wind power, solar power, and bio-energy is an obvious trend."The development of green energy has become more popular and has changed the en-ergy package. Many countries are rapidly devising and implementing strategies and policies with long term visions on green growth and focus on human resources, sci-ence, technology, and finance aiming to develop a low-carbon, sustainable and envi-ronmentally friendly economy."Participants also discussed Vietnam's energy landscape in the context of extensive in-ternational integration.A seminar on improving productivity in the context of industrialisation was also held as part of the event.http://english.vov.vn/economy/vietnam-aims-to-become-new-economic-tiger-in-asia-366508.vov

PM: Vietnam must continue to pursue new growth model


Productivity and innovation key, PM tells 2nd Vietnam Economic Forum in Hanoi on January 11.Vietnam should continue to pursue a new growth model based on productivity and innovation in the time to come, prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told a policy dia-logue session held within the framework of the 2nd Vietnam Economic Forum in Ha-noi.With theme "Fast and Sustainable Economic Growth: Challenges and New Motiva-tion", the Forum was organised by the Central Economic Commission on January 11 and attended by nearly 1,500 leading Vietnamese and international economic scholars.The prime minister said the Forum is important for policy makers, central and local


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government agencies, enterprises, experts from universities, research institutes, and organisations to exchange views on macroeconomic development and Vietnam's eco-nomic situation as well as propose measures to help the government tackle bottlenecks and accelerate growth drivers in order to achieve goals set.He asked the Central Economic Commission to report on all opinions from delegates to the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the government, and send them to functional agencies for study and practice. The government needs specific proposals to bring into life.Vietnam's GDP grew 6.81 per cent last year; among the highest in Asia and the world. At the same time, economic reform was accelerated, transparency was enhanced, and anti-corruption was promoted. The business environment improved significantly, with healthy competition, equality, and equity. These matters strengthened the confi-dence of investors and the business community, breathing new life into the economy.However, it should be acknowledged that the economy still faces a range of challenges in the medium and long terms. One of the key challenges is how to develop rapidly and sustainably, thereby fleeing the middle-income trap, according to the prime Min-ster, who recalled the requirements in 2018 made at a recent national meeting between the government and localities.Of which, growth must be close to the level approved by the National Assembly, of 6.7 per cent. The quality of growth must be improved, workplace productivity must be higher, and environmental indicators must be improved. Society is to be peaceful and secure. Every citizen, especially the poor and disadvantaged, must have a better mate-rial life and spiritual life. The economy must be more resistant to major fluctuations.After more than 30 years of reform, since 1986, Vietnam has recorded major achieve-ments in socioeconomic development, prime minister Phuc emphasized. "We are not subjective and satisfied with the results achieved," he said. "In the time to come, Viet-nam should persist in pursuing a new growth model based on productivity and inno-vation." It is necessary to quickly ease any dependence on old competitive advantages such as natural resources and cheap labour, especially in the context of the country's golden demographic structure, which will only last about two decades, and tougher international pressure.The great and important question is how to make Vietnam's economic growth both rapid and sustainable, the prime minister told the gathering. These are two goals that can be contradictory, but some countries have been successful at their attempt, such as Japan and South Korea. "So, what to do to achieve both goals? In Vietnam, the two ob-jectives need to be met," he said."I've read the forum's documentation, which specifically pointed to three levers for Vi-etnam to achieve these two important goals," he went on. "I have learned that experts, scientists, and delegates have engaged in frank discussions, sharing insights on les-sons, new growth models, and economic growth drivers. This will help the Party and the government identify initiatives and policies to promote rapid and sustainable de-velopment.""Growth and development is a marathon, not a sprint. Rejoice over the results in 2017, but consider these achievements as the basis of our confidence in efforts to restructure the economy and transform the growth model. This creates a stronger foundation for the economy to grow higher in the long run."vneconomictimes.com/article/vietnam-today/pm-vietnam-must-continue-to-pursue-new-growth-model

Sustainable growth a 'marathon race': PM


Prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Thursday characterised sustainable develop-ment as a "marathon race" that needs stable, inclusive growth.Addressing the 2018 Vietnam Economic Forum held in Hanoi, he stressed the need to address many medium and long-term terms that the Vietnamese economy was facing in order to avoid the middle income trap.Phuc said that the nation's most important objective in the coming years was to "grow


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quickly but surely.""Sustainable development is a marathon, not a short distance race," he said.He said aspirations should be pursued with durable, concrete actions, taking advan-tage of opportunities and overcoming challenges, as the country strove to become a "new Asian economic tiger."The PM noted Vietnam's impressive economic achievements in 2017, including a high-er than expected GDP growth rate of 6.81 per cent and inflation kept within the annual target.He expected these successes to be sustained in 2018 in the context of further interna-tional economic integration, with many free trade agreements being implemented, tar-iffs on many competitive imported goods removed, and the possibility of growing public debt.Renewable energyAgreeing with PM Phuc, Nguyen Van Binh, head of the Central Economic Commis-sion (CEC), said that an important factor and driving force for industrialisation and economic development would be clean and sustainable energy.On its way to becoming a modern industrialised country, Vietnam must focus on a number of sectors with comparative advantages and strategic significance, and the green energy industry carried high potential and was of fundamental importance, Binh said.At present, the vision of renewable energy in Vietnam has developed synchronously. The energy market has taken new steps to operate under market mechanisms, ensur-ing competitiveness, transparency and efficiency, Binh added.This view was further supported by Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who ad-vised against the use of fossil fuels such as coal or petroleum."In order for Vietnam, as any other country, to decrease greenhouse effects of climate change, the research and introduction via policy mechanisms of alternative and more economical renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, thermal electricity or bio-mass is indispensable," Kerry said.It was undeniable that Vietnam's socio-economic development would keep increasing the demand for energy, so the energy system must diversify in parallel with national infrastructure development to promote energy savings and efficiency, he said.Productivity prospectsOn international economic integration, improving productivity in the context of in-dustrialisation was also a topic discussed at the forum."Productivity is a key determinant of economic development, especially considering that the national productivity level is low compared to the other countries in the region and the world average," said Ngo Van Tuan, deputy head of the CEC.He found it "saddening that Vietnam's labour productivity was only equivalent to 7 per cent of Singapore's, 17.6 per cent of Malaysia's, 36 per cent of Thailand's and even just 87 per cent of Laos'.Despite Vietnam's high GDP growth that meets the needs of socio-economic develop-ment, Tuan pointed out some policy flaws that he said were rooted in "lack of practical requirements, resources and timeliness".In the same vein, Umeda Kunio, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ja-pan to Vietnam, said that increasing productivity was a key factor in strengthening Vi-etnam's industries."We can see that the 4.0 industrial revolution is creating opportunities and challenges for productivity breakthroughs based on innovation and technology. For rapid and sustainable growth, Vietnam needs to identify medium and long-term strategies to promote productivity," he said.He also affirmed that the country's movement to promote and launch productivity in-creasing initiatives has been recognised throughout the Vietnamese business commu-nity.Vietnam will not only focus on increasing the private sector's capacity but also the gov-ernment's and State-owned enterprises' productivity, said Binh.


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"By coordinating and reforming policies, administrative procedures, and improving the performance of State-owned enterprises, Vietnam's productivity will gradually in-crease," he said.Continuing the success of the first VEF last year, this year's forum gathered more than 1,500 participants, including leading voices from the government, economists, busi-ness representatives and international experts.It was co-organised by the CEC in cooperation with governmental ministries, the Aus-tralian Embassy, the Japanese Embassy, the Konrad-Adeneur-Stiftung Institute and USAID in Vietnam.bizhub.vn/news/sustainable-growth-a-marathon-race-pm_291346.html

Efforts called for stronger international economic integration


Deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue has stressed a strong change in international economic integration in 2018, focusing negotiations on and signing of new free trade agreements (FTAs), and improving legal frameworks towards realising signed trade pacts with foreign partners.Speaking at the first meeting of the Inter-sectoral Steering Committee for International Economic Integration for 2018 in Hanoi on January 11, the deputy PM asked the com-mittee to coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, other ministries and sec-tors in effectively tapping signed FTAs, and proposing measures to promote the signing of new pacts.According to deputy PM Hue, who is also head of the committee, they need to keep close watch on policy-related changes of partners and response from foreign markets in order to give timely warnings to local businesses.More efforts should be done to improve Vietnam's integration capacity, while atten-tion should be paid to outlining trade protection policies, he noted.He highlighted the carefulness in the negotiation process to ensure the best benefit for the country.The deputy PM called for measures to ensure tax collection in the context of the coun-try's deeper international integration which will cause tariff reduction.Participants underlined the significance of coordination in negotiating new FTAs and performing ones signed in 2018the year they described as an important time for imple-menting Vietnam's international economic integration commitments.Vietnam has so far approved 10 bilateral and multilateral FTAs with regional and in-ternational partners. The country basically finished FTA negotiation with the Europe-an Union. It is promoting negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and discussions towards bilateral pacts with Israel and Cuba.The implementation of FTAs remarkably contributed to pushing the national econom-ic development and expanding export markets, thus helping Vietnam deeply join the global value chain and production network.It also helped accelerate economic restructuring, improve business climate and com-petitiveness, and effectively take advantages of investment flows, technology and knowledge, and create more jobs, thus raising management capacity.Vietnam witnessed fruitful economic development in 2017, with export-import turno-ver hitting 425 billion USD.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/efforts-called-for-stronger-intl-economic-integration/124731.vnp

Improving productivity in the context of industrialisation


As Industry 4.0 exerts a sharp effect on the economic structure, development, growth rate, and the models of business and labour usage, Vietnam Economic Forum was or-ganised today to provide specific solutions for Vietnam to seize advantages in produc-tion and improve productivity, contributing to the improvement of growth quality and economic competitiveness.Vietnam's economic growth has been on the fall. During 2001-2005, the average eco-


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nomic growth was 7.51 per cent per annum, while in the 2006-2010 period it was 7.02 per cent and 5.67 per cent during 2011-2015.Statistics show that Vietnam's productivity is equivalent to only 7 per cent of Singa-pore's, 17.6 per cent of Malaysia, 36.5 per cent of Thailand, 42.3 per cent of Myanmar, 56.7 per cent of the Philippines, and 87.4 per cent of Laos.Ngo Van Tuan, deputy chair of the Central Party Committee's Economic Commission, emphasized: "The most important thing is to strengthen total-factor productivity (TFP), science-technology applications, and innovation. These are the foundations to improve the competitiveness of every country and achieve sustainable economic de-velopment."Japanese Ambassador Umeda Kunio assessed that with the doi moi policy, Vietnam has achieved steady economic growth utilising foreign capital and low-cost labour as its main engines for economic development. However, in order to avoid the middle-income trap and maintain further sustainable development, the country needs to es-tablish a new growth model. It is urgent for Vietnam to promote its industries and strengthen its competitiveness.In order to strengthen competitiveness, Kunio recommended a three-pronged ap-proach. "First, I would like to suggest that the Communist Party of Vietnam and its government initiate a nation-wide campaign to make more people realise that produc-tivity improvement is key to strengthening the competitiveness of Vietnamese indus-tries and to outline concrete actions. Japan has played a key role in the initial steps."He said that some Vietnamese firms, such as THACO and Hai Phong JSC, have shown success in improving their productivity after carrying out his proposals. Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group has greatly improved the reliability and speed of its services in Hanoi and HCM City since 2015, after entering a cooperation with Ja-pan Post Group.In addition, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has offered lectures on improving factories' productivity in Hanoi, HCM City, and Hai Phong since 2009. So far, 413 Vietnamese managers of various manufacturing companies have participated in these lectures. Even after the lectures, they continued to share their experiences with each other."It is essential for Vietnam to improve not only the productivity of private companies but also that of its government, which supports the private sector. Thus, the Vietnam-ese government and the Communist Party's current initiatives of streamlining the ad-ministrative procedures and reforming state-owned enterprises are important for the future of the country," emphasized the ambassador.Kenichi Ohno from the National Graduate Institute of Economic Management said: "Vietnamese labour productivity is very low compared with other countries in Asia, even lower than Laos. With the existing weaknesses in policies and labour productiv-ity, Vietnam will face difficulties in exiting the middle-income trap as well as reaching its economic growth targets."Thus, the Vietnamese government should consider the following solutions to improve the productivity of the overall economy in general and labour productivity in particu-lar. Notably, Vietnam needs to build specific productivity reports as well as carry out a mindset campaign via various media channels. The awareness campaign must be continued for several years until productivity becomes a part of national philosophy.Besides, the government needs to set detailed productivity targets, addressing a gap-ing hole in its global integration efforts.Furthermore, the Vietnamese government needs to revamp concrete productivity tools, while at the same time mobilise Vietnamese workers to learn manufacturing skills to serve for Vietnam's industrialisation target.James Mullen, vice president of ABB Ltd, noted: "Talking from my company's experi-ence, we need to change the attitude and working style of workers towards increased professionalism and discipline.Domestic firms need to invest more into human resources management software."We cooperated with numerous Vietnamese suppliers. Previously, they often deliv-


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ered low-quality or the wrong products, which ABB refused to take over, dictating strict quality requirements. After a while, we are proud of seeing how these firms made excellent advancement in the area," Mullen said.Tran Van Tho, a professor of economics at the faculty of Social Sciences of Waseda Uni-versity in Japan, outlined: "Vietnam has sprung the middle income trap. To exit from this trap, Vietnam needs to build strategies and policies for improving productivity. Notably, Vietnam must broaden and deepen industrialisation in order to avoid prema-ture deindustrialisation as well as create high productivity employment for labour shifting from agriculture and household businesses. Additionally, Vietnam needs to change its foreign direct investment (FDI) attractions strategy, promote domestic com-panies' participation in the global supply chain, and increase productivity via technol-ogy transfer."http://www.vir.com.vn/improving-productivity-in-the-context-of-industrialisa-tion.html

Vietnamese consumers the fifth most optimistic in the world

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| TRI THUC TRE

In Q3/2017, confidence of Vietnamese consumers reached 116 points (down one points compared to Q2/2017). This index helped Vietnam become the fifth optimistic country in the world after India, the Philippines, Indonesia and the USThat information was available in the report on Consumer confidence index in Q3/2017 released on January 10 by the market research firm Nielsen."In general, the consumer confidence index in the Southeast Asia region was still high. In Vietnam, consumers continued to be optimistic and confident throughout 2017. This homogenous trend was the result of the optimism about the personal finance capacity as well as the willingness to spend of Vietnamese people. Besides, the optimistic growth of GDP in the first nine months of 2017, along with the growth of foreign in-vestment flow, household income and decreased unemployment rate were also one of the positive signals helping Vietnamese people become more optimistic and confi-dent", said Nguyen Huong Quynh, CEO of Nielsen Vietnam.The report also showed that consumers in Southeast Asia continued to have the high-est confidence index in the world besides North America and the entire Asia Pacific regions. The confidence of consumers in the Southeast Asia region in Q3/2017 in-creased one point from the previous quarter and the Philippines became the second most optimistic country in the world after India.Quynh added "many Vietnamese people participating in our survey answered that they expect the individual financial situation to be better in the following year and showed confidence in their work in the next 12 months. These expectations reflected a general trend that we have observed over the last several years. The reason for this is that Vietnam is a country with many young consumers who share the hope of a better future with better living conditions, higher income and good education for children and positive improvements from the government in the future".Studies show that people in the Southeast Asia region continue to have the highest sav-ings trend in the world with more than three out of five people (67 percent) depositing idle money into savings accounts. Studies also show that 66 percent of Vietnamese people spend money on savings (compared to 63 percent in the previous quarter), after the Philippines (69 percent), Thailand and Indonesia (68 percent) and Singapore (67 percent). This rate is 52 percent on global scale.Along with savings trend, consumers in Vietnam continue to be willing to spend more on large items to upgrade their life quality. Nielsen's survey also showed that after spending on essential living expenses, about two among five Vietnamese consumers are willing to spend on tourism (44 percent), purchase of new clothes (44 percent), new technology products (44 percent), house repair (37 percent) and external entertainment services (38 percent). The report also shows that 28 percent of Vietnamese consumers purchased senior insurance packages in the last quarter.*Stable job and heath are of paramount concernIn this quarter, the five biggest concerns of Vietnamese consumers still remained the


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same compared to the previous quarter. Job stability continues to stay first in the list of top concern of Vietnamese consumers with 41 percent. The next important concern was health (37 percent). Other concerns include work/life balance (27 percent), econo-my (27 percent), well-fare and parental happiness."It is not hard to see that consumers want a stable job with a good working environ-ment because this is the best way for them to ensure their income, thereby turning ex-pectations about a better life into reality. Besides, in the current context when we are living in an age where information about food safety always becomes a concern on the internet and social communication channels, good health becomes a really important concern for consumers", added Quynh.

Positive equitisation and divestment outlook in 2018


Regarded as a fruitful year for the Vietnamese stock market, 2017 also saw great strides in the restructuring of state-owned enterprises through equitisation and divestment. Dang Quyet Tien, director general of the Department of Corporate Finance, spoke with VIR's Manh Bon about the results of the year's equitisation and divestment deals as well as the new targets for 2018.Could you share details on the equitisation plan for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in 2017?Initially, 44 SOEs were planned for the equitisation in 2017. However, the government approved the equitisation of 45 SOEs with the total value of VND213.75 trillion ($9.38 billion), which was a six-fold increase over the same category in 2016.According to Circular No.01/2015/TT-BTC dated January 5, 2015, after an equitisation plan is approved, the enterprise shall have at most 90 days to launch an initial public offering (IPO). Therefore, the 45 designated enterprises must complete the IPO by the end of the first quarter of 2018.Additionally, over the course of 2017, the equitisation process posted several signifi-cant accomplishments, such as ensuring the efficiency of the process as proved by the total value of enterprises approved for equitisation growing six-fold on-year.Earlier, the state divested great portions of its capital in two state-owned beverage firms, Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp. (Sabeco) and Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk). How would you evaluate the two so-called 'divestitures of the year?'According to Decision No.1232/QD-TTg on the divestment of the state ownership in various enterprises scheduled for 2017-2020, the state must divest from 181 enterprises by the end of 2017. However, only 10 enterprises conducted the divestment in accord-ance with the decision, eight of which were scheduled for 2017 and two of which were scheduled for 2018.Additionally, these enterprises implemented divestments worth a total of VND1.8 tril-lion ($79.15 million) in five highly-sensitive fields, including securities, insurance, fi-nance-banking, real estate, and investment funds, gaining the state a collective VND2.95 trillion ($129.64 million). Specifically, State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) divested VND1.9 trillion ($83.4 million) in 40 enterprises, collecting a total VND21.64 trillion ($949.9 million).The state managed to collect billions of dollars thanks to SOE divestment, including Sabeco and Vinamilk. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) divested 53.59 per cent of the state-owned capital from Sabeco, returning $4.8 billion to the government. Likewise, SCIC divested 3.3 per cent state from Vinamilk, which gained the state VND8.99 trillion ($394.66 million) despite its modest value at VND247 billion ($10.8 million). Judging by the quality of the transactions, the divestment plan proved to be one of the greatest achievements of the state in 2017.According to the 2018 plan, the government will equitise 64 enterprises and divest from 181 companies. One of the major issues was that these enterprises must finalise the equitisation and divestment plans by the end of 2018 since they failed to conduct the plans in 2017. What do you think about this issue?In particular, the number of enterprises earmarked for equitisation and divestment in 2018 account for over 50 and 46 per cent of the total number planned for 2017-2020.


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A great deal of pressure would be placed on the SOE equitisation and divestment proc-esses in 2018 because the 2017 plans approved by the prime minister specified stipulate that these SOEs must complete the equitisation and divestment processes by the end of 2018.Therefore, 2018 can be considered the "hinge" year for SOE reform. Nonetheless, the annual equitisation and divestment schedule could be subject to changes as precisely 127 SOEs would be equitised and 406 would be divested by the end of 2020. Personal-ly, I think the schedule depends on the determination of local authorities.What do you think about the equitisation and divestment plans scheduled for 2018?Evidently, the 45 enterprises approved for equitisation that failed to launch their IPOs in 2017 will be required to complete the process in the first quarter of 2018. Particularly, VN Index reached a decade-record of 970 points in 2017, largely due to the high growth of the stock market, which was also one of the most important determinants of the equitisation and divestment plans.The significant growth of the security market has made the VN Index one of the world's fastest growing stock indexes. Specifically, market capitalisation reached VND3.36 quadrillion ($148 billion), up 76 per cent on-year, while market liquidity in-creased by 63 per cent. Similarly, the average stock and fund certificate transaction val-ue reached VND5 trillion ($220.5 million) per transaction, with the highest being VND21 trillion ($926 million).Besides, foreign investment inflows were also extremely optimistic of the Vietnamese stock market, with net purchasing value equalling VND41 trillion ($1.8 billion), a six-fold increase compared to the same category in 2016. As the stock market was forecast continue growing in 2018, the target number of equitised and divested enterprises in 2018 is attainable.The way I see it, the commitment of the central and local legislators as well as the lead-ers of enterprises played a vital role in the success of equitisation operations in the year of 2017 because this commitment was one of the key factors in divesting 53.59 per cent of the state capital in Sabecoone of the greatest successes in SOE restructuring. In par-ticular, on December 18, 2017, 343 million Sabeco stocks were successfully sold at the price of VND320,000 ($14.05) per stock, up 3.2 per cent compared to the stock market average.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193459/positive-equitisation-and-divest-ment-outlook-in-2018.html

New circular puts Asean incentives in SMEs' reach


With a view to increasing Vietnam's exports to Asean, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has taken a new step to help enterprises boost their shipments to regional mar-kets.The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) recently issued Circular No.27/2017/TT-BCT, which supplements and amends some items of Circular No.28/2015/TT-BCT, dat-ed August 20, 2015 on the pilot implementation of goods-origin self-certification as per the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), valid for four Asean markets, includ-ing Laos, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand.Self-certification of product origin (C/O) means traders may declare the origins of ex-ported goods on their commercial invoice instead of C/O form D. As it currently stands, many businesses have to ask for C/O from management agencies.Under Circular 28, an enterprise is allowed to conduct self-certification of goods origin if its total export turnover to Asean comes to at least $10 million, under C/O form D in the preceding year.However, Circular 27, taking effect on December 6, 2017, removes this regulation, stat-ing that a firm will be eligible to conduct product-origin self-certification if it is a small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or larger.This means exporters in Vietnam operating at all scales (SMEs and over) are eligible for consideration to conduct self-certification of goods origin, so long as they can sat-isfy the other criteria required under the circular.


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Under Circular 27, in order to be entitled to self-certification of goods origin, the trader must be the producer and also the exporter of the goods they produce. The trader also must not have committed violations against goods-origin regulations over the last two years prior to the date of application. What is more, at least one of the trader's employ-ees must have completed a training course in goods origin certification by MoIT's De-partment of Export and Import or by a training institution appointed by MoIT.Nguyen Ngoc Hung, sales representative from Viet Dung Trading and Investment Co., Ltd in Hanoi, told VIR that Circular 27 has removed a tough criterion in Circular 28 that prevented many enterprises, his own included, from boosting exports to Asean markets."Many enterprises have been unable to self-certify their goods origin despite their total export turnover being marginally under the $10 million mark," Hung said. "For our company, we wanted to self-certify our goods origin, but the regulation held us back."Dustin Daugherty, senior associate of pan-Asian consulting firm Dezan Shira & Asso-ciates, also told VIR that under Circular 28, it is "very hard" for the majority of Viet-namese firms, which are SMEs, to meet the criteria regarding eligible export revenue for conducting C/O."Even large-scale companies also find it difficult to meet the minimum export revenue of $10 million from Asean markets, since the main markets for Vietnamese export com-panies are non-Asean ones. The US, the EU, China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Germany are among the top Vietnamese export destinations," Daugherty said.He added that, though there are still other criteria under Circular 27 that Vietnamese export firms must meet to become certified exporters, "the new amendment has creat-ed opportunities for all Vietnamese export companies, particularly SMEs, to access Asean market tariff incentives following ATIGA, and thus promotes exports, improv-ing competitiveness and catching up with the global trend by allowing Vietnam to take advantage of other free trade agreements in upcoming years."Currently, only two firms in Vietnam are eligible to self-certify their goods origin with-in ATIGA, namely Vinamilk and Nestle Vietnam.According to the General Statistical Office (GSO), Vietnam's export turnover to the Asean region hit $21.7 billion in 2017, up 24.5 per cent year-on-year.At present, Vietnam's major Asean importers include Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines.In 2017, Vietnam earned $4.7 billion from exporting its goods to Thailand, approxi-mately $2.5 billion from Indonesia, $1.1 billion from the Philippines, and around $430 million from Laos.GSO reported that in 2017, Vietnam suffered from a $6.3 billion trade deficit with Asean, the same as in 2016. Vietnam also saw a trade deficit with Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines.http://www.vir.com.vn/new-circular-puts-asean-incentives-in-smes-reach.html

Lower tax helps reduce E5 bio-fuel price


The government has offered a couple of incentives to encourage consumption of E5 bio-fuel, said Nguyen Phu Cuong, deputy head of the Science and Technology Depart-ment under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.Cuong told a conference on E5 bio-fuel on January 10 that the environmental protec-tion tax on E5 bio-fuel is much lower than fossil fuels, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade has suggested the government further lower this tax for E5 bio-fuel to reduce its retail price.On average, the tax on E5 is VND500 per litre lower than that of fossil gasoline, making E5 more competitive. At present, E5 is sold at VND18,243 (US$0.8) per litre, nearly VND2,000 lower than RON 95 gasoline.According to Cuong, incentives for E5 bio-fuel shall be maintained in the near future even when it becomes more popular.Since E5 began replacing RON 92 gasoline early this year, drivers have complained that E5 makes their vehicles less efficient, according to news website Dan Tri.


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However, Pham Huu Tuyen from the School of Transportation Engineering under the Hanoi University of Science and Technology said experiments show E5 improves en-gine performance by 3-5 percent and fuel efficiency by 2-3 percent compared to fossil fuels. Many users still doubt this assertion, as the bio-fuel is said to have lower energy content than the fossil fuel of the same standard.E5 is a mixture of RON 92 gasoline and 5 percent ethanol.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/57958/Lower-tax-helps-reduce-E5-bio-fuel-price.html

New emission standard fuels rough changeover


As the country shifts to a euro 4 emission standard for diesel-fuelled vehicles, industry observers warn that the three fuel types on offer could spell problems for these more advanced engines, and opportunities for tricksters.Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), which currently holds around 50 per cent of the country's petrol market share, was the first Vietnamese enterprise to sell diesel 0.001S-V, meeting euro 5 standards for emissions, from January 1 onwards. Not only aiming to better serve local demand, it further adheres to the government's Deci-sion No. 49/2011/QD-TTg. The decision, in effect since January 1, governs the applica-tion of euro 4 emission standard for diesel-powered buses, commercial cars, and passenger ones both imported and domestically-assembled.Petrolimex is selling euro 5 diesel at the minimum retail price of VND15,570 ($0.68) per litre, as well as diesel 0.05S-II (euro 2 diesel) at a VND50 ($0.002) cheaper rate.Meanwhile, another substantial provider PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil), with over 500 self-run stations and 3,000 affiliated stations is selling euro 2 diesel, as well as diesel 0.005S-IV (euro 4 diesel).Buyers should be able to distinguish between the aforementioned diesel types through oil pump labels, however this has raised doubts among customers over the legitimacy of what they are paying for. Indeed, Vietnam has witnessed many trade frauds related to the quality of petrol and oil. Last October saw more than 300 petrol and oil trading operations in the central province of Nghe An inspected, with 80 regulation violations found, as reported by CustomsNews, a media entity under the general Department of Vietnam Customs."The availability of multiple diesel types could lead to trade fraud. Buying diesel now resembles ordering dried cuttlefish at a bar. You never see the variety of cuttlefish on offer, so ordering the 'largest one' can be deceptively ambiguous. You never know what you will get," said nickname Hieu78, who owns a diesel-powered car, on the Vi-etnamese driver community forum, autofun.net.Nguyen Van Nam, head of the Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy, told VIR how information related to the provision of euro 5 diesel remains vague, stirring rumours about its quality and how easily a buyer could mistake euro 2 diesel for the euro 5 variety."Providers like Petrolimex must disclose their remaining volume of euro 2 diesel, and clarify the euro 2 and euro 5 diesel selling points. Management agencies need to in-crease their responsibility in supervising local providers, ordering the announcement of a blueprint for both the provision of euro 4 and euro 5 diesel types, as well as the termination of euro 2 diesel," added Nam.The network coverage of euro 4 diesel fuel supply is another key issue, one which could potentially lead to technical problems.Statistics posted on the Petrolimex website showed that there were 14,000 petrol and oil stations across the country at the end of 2015.By January 2017, Petrolimex had 2,500 nationwide petrol and oil stations. "The group set targets of raising the number of its self-run petrol and oil stations providing euro 5 diesel to 1,600, equivalent to 64 per cent of the total number of Petrolimex stations," said Nguyen Quang Dung, vice general director of Petrolimex.When Petrolimex fulfils the target, the figure would make up only 11.42 per cent of the country's total petrol and oil stations, which remain modest in comparison with local


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demand, because members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA) have finished shifting their vehicle manufacturing and assembly to euro 4 emission standards. Some even completed the shift before January 1, 2017.At the Vietnam Business Forum held at the end of 2017, the Japanese Chamber of Com-merce and Industry in Vietnam (JCCI) complained that if the supply network of euro 4 diesel does not extend to all localities, especially districts in remote areas, euro 4 die-sel vehicles will not operate well. If euro 4 diesel vehicles use euro 2 diesel fuel, their engines will be damaged and users will suffer a big loss. Moreover, the implementa-tion of Decision 49's emission requirements will not reach expectations.This worry is in line with Petrolimex's website warning: "Don't use low-emission standard diesel for automobiles designed to meet higher emission standards."JCCI members urged the need to clarify information on where euro 4 and euro 5 diesel types are provided and the largest distance between two petrol and oil stations offer-ing the fuel types.euro 4 and euro 5 petrol and oil stations must be located across the country, and the maximum distance between such two stations should be 10 kilometres, VAMA told VIR.In Vietnam, most of coaches, minibuses and trucks are powered by diesel engines. Pre-liminary statistics showed that Vietnam had some 2.7 million automobiles in 2016. The figure is estimated to climb to around 3.5 million by 2020, according to the country's revised road transport development planning to 2020, with a vision to 2030.http://www.vir.com.vn/new-emission-standard-fuels-rough-changeover.html

Customs revenue surpasses target


Revenue from the general Department of Customs (GDC) in 2017 hit VND297 trillion (US$13 billion) last year, a year-on-year increase of 9.5 per cent and equivalent to a 4.3 per cent increase on the annual target.This was revealed at a press conference by the GDC in Hanoi on Thursday.Regarding post-customs clearance inspections, the GDC has instructed local customs departments to focus on common, illegally trafficked products with high turnover, high tax rates and high risk of wrong codes and prices, such as automobiles, liquors, beer, paper and cosmetics.In 2017, the GDC carried out nearly 9,000 post-customs clearance inspections, includ-ing 1,300 inspections at companies and more than 7,200 at local customs offices.The department also boosted inter-sectoral cooperation to prevent and detect smug-gling and trade fraud.There were fewer smuggling cases unearthed in 2017, but they were high in value. Customs officers last year discovered 15,184 violation cases, down 1.97 per cent annu-ally.However, the value of smuggled goods was more than VND789 billion, up 89.58 per cent year-on-year. A total of VND334.8 billion of this was added to the State budget, marking a 95 per cent surge from 2016.At border gates, smuggled goods were mostly foreign currencies, counterfeit money, alcoholic beverages and beer, cigarettes, sugar, poultry, food, apparel, footwear, mo-bile phones, and toys. Meanwhile, at sea ports, petroleum, timber, minerals, wildlife and second-hand electronic and refrigeration appliances continued to be smuggled.Banned goods of high value, such as addictive substances, weapons, gold, and wildlife products were found among goods transported by air and post.The customs sector launched criminal probes against 51 cases and transferred 68 oth-ers to other units for prosecution.Luu Manh Tuong, director of the Import-Export Tax Department, said import tariffs would be cut following Vietnam's commitment to the Asean Trade in Goods Agree-ment (ATIGA) as well as with many other free trade agreements, including the Asean-China Free Trade Area and the Asean-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement.This, Tuong said, would significantly reduce import tax revenues and affect State budget collection.


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Addressing the conference, minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung asked the customs sector to raise State budget collection by 3-5 per cent higher than the amount assigned by the National Assembly.To realise the target, Dung asked the GDC to tighten post-clearance inspections and intensify the fight against trafficking and trade fraud, along with accelerating the col-lection of overdue tax.The minister stressed the role of a legal framework for the national single window and information exchange with trade partners.He also instructed the efficient implementation of the project on monitoring seaports and infrastructure improvement for customs management.http://bizhub.vn/news/customs-revenue-surpasses-target_291345.html

Single window launched for chemicals


The Ministry of Industry and Trade in Hanoi officially announced on Thursday the opening of a single national window for imported chemical declaration.The single window would help businesses shorten the time needed for the declaration of their imports.Accordingly, organisations and individuals can declare information on https://vn-sw.gov.vn. The information would then be automatically transferred to the ministry's system.Nguyen Van Thanh, director of the Ministry's Department of Chemicals, said statistics showed that there were around 70,000 chemical declaration applications a year from some 4,000 companies at the ministry.Previously, the declaration was implemented both on paper and online. However, the results were still on paper, causing asynchronous procedures and difficulties for firms in remote areas.In addition, although the ministry reduced the time for implementing the chemical im-port declaration from seven to five working days, the results, which were sent through letters caused a delay for businesses. This affected the completion of customs clearance for chemicals imports.Thanh said the imported chemical declaration through a single national window has been under stable operation. It has received a positive response from businesses such as Hoya Glass Vietnam Company Limited and Nokwon C&I Company."It could be said that this is a big improvement for the ministry in administrative pro-cedure reform with an aim to support enterprises," he added.Speaking at the launching ceremony, deputy minister Do Thang Hai said that rapid in-dustrialisation and modernisation has made the chemical industry develop quickly.According to Global Chemical Outlook's data, the value of chemical products world-wide was increased from $171 billion in 1970 to $4.12 trillion in 2010.Together with the strong growth of the chemical sector, governments in many coun-tries promulgated laws and regulations to manage dangerous chemicals including chemical declaration."Importers could receive their granting for chemical declaration right after declaring through the single window instead of five days before. This has followed the minis-try's determination to untie businesses' difficulties and facilitate their development," Hai said.He added that this could benefit businesses in the sector while realising the target of simplifying administrative procedures and contributing to the development of the e-government in Vietnam.http://bizhub.vn/news/single-window-launched-for-chemicals_291344.html

Preferential policies designed for Da Nang hi-tech park


The government has issued a decree on preferential policies for the hi-tech park of the central city of Da Nang.Decree 04/2018/ND-CP clarifies that the city will receive central budget to carry out projects and works in the park as well as national programmes on developing the park.


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Each year, if a central budget collection review finds it exceeds the plan, the govern-ment will ask the National Assembly Standing Committee to prioritise capital for the city to complete infrastructure for the park in 2020.The government will also mobilise official development assistance (ODA) for Da Nang to build technology and social infrastructure, public works, training and technology application and development centres, and hi-tech enterprise incubator. The city will cover corresponding capital for the projects.The document also regulates many preferential policies in tax, land use, ground clear-ance, and credit for firms in the park.Specifically, along with land use tax exemption for specific cases, the decree also gives preferential corporate income tax of 10 percent in 15 years for new projects in the park. Projects with capital from 3 trillion VND will enjoy a tax rate of 10 percent in 30 years.The decree will take effect from February 20.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193713/preferential-policies-designed-for-da-nang-hi-tech-park.html

Manufacturing sector in dire need of manpower


The manufacturing sector had the strongest demand for recruitment, followed by con-sumer goods-retail, finance-banking, and information technology (IT) in the final quarter of last year, manpower consultant Navigos Group said in a report.The recruiting services provider says in a newly released report that the demand for recruiting mid-level and senior positions in quarter four rose 11 percent from a year earlier. In all of 2017, this demand was 28 percent higher than in 2016.In particular, the manufacturing sector took the lead, with many jobs available in the construction, electricity-electronics, and automation fields.The consumer goods and retail sector came second with vacancies in the food-bever-age, and fashion-accessories segments.The finance and banking sector in the third place required more employees at banks, consumer finance companies, and insurance firms. The IT sector also saw strong de-mand for new staff, especially in IT and software services segments.Navigos Group, however, did not give specific numbers of labourers in need in such sectors.The real estate sector is facing a shortage of high-skilled technical employees, and those capable of managing major projects. Navigos forecasts the sector has high de-mand for recruitment in the technical and product marketing segments.Property enterprises are heavily investing in new products to improve their competi-tiveness, so they are striving to seek experienced employees.However, the domestic manpower market fails to keep up with this demand, as enter-prises could not find enough senior staff specialising in product development, techni-cal design, planning, and urban development.Navigos also predicts the retail fashion sector would employ more people, given fierce competition on the market.Notably, Japanese enterprises in the manufacturing sector are projected to recruit more mid-level and senior positions because of their heavy investments, and the emer-gence of new industrial parks in northern Vietnam. Meanwhile, those in IT and serv-ices sectors are likely to need more new employees in the southern region.The report also reveals that a senior manager at a bank earns the highest salary of VND300 million (over $13,200) a month. Meanwhile, other mid-level and senior man-agers from various sectors get salaries between VND100 million and VND190 million a month.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/57967/Manufacturing-sector-in-dire-need-of-man-power.html


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Vietnamese manufacturers use high-tech to compete in productivity

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

The fourth industrial revolution, which is a hot topic in Vietnam, has brought unprec-edented economic benefits to many businesses.The technological solutions applied by the Lam Son Sugar Company (Lasuco) have al-lowed it to keep watch over cultivation and harvesting of sugar cane, processing at the refinery and its business performance, work which was formerly undertaken by 40 ac-countants.According to Nguyen Ngoc Nha Nam, director of Minerva, the provider of the tech-nological solution, Lasuco, has 32,000 hectares of sugarcane, and in the harvest season, it needs a fleet of 1,000 trucks to carry the sugarcane.Lasuco in the past needed many accountants to do the books, plan the harvesting and transportation of sugarcane for each fleet of trucks, and keep watch over the sugar re-finery process.Later, to improve management over the fleet (location of trucks, where they are going and if they return to the refinery), Lasuco attached a journey monitoring device to eve-ry truck and the information is displayed on an internal system.In addition, to identify farmers growing sugarcane for the company, Lasuco is using an app under the mode of 3D map.The app can send signals to a server even if there is no phone waves, and when smart-phones catch the waves, the system will automatically update information."Now, the accountants' work is undertaken by the automatic AI system," Nam said, adding that the system can forecast the time of rain to determine the harvesting plan.Using high technologies is also the top priority of Pan Saladbowl. The enterprise spe-cialising in growing flowers for export has invested VND10 billion for every hectare of the glasshouse, where the environment and climate are set to facilitate the develop-ment of daisies.The cultivation process is managed with sensors and a computer system.According to a representative of Pan Saladbowl, managers don't need to go to the site, but they still know what workers are doing and their level of performance.Every worker is equipped with a smartphone with management software pro-grammes.Japanese cultivation technology plus advanced management technology creates high quality products which can satisfy requirements of Japanese importers.In Vietnam, many manufacturers have put robots into production lines to replace workers and optimise productivity. At Vinamilk, the nation's leading dairy producer, transportation and sorting of goods are done by robots.Namilux, a gas cooker manufacturer, also reported an increase in productivity and de-crease in production costs thanks to the robots.According to Do Phuoc Tong, chair of the HCM City Electrical & Mechanical Engineer-ing Enterprises' Association, the application of high technologies and robots in pro-duction is inevitable. The association has set up a robot club for member companies to introduce new technologies to them.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/science-it/193039/vietnamese-manufacturers-use-high-tech-to-compete-in-productivity.html

Vietnam fashion industry suffers setback


Analysts say the golden age of Vietnam's fashion industry is encountering difficulties amid the arrivals of foreign fashion brands.Many fashion brands have come to Vietnam, creating a 'fast fashion' trend among Vi-etnamese youth. In early September, the Swedish brand H&M opened its shop in HCM City. Prior to that, Zara from Spain opened one shop in Hanoi and one in HCM City.Zara's first shop in HCM City reported revenue of VND5.5 billion on the opening day, the highest level among Zara's shops overseas.The success of Zara in Vietnam has prompted Inditex, the group which owns Zara Bersh-ka, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti and Oysho, to think of bringing other brands to Vietnam.


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The public was stirred up by information that Stripe International from Japan is going to take over Vietnamese NEM. Nguyen Tiep, PR director of NEM, confirmed that the two sides are negotiating Stripe's capital contributions.Vietnam began seeing a wave of foreign brands arriving in early 2015, when the tariff was cut.A report says there are about 200 foreign fashion brands in Vietnam. Tiep commented that the massive landing of foreign brands shows that the country is a very attractive market.According to Vinatex, the domestic garment market is valued at $4.5 billion and has a growth rate of 20 percent per annum.Vietnamese spend VND100 trillion on clothes each year. A Nielsen report found that clothing is the third priority among items Vietnamese spend money on, after food and savings.However, though the market is large and promising, domestic fashion brands are meeting difficulties.The once well-known brands such as Ninomaxx, Blue Exchange, Viet Thy, Foci, Sifa, PT 2000, Sea Collection and Dan Chau, which had tens or hundreds of shops, have re-duced their networks.In 2013, Ninomaxx, which felt pressure from foreign companies, decided to change its shop model into a one-stop shop Ninomaxx Concept and restructure the company.At that time, Ninomaxx's chair Nguyen Huu Phung said the company had to carry out reform on products, distribution, customers' service and labour force.However, despite great efforts, analysts don't think Ninomaxx's golden days will come back. The brand now has 60 shops instead of 200.The fast fashion trend has been growing among youth with the presence of Zara and H&M and the arrival of Uniqlo in the future.However, Vietnamese fashion brands believe they will still have customers of their own. Nguyen Thi Dien from An Phuoc said the foreign fast-fashion wave targets youth, while An Phuoc targets middle-aged men.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193040/vietnam-fashion-industry-suffers-setback.html

Domestic pharmaceutical businesses can hardly retain market share

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| ENTERNEWS.VN

The recent cult mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry from foreign investors, and multinational corporations show the attractiveness of Vietnam pharma-ceutical market.The great potential of the pharmaceutical market is one of the decisive reasons for FDI businesses to seek to acquire domestic pharmaceutical businesses. According to in-complete statistics, 60 percent of the total medical treatment costs of patents are spent on medicines, so the room of Vietnam pharmaceutical industry is forecasted to in-crease from $5.2 billion in 2017 to $7.2 billion by 2020.* The overwhelming of foreign pharmaceutical businessesMost recently, Vietnam pharmaceutical industry recorded the acquisition of the Po-land's second largest pharmaceutical group Adamed Group over 70 percent stake of Dai Vi Phu Pharmaceutical Company (Davipharm) with a total value of $50 million.According to the report of Adamed Group, Vietnam is the fifth largest market among foreign markets of this group with the market share of about 6.4 percent. Prior to the acquisition of Davipharm, many products of Adamed such as Bisptol, Metazydyna, Pamlonor, Zolafrent, Copedina, etc. were distributed in Vietnam market.Magorzata Adamkiewicz, CEO of Adamed Group used to say that "Adamed considers this investment as a strategy to further expand the market share of this group in the market of Asia Pacific region".Earlier, two foreign investors namely Magbi Fund Limited and Super Delta Pte spent about $104 million to receive the transfer of more than 40 percent stake of Traphaco (TRA) from old shareholders of Mekong Capital and Vietnam Holding Limited.Remember, in 2008, Mekong Capital invested in Traphaco. At that time, the share price


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of TRA was only about 12,000 dong per share. So far, the investment of Mekong Cap-ital increased 10 times, earning $65 million. This is the evidence for the attractiveness of investments in the pharmaceutical industry in general and shares of this industry in particular.However, the fact that domestic businesses can hardly compete in the pharmaceutical market right on the home playing field, apart from subjective reasons, is also due to objective reasons. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 90 percent of phar-maceutical materials depend on imports because Vietnam's basic chemical and petro-chemical industries have not developed.A business specialised in distributing pharmaceutical products in Hanoi said "The pharmaceutical industry is a synthetic industry of five sectors including science, in-dustry, economy and medicine. Among these five factors, science, medicine, technol-ogy can be mastered by businesses while the remaining factors including economics, subsidiary industry, Vietnamese businesses are lacking".Representatives of this business also proposed that if pharmaceutical businesses are supported with zero percent interest rate like agricultural and real estate sectors, Viet-nam's imported drugs will improve significantly.

The most impressive events in the startup community in 2017


The year 2017 continued seeing the strong rise of startups, which have been catching more attention from domestic and foreign investors.1. In late May, the Vietnamese tech giant VNG Corporation stated it plans to have an IPO on the US's largest stock market, NASDAQ. VNG and NASDAQ signed an agree-ment on accelerating the IPO process on May 29 in New York during PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc's official visit to the US.If it succeeds, VNG would be the first Vietnamese company with an IPO on the US bourse. This will be great motivation for Vietnam's startups and will help them raise funds from foreign investors.2. Many investment funds have announced investment in Vietnam's startup projects. These include ESP Capital with $20 million which targets startups in first development stages in Vietnam and South East Asia, and Innovatube with $5 million which focuses on Vietnamese startups.Most recently, Lotte Group announced it would pour $1 million into Vietnam startups in the next five years through a cooperation agreement signed between Lotte Acceler-ator and Vietnam Silicon Valley Accelerator.Domestic funds also showed great interest in startups. Asanzo president Pham Van Tam said the TV manufacturer is seeking projects to invest $5 million. VP Bank has launched VP Bank Startup, and is planning to invest $1 million in the first year.3. Singaporean Sea (its previous name was Garena) has taken over an 82 percent stake of Foody, which books restaurants and delivers food, at the price of $64 million. Sea's prospectus on New York bourse showed that the deal was completed in July 2017.Sea also poured capital into Foody in 2015. The move will help Sea expand the Airpay payment platform which was brought to Vietnam in 2014.4. Many Vietnamese startups successfully called for investment capital of millions of dollars from investment funds.MK News reported that STIC Investment fund of South Korea and JD.com of China are planning to invest in Tiki.vn, an e-commerce firm.VNG, a big shareholder of Tiki, may buy more shares when Tiki calls for capital. The deal is valued at $54.5 million, while STIC Investment plans to invest $10 million.5. CEO Dang Viet Dung leaves Uber Vietnam2017 was a tough year for Uber in many countries, including Vietnam. The Taxi Asso-ciation proposed stopping operation of Uber, while the HCM City Taxation Agency forced Uber to pay tax arrears of VND67 billion.Dang Viet Dung, CEO of Uber Vietnam, left Uber Vietnam after three years in the post.6. Four Vietnamese names are found on the list of Forbes' under-30 most impressive faces in Asia. Three of them are CEOs of startups. They are Nguyen Hai Ninh, CEO of


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The Coffee House, Nguyen Hoang Trung, CEO of Lozi, and Nguyen Hoang Hai, CEO of Canavi.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193042/the-most-impressive-events-in-the-startup-community-in-2017.html

JLL: Supply of southern IPs relatively constant


Latest report notes constant supply of industrial park space in Vietnam's south during second half of last year.Southern Vietnam's real estate market witnessed a relatively constant supply of indus-trial parks in the second half of 2017 compared to the first half, with a total leasable land area of about 24,000 ha, according to the latest report from JLL Vietnam.Of the total, Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces remained the leading markets, ac-counting for nearly 60 per cent, given their better accessibility to transportation infra-structure.The vacancy rate at operating IPs stood at approximately 25 per cent as at the end of 2017, down 180 basis points from the same period of 2016 and driven by healthy de-mand.Healthy performance was observed in existing ready-built factories, which recorded more than 85 per cent occupancy rates due to strong demand and limited leasable stock.As at the fourth quarter of 2017, land rentals in the Southern Key Economic Zone av-eraged $72 per sq m per lease term, representing an increase of 3.3 per cent year-on-year.By location, rentals in HCM City have long held the lead in the south, at nearly double the regional average. Net land rentals in other southern cities saw an upward trend, within the range of $3 to $5 per sq m for the lease period.Factory rentals were relatively unchanged compared to previous quarters, at between $2 and $5 per sq m per month.The report also noted that more than 1,300 ha of supply now in the pipeline is expected to enter the southern market over the next year, mostly from expansions at existing projects.Occupancy and rental growth rates are both expected to go higher due to active occu-pier demand and positive economic prospects.Demand for good quality, ready-built space and related services at industrial parks will likely increase strongly.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/property/jll-supply-of-southern-ips-relatively-constant

Binh Thuan pledges to roll out red carpet for investors


The south central coastal province of Binh Thuan always creates the optimal condi-tions for enterprises and investors to do business and develop sustainably in the local-ity, said a local official.At a dialogue with entrepreneurs on January 11, Chair of the provincial People's Com-mittee Nguyen Ngoc Hai said Binh Thuan will take numerous measures to improve its business environment and competitiveness.Administrative reform will be accelerated to shorten the time for procedure processing while authorities will increase dialogues with local firms to address their petitions, Hai added.According to Nguyen Van Khoa, President of the provincial Tourism Association, Binh Thuan welcomed over 5 million tourists in 2017, up 13.6 percent from 2016.The surge shows a positive signal of the tourism sector as well as the province's sound orientations for tourism development, he said.Khoa also highlighted difficulties facing local tourism firms due to overlapped plan-ning schemes for tourism, seafood and mining projects, as well as limited tourism in-frastructure system, particularly in the key tour of Ham Tien Mui Ne.He suggested the province review its planning schemes to facilitate the implementa-


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tion of coastal tourism projects, while investing in a national tourism area in terms of environment, infrastructure, and transport.Meanwhile, Do Khac Dong Quan, vice President of the Binh Thuan Young Entrepre-neurs Association, called on the province to continue accelerating administrative re-form as well as exempting, reducing and putting off taxes for newly resumed firms.The province should also facilitate access to preferential loans for small- and medium-sized enterprises, particularly micro-sized businesses, he noted.During the event, participants also called on local authorities to deal with trade frauds and overlapped inspections by management agencies, which, they said have troubled enterprises.In 2017, Binh Thuan recorded 716 newly-established firms, up 26 percent from 2016, with a total registered capital of nearly 17 trillion VND (748.0 million USD), raising the total number of businesses in the province to 5,624, with a combined registered capital of nearly 76 trillion VND (3.34 billion USD).Last year, 158 projects were licensed, raising the total number of investment projects to 1,386. Many firms also expanded their operations, contributing to the province's economic development.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/binh-thuan-pledges-to-roll-out-red-carpet-for-investors/124720.vnp

Tra Vinh calls for investment in agricultural projects


The Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh is calling for 969 billion VND (over 42.63 mil-lion USD) in investment in ten priority agricultural and rural development projects.The projects include construction of a freshwater reservoir for agricultural production in Don Chau, Duyen Hai district; farm produce quality and safety management pro-gramme; programmes to encourage agriculture, fisheries and rural development and support agricultural restructuring.The province will prioritise projects developing cattle, pig, goat and poultry farming in areas zoned off for animal husbandry and building meat processing and feed facto-ries.It has adopted a set of measures in terms of policy, infrastructure and personnel train-ing to attract investment in the areas.Tra Vinh aims at comprehensive agricultural development towards effectiveness, sus-tainability and large-scale commodity production with high added value in an effort to improve farmers' living standards, said director of the provincial Department of Ag-riculture and Rural Development Tran Trung Hien.The province targets an agricultural production growth of 4 percent, he added.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/tra-vinh-calls-for-investment-in-agricultural-projects/124710.vnp

Phu Yen pours over 2.1 trillion VND into aquaculture


Authorities in the central coastal province of Phu Yen will spend nearly 2.12 VND tril-lion (93 million USD) developing aquaculture from now until 2025.According to vice Chair of the provincial People's Committee Tran Huu The, the mas-ter plan on fisheries development by 2025 with a vision toward 2030 will involve aqua-culture, harvest and processing and building infrastructure for fishing logistics, including breed stock production.From now until 2020, the province will invest more than 1.45 trillion VND (64 million USD) in conducting 13 key projects that aim to boost sustainable fisheries develop-ment.These projects include building Long Thanh aquaculture infrastructure system, up-grading infrastructure for the Hoa An aquaculture production centre in Song Cau town, building a fishing port, a tuna auction market and a tuna processing factory with a capacity of 1,800 tonnes per year in Tuy Hoa city.In Song Cau town, the province will also construct a frozen seafood processing factory with a capacity of 3,500 tonnes per year and a factory to produce feed for lobsters,


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which can make 1,000 tonnes per year.The master plan is aimed at giving a boost to local aquaculture and production, con-tributing to developing the local economy.The province has set a target of reaching an average growth of 5.2 percent per year from now until 2030.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/phu-yen-pours-over-21 trillion-vnd-into-aquaculture/124703.vnp

Japanese businesses in Vietnam hunger for middle and senior staff

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| ENTERNEWS.VN

Navigos Group, the leading human resources recruitment service provider in Viet-nam, has announced data on recruitment demand for mid and senior staff in the Viet-namese market through recruitment demand of customers with Navigos Search in the fourth quarter of 2017 with some highlights of recruitment trends in the fourth quarter and forecasts about recruitment demand in 2018.The recruitment demand for medium and high-level personnel in the fourth quarter continued to grow, led by manufacturing industry.According to statistics from Navigos Search, the recruitment demand for middle-level and high-level personnel of Navigos Search in 2017 grew 28 percent compared to 2016. In Q4 alone, the demand for recruitment of middle-level and high-level positions grew 11 percent over the same period last year. In particular, the areas that led recruitment demand was Manufacturing, Consumer GoodsRetail, FinanceBanking and Informa-tion Technology.In manufacturing, the demand for recruiting middle and high level personnel was concentrated in the fields of Construction, ElectricalElectronics and Automation.Ranking the second in recruitment demand for medium-level and high-level person-nel were consumer goods retail sales. The vacancies were mainly in FoodBeverage and Fashion Accessories.The next position was the FinanceBanking sector with positions at Banks, Consumer Finance companies and Insurance companies.IT sector ranked the fourth in recruitment demand for medium level and high level personnel in Q4. In this sector, the highest demand belonged to Information Technol-ogy & Software.The real estate sector lacked personnel specialising in technology and implementation of large projects.The real estate market in the East of Hochiminh City is heating up with a series of projects being implemented, leading to strong recruitment demand for sales consult-ants for both investors and trading floors. It is forecasted that in 2018, the real estate sector will have high demand for recruiting technical personnel and sales consultants.For real estate businesses, developing new products is vital. Therefore, businesses need to recruit experienced technical personnel in this field. However, the human re-sources market in Vietnam has not met this demand due to the lack of senior staff in product development, technical design, urban planning and development.According to Navigos Search, real estate professionals in Vietnam are well aware of the professional expertise of projects ranging in size from a few hectares to several tens of hectares.However, Vietnamese personnel have no experience in planning and developing "big projects" that cover more than 1,000 hectares, including the building of residential ar-eas, satellite cities revolving around the main city axes. As a result, with high level po-sitions in this segment, real estate firms have to recruit foreign applicants, mainly from Singapore.*The personnel market of the fashion industry was thrilled with the appearance of for-eign brandsIn the retail sector, mergers and acquisitions still continued to occur, especially large corporations from Japan and Thailand who invested in Vietnamese branded business-es.These deals opened up new opportunities for Vietnamese HR market to approach


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SVietnam finance & business 12 January 2018

more professional way of working and management while creating job opportunities for experienced candidates to build and develop the market. However, in the process of access, candidates also faced certain difficulties in corporate culture and working style.In the fashion industry, the personnel market witnessed a lively shift after foreign brands entered Vietnamese market. The personnel of the domestic fashion labels were attracted and shifted to these new brands.In addition, the fashion labels in the country gradually followed the operation trend of foreign fashion labels and added a number of new positions such as Visual Merchan-dise, Fashion Design, Brand Management...According to Navigos Search, 2018 will be a year for retail fashion industry to intensify the recruitment of new positions to meet the fierce competition of the market.The personnel recruitment demand for Japanese businesses is expected to continue flourishing, especially in the Manufacturing and Information Technology.In 2017, the demand for middle-level and high-level staffing for Japanese businesses that are now Navigos Search's customers, mostly came from manufacturing. The next was the Information Technology sector. As observed by Navigos Search, Japanese companies are facing competition from other foreign companies in attracting and re-taining personnel.It is forecasted that in 2018, in the North, Japanese businesses in the manufacturing sec-tor will continue to have the demand for medium and high-level personnel due to the appearance of new industrial areas and large investments from Japanese manufactur-ing companies.In the Southern area, the personnel recruitment demand of the Information Technolo-gy and service sector is forecasted to grow.* Salary in banking industry was highest in Q4According to statistics of Navigos Search, in the fourth quarter, the highest salary be-longed to a senior management position in a bank with the salary of nearly 300 million per month. In the fourth quarter, middle and senior management positions received high salaries ranging from 100 million dong to 190 million dong per month, ranging from such sectors as Manufacturing, FinanceBanking, Consumer GoodsRetail and Service.

BUSINESSIZ NEWSBusiness Briefs 12 January, 2018

12/JAN/2017 INTELLASIA |

* Khanh Hoi Investment and Services Corporation (KHA) plans to repurchase 4.24 mil-lion shares, or 30 percent of its outstanding volume, at a maximum price ofVND30,OOO each by February 15. The move aims to guarantee shareholder rights before KHA moves from the Hochiminh Stock Exchange to the market for unlisted public enterprises, or UPCoM. Currently, KHA has 12.77 million outstanding shares, said Viet Capital Securities Company.* Digital World Group (DGW) plans to raise its capital to VND407.5 billion by issuing one million shares to employees at VNDI0,OOO each. During December, the DWG share price surged 36 percent from VND15,OOO to VND20,700 a share.* MaterialsPetroleum Company (COM) will spend an estimated VND28 billion paying a third-round dividend ofVND2,OOO per share for 2017 on the record date of Ianuary 19. Currently, COM has 13.75 million outstanding shares. The company will make the dividend payment in February.* FLC Group Company (FLC) has decided to establish two affiliates operating in the jewellery and precious gem trading and industrial zone management sectors respec-tively. Each firm has capital of DI00 billion.* Life insurer FWD Vietnam has introduced a new product allowing customers to make online cash withdrawals round the clock.* Lam Dong Water Supply Company will launch its initial public offering on January 15, selling 13.8 million shares at the starting price of VNDll,OOO each. Around a doz-en individuals have registered to buy up to 29.7 million shares of the enterprise. Hav-ing gone public, it will have total chartered capital ofVND788 billion.


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* Khang Minh Brick Company (GKM) will close its shareholder list on January 15 to issue nine million shares at the I-for-Z ratio, spurring its capital from D45 billion to D135 billion. It will sell the shares at VNDll,OOO each. Of the VND99 billion proceeds, GKM will spend VND79 billion on a brick manufacturing plant. The GKM share price is around VND16,OOO each.* Ben Tre Export and Import Company has announced to offload 22.2 million shares, or a 22.87 percent stake, at Gia Lai Electricity Company (GEG). Transaction will be made from now to February 8.

VN Index steady amidst rising profit earning


Vietnam's benchmark VN Index was steady on Thursday morning despite investors' profit-making that hit large-cap stocks.The benchmark index on the HCM Stock Exchange inched 0.16 per cent to close at 1,039.78 points. It had gained a total of 2.5 per cent in the previous three sessions.The minor HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange lost 0.14 per cent to end at 121.75 points, extending its decline from a 0.18 per cent fall on Wednesday.Nearly 242 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VND5.27 tril-lion (US$234.3 million).Large-cap shares underperformed as the VN30 Index, tracking the performance of the 30 largest companies by market capitalisation, was down 0.25 per cent to 1,037.14 points, with 21 declining stocks.The worst-performing stocks in the VN30 basket were Coteccons Construction (CTD), steel producers Hoa Phat (HPG) and Hoa Sen (HSG), Vietinbank (CTG) and PetroVi-etnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD).On a sector basis, all industries that saw share prices going up in the previous sessions turned down on Thursday morning.Those decliners included financial-banking-brokerage, energy, rubber and building material production.On the opposite side, real estate shares remained positive in the hope of good quarterly and yearly earnings reports.The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm.http://bizhub.vn/markets/vn-index-steady-amidst-rising-profit-earning_291331.html

Market rally loses steam


Having soared to over 1,045 points in the morning phase, the HCM City stock market took a nosedive in the last 15 minutes on January 10 as many VN30 stocks came under strong profit taking pressure.The VN Index still managed a slight rise, adding 4.55 points, or 0.44 percent, against the previous session at 1,038.11 points. Turnover on the HCM City market kept im-proving with volume and value soaring 13.7 percent and 11.5 percent to 375 million shares and VND9.2 trillion.VNM was the best performer among the large caps in the rebound after three days of losses. The dairy firm increased 1.9 percent to an intraday high of VND211,000 a share with matching volume of 900,000 shares.Gas group GAS increased 1.4 percent at VND103,000 per share and property firm VIC inched up 0.25 percent at VND80,800 a share. In contrast, brewery SAB and consumer goods producer MSN closed around the intraday lows of VND259,500 and VND87,000 per share, down 0.6 percent and 3.3 percent versus Tuesday respectively.Oil and gas stocks had a good day given a surge in global oil prices overnight, in which PVD went up to the ceiling price of VND28,350 per share with volume of 5.2 million shares. Among property stocks, SCR soared to the upper limit of VND10,850 per share with 13.3 million shares traded.For the banking sector, STB again took the lead by liquidity with 49.5 million shares changing hands, jumping 5.1 percent versus Tuesday at VND15,600 per share. EIB ex-tended its winning streak to the fourth straight session, rising 4.2 percent at VND14,900 a share with matching volume of over 2.5 million shares.


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The HNX-Index, meanwhile, fell 0.18 percent at 121.93 points after two rising sessions in a row. Trading volume on the Hanoi market dipped 4.7 percent at 89.2 million shares but value improved 13 percent from the day earlier at VND1.3 trillion.ACB was the biggest laggard as the lender declined after a four-day rising streak. The stock closed down 1.2 percent at VND39,800 per share with matching volume of 4.6 million shares.Lender SHB remained the most actively traded stock with 19.8 million shares traded but it moved sideways at VND10,500 per share, followed by petroleum stocks PVS and PVX with 9.5 million shares and 6.3 million shares respectively. Notably, PetroViet-nam Construction Corporation (PVC) hit the upper limit of VND13,500 a share.Foreign investors net bought 5.9 million shares worth VND452.8 billion on the HCM City bourse, up 29.3 percent and 151.6 percent against Tuesday respectively. However, they net sold VND6.3 billion of shares on the Hanoi exchange.english.thesaigontimes.vn/57959/Market-rally-loses-steam.html

The Vietnamese Stock Market and the Magic of Compounding

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNEWS

To make your long-term financial objectives a reality, you must harness the power of compound interest/returns. Here, "Outside Looking In" explains why compounding really is magic particularly for Vietnamese investors putting their money to work in the stock market.Albert Einstein famously called compound interest "the eighth wonder of the world" and this is no overstatement. So, what is compounding, why is it so powerful and how can Vietnamese investors really maximise its magic?What is compounding and what drives it?Put simply, compounding interest (or returns) is the process whereby money earned from an investment builds upon itself over periods of time, as illustrated in the simple savings account example below:• You place some money on deposit in a savings account• You earn some interest on that deposit• Next year, you earn interest on that interest (along with retaining the original depos-it)• The year after, you earn interest on the interest on the interest, and so on...Compound returns are driven by two factors: the rate of return being earned and the length of time your money is working for.Why you must secure the best possible rate of return?The rate of return determines how rapidly and by how much your initial investment grows. The higher the rate, the more powerfully and the faster your money will grow.The chart below shows how an investment of $100 each month can build up to very significant sums over time.Make no mistake, 5 percent is quite a modest return target, as long as you are prepared to dip a toe in the stock market and you really should be.The chart also highlights how-because compounding causes exponential growtheven small differences in the rate of return can have a huge impact on the total amount earned. For example, securing a re-turn just 2 percentage points higher and making the jump from 3 percent to 5 percent results in a difference of over $60,000 after thirty years.The first reason is that few stock markets even come close the record pace set by Vit Nam's in recent times. The country's shares have delivered over 200 percent in the past five years and are generally held to have even more room to grow.But the second reason is just as important, and very much easier to miss. This is the way that inflation erodes wealth over time. If current interest rates hover around the 3 percent market while inflation is running at around 7 percent. Your money needs to grow at least in line with inflation or its real purchasing power will be seriously re-duced.Amid low interest rates, regularly investing into the Vietnamese stock market (or other international markets with strong prospects) will help you achieve real positive re-turns, rather than negative returns at the bank.


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A robust investment strategy can provide very attractive returns, even for those who are fairly risk-averse. If you can afford to put in a few or several hundred pounds a month, then generating a substantial investment pot can be very achievable indeed.Make sure time is on your sideMaximising the amount of time your money is invested is also incredibly important.The chart below illustrates how an investment appreciates over time, showing a com-parison of a 5 percent return over different periods.While it is never too late to get proactive about putting your money to work, it is never too early either. Whatever your age, make getting proactive about your financial health a priority.Although you should aim to get a head-start, definitely don't be put off if you are in a later stage of life as you can still build up a nest egg for your future very effectively.How much should I put aside?The short answer to this question is, as much as possible. We've used a figure of $100 for our examples, but don't be put off if you can't afford as much. Small sums soon build into bigger ones, and you can look at increasing the amount each year in line with your earning potential.The trick, as we've said, is to start early and invest steadily in order to get the magic of compound interest working for you.* Brian Spence is Managing Partner of S&P Investments. He has over 35 years' experi-ence in the UK financial services industry as an investment manager, financial planner, and M&A specialist. He is a regular contributor in the UK financial press and has a deep understanding of the financial services community. Brian's column will reflect on all the challenges and opportunities within the Vietnamese market, bringing a fresh perspective to today's hottest issues.http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/420986/the-vietnamese-stock-market-and-the-mag-ic-of-compounding.html

Real estate and stock markets to rise above market in 2018?


Forecast to be in a finer state than in 2017, the Vietnamese economy in 2018 is expected to provide even more favourable conditions for foreign direct investment (FDI) in-flows and domestic market are promising to become stronger, resulting in more in-vestment opportunitiesespecially in the stock and real estate markets.Particularly, various commercial banks were praised for their efficient handling of bad debts, which provided momentum for the further growth of the stock market.Besides, a significant number of enterprises plan to increase charter capital as well as list on the stock market, which would in turn raise the supply of securities.To boot, blue-chip stocks continue to be the primary choice of investment funds, par-ticularly overseas funds, because enterprises running effective operations are more likely to be trusted by foreign investors.Blue-chip stocks will remain the most popular in 2018Due to determinants such as the substantial investment demand and the appearance of FDI inflows into project development, the real estate market would potentially pre-serve the price stability enjoyed throughout 2018.The increasing supply in the real estate market remained unchanged during 2016-2017, leading led to excess supply by the end of 2017. This was particularly apparent in the high-end apartment segment.In addition, propelled by the steady demand for low-end and mid-end apartments, the competition among developers to offer improved quality and promote affordable housing amplified the on-going heat of the housing market. Meanwhile, medium- and long-term investors stayed heavily immersed in the development of infrastructure in coastal areas.On the contrary, despite the positive performance of the stock and real estate markets over the course of 2017, these markets were initially advised against by a considerable number of market research analysts due to the high-risk factor identified during 2015-2016.


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Hot bourse plays host to billionaires


The year 2017 brought about great success for the Vietnamese stock market, as a record jump was posted in the asset value owned by the market's richest, whereas the VNIn-dex saw a 48 per cent jump on-year constituting the third-highest growth worldwide, and the highest in Asia.Pham Nhat Vuong, chair of leading private firm Vingroup, continues topping the table of the 10 richest people on the national bourse.As of December 29, 2017, the final trading session of the year, Vuong's total asset value reached VND119.2 trillion ($5.4 billion) significantly higher than the VND30.4 trillion ($1.4 billion) he amassed by the same point the year prior.Most of Vuong's assets are with Vingroup (ticker code: VIC). The company's manage-ment report for the first half of 2017 revealed that Vuong held nearly 724 million Vin-group shares (27.5 per cent of the company's chartered capital). Meanwhile, Vietnam Investment Group JSC of which Vuong holds a nearly 93 per cent stake itself manages more than 880 million Vingroup shares (33.4 per cent). Vuong thus, directly or other-wise, holds 1.54 billion Vingroup shares which are valued at VND119.2 trillion ($5.4 billion).Throughout 2017, Vingroup stock's value rose by nearly 90 per cent to reach around VND77,000 ($3.50) per share in 2017's last trading session.Beside core operations in the likes of real estate, tourism, and retail, in 2017 Vingroup expanded considerably with the VinFast mega auto manufacturing complex project now under construction in the port city of Hai Phong, and in a record $740 million stock sale in Vincom Retail, a subsidiary of Vingroup.The same year, Vingroup surpassed major auto manufacturing and assembling com-pany Truong Hai Auto Corporation to become Vietnam's largest private business on the VNR500 table.Coming second on 2017's richest on the Vietnamese bourse table is Trinh Van Quyet, chair of the board at private real estate developer FLC Group.By the end of 2017, the total stock asset value under Quyet's direct ownership reached VND58.9 trillion ($2.7 billion), an excess of VND25 trillion ($1.1 billion) compared to the end of 2016.Quyet currently owns more than 318.5 million FLC Faros shares, over 135 million of FLC's, and 2.63 million of Artex's.FLC Faros, assuming the role of both developer and contractor, reportedly owns a portfolio of construction projects with total value of about VND20 trillion ($914 mil-lion).According to Vietnam Report's tables Profit500 and VNR500, in 2017 FLC Faros was among both the 500 most profitable businesses, and the 500 largest businesses, in Vi-etnam.The third-, fourth-, and fifth-richest shareholders on the Vietnamese bourse, respec-tively, are Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of fledgling budget carrier Vietjet, Tran Dinh Long, chair of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG), and Ho Xuan Nang, chair of the board at Vicostone (ticker code: VCS), the largest manufacturer of artificial stone in Vietnam.The total stock asset value under Thao's direct and indirect ownership reached VND24.7 trillion ($1.1 billion) as 2017 drew to a close. The value of her stock is expect-ed to go up further, as commercial lender HDBank for which Thao acts a deputy stand-ing chairwoman made its debut on the HCM City Stock Exchange last week.On Forbes' October 2017 table of the richest people in the world, Thao came in at 55th 10 places above former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The former is the only woman from Vietnam and Southeast Asia with assets of more than $1 billion.Meanwhile, Tran Dinh Long currently owns upwards of 382 million HPG shares, the total value of which around VND18 trillion ($812 million) nearly doubled as HPG stock's price jumped by almost 100 per cent in 2017.Vicostone's Ho Xuan Nang has amassed a total stock asset value of VND13 trillion ($603 million). With profits exceeding VND1.1 trillion ($50 million) in 2017, Vicostone


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has joined the club of businesses counting trillions in annual profits.Pham Thu Huong, Vingroup's deputy chairwoman and spouse of first-placed Pham Nhat Vuong, came in sixth with more than 124.8 million Vingroup shares, valued at VND10 trillion ($438.6 million).In seventh is Bui Thanh Nhon, chair of major HCM City-based real estate developer Novaland (NVL). His NVL shares are about 146 million, an equivalent of VND9.5 tril-lion ($431 million) in value.Pham Thuy Hang, younger sister of Pham Thu Huong, comes in eighth, owning around 83 million Vingroup shares, with a total asset value of VND6.4 trillion ($293 million).In ninth is Nguyen Duc Tai, chair and CEO of The Gioi Di Dong JSC, Vietnam's largest distribution chain of mobile phones and home appliances holding around 46.4 million The Gioi Di Dong shares, valued at VND6 trillion ($267.5 million) in total.The tenth-richest stockholder is Vu Thi Hien, the spouse of fourth-ranked Tran Dinh Long, holding more than 110 million HPG shares worth more than VND5.1 trillion ($235.3 million) worth.http://www.vir.com.vn/hot-bourse-plays-host-to billionaires.html

Nearly $500 million spent on importing meat


Vietnam imported 262,321 live buffaloes and cows and nearly 42,000 tonnes of beef and buffalo meat at a value of more than $410 million last year, according to the De-partment of Animal Husbandry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Develop-ment.The country also bought in more than 6,500 tonnes of pork worth $11.07 million and 81,000 tonnes of poultry meat worth over $75.7 million from overseas.The Department says imported meats are sold at market for cheap prices. As an exam-ple, the prices of US and Australian beef vary from VND100,000 to VND500,000 per kilogram, while Indian buffalo meat is priced at VND90,000-150,000 per kilogram, and a kilogram of chicken costs VND35,000-60,000.According to the general Department of Vietnam Customs, the average price for US chicken imported to Vietnam is at roughly VND19,000 per kilogram and pork at VND27,000/kilogram.http://english.vov.vn/market/nearly-us500 million-spent-on-importing-meat-366463.vov

Deputy PM urges ministries to address illegitimate fee collection at airports


Deputy prime minister Truong Hoa Binh has told the Ministry of Transport to coordi-nate with the Ministry of Finance to take measures to deal with illegitimate fee collec-tions from cars coming to airports.According to Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper, cars going to and from 21 airports have to pay a fee of VND7,000-30,000 each although these cars come to airports less than five minutes. These airports earned up to VND551 billion from such fees between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2015.The fee collection is beneficial to ACV and the government but ACV has violated the Land Law and the Civil Aviation Law and affected the interests of passengers who are required to pay the fee no matter whether they use traditional taxis or those of ride-hailing firms Uber and Grab, or private vehicles.The deputy PM asked the two ministries to submit a report on the handling of the vi-olations to the government before March this year.As for land use management at airports, the Ministry of Transport was assigned to co-operate with the Ministries of Natural Resources-Environment and National Defense and authorities of localities where airports are located to issue land use right certifi-cates for airports in accordance with the law and report the results to the PM this quar-ter.The Ministry of Transport has not issued specific regulations on non-aviation service provision despite being urged by the government Inspectorate.


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The government Inspectorate earlier conducted an investigation into the compliance of Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) and found that ACV had violated regula-tions on provision of non-aviation services.In addition, ACV assigned its subordinate agencies to collect fees on providers of non-aviation services without detailed instructions.In reality, seven among 22 airports nationwide have collected the fee without the su-pervision of the Ministry of Transport, generating total revenue of VND103 billion in 2014 and 2015. Meanwhile, the fee collection at 14 others has caused losses for enter-prises and the State budget.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/57974/Deputy-PM-urges-ministries-to-address-ille-gitimate-fee-collection-at-airports.html

Transport firms lower charges


Many transport companies in HCM City have reduced their freight rates to compete with others due to a surge in the number of trucks last year.Nguyen Van Chanh, vice chair of the HCM City Cargo Transport Association, said transport firms encountered numerous difficulties last year due to taxes, fees and ad-ministrative procedures. In addition, the rising number of trucks put into service also intensified the competition among transport firms, making life tougher for many.According to statistics of the association, the number of container trucks in the city soared 27.8 percent and trucks of at least 3.5 tonnes 76 percent while the cargo trans-port volume picked up a mere 7.5 percent to 406 million tonnes.Enterprises have reduced their transport charges by half and many trucks have even transported more cargo than allowed.In addition, high road maintenance fees and toll fees placed a further burden on trans-port firms. Lam Dai Vinh, director of Lam Vinh Transport Service Co Ltd, said the company has to pay a fee of VND20-25 million monthly for each truck, which is ex-tremely high.Fuel costs also rose considerably due to regular traffic jams on roads leading to Cat Lai Port in District 2. Besides, traffic congestion also led to late cargo deliveries, affecting their reputation, said Do Xuan Phu, director of Lien Minh company.These problems have remained unsolved although the HCM City Cargo Transport As-sociation has petitioned competent authorities to look at it several times. Vinh pro-posed cuts of 30 percent on both toll fees and road maintenance fees.Tran Quang Lam, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Transport, said the department has received proposals from enterprises and would take coping measures soon.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/57969/Transport-firms-lower-charges.html

Hanoi to develop additional 11 million sq.m of housing in 2018


Hanoi sets a target of developing additional 11 million sq.m of housing in 2018, includ-ing 430,000 sq.m of social housing, nearly 348,000 sq.m of resettlement housing and more than 2.1 million sq.m of commercial housing.The municipal Department of Construction will carry out solutions to remove bottle-necks and bolster real estate market. Adjustments will be made to planning key prop-erty projects in parallel with inspections of housing development in the city.It will supervise local people's committees, investors and operators to speed up the election of management boards at tenements. Biddings will be held to offer land lease for business services at resettlement houses in the city.Last year, the city revoked 19 kiosks at resettlement buildings due to use and manage-ment violations while arranging space for public activities at 126 out of 179 condomin-iums.The capital plans to sell some 1,000 old houses in 2018 and submit 200 billion VND (8.78 million USD) to the State budget.According to deputy director of the municipal Department of Construction Nguyen Chi Dung, the city built more than 11 million sq.m of new housing last year, including


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nearly 60,700 sq.m of social houses, 164,600 sq.m of resettlement houses and over 2.5 million sq.m of commercial houses.Currently, the city is branching out social housing projects in Tien Duong commune (Dong Anh district), Co Bi commune (Gia Lam district), Ngoc Hoi commune (Thanh Tri district) and Co Nhue ward (Bac Tu Liem district).http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/193735/hanoi-to-develop-additional-11 million-sq-m-of-housing-in-2018.html

City seeks more funds for metro lines 1, 2


HCM City authorities have proposed increasing capitalisation for the city's first two metro lines as the projects continue to face a capital shortage.The city People's Committee has sent a report to the government on the details of cost overruns.The metro line No 1 from Ben Thanh in District 1 to Suoi Tien Theme Park in District 9 was approved by the city in April 2007 with an investment of VND17.4 trillion (US$766.4 million). At that time, approval by the National Assembly (NA) was not needed.After investment costs were re-calculated by consulting agencies, costs increased to more than VND47.3 trillion ($2.08 billion).The city government attributed the surging costs to price changes of materials, mini-mum wage hikes in the 2006-2009 period, and the depreciation of the dong and Japa-nese yen, among others.The PM agreed with the city government to approve the project adjustments in August 2011. With investments reaching more than VND47.3 trillion, the NA then had to ap-prove the amount.As proposed by the city government, the PM assigns an agency to report to the NA on investment adjustments and assists the city in advancing capital to continue work on metro line No 1.According to the city People's Committee, the city has signed three loan agreements worth VND31.2 trillion, of which VND11.9 trillion has been disbursed.The project has implemented four bidding packages and has completed around 48 per cent of the work.As for metro line No 2, which connects Ben Thanh with Tham Luong in District 12, the city People's Committee approved a design by a local consulting firm in 2010 with a total investment of $1.37 billion.In 2012, the IC, a consortium from Germany chosen as the international consulting firm two years later, revised the detailed design of the project with a total investment of $2.1 billion.In 2015, the city government petitioned the PM to adjust the investment cost of the metro line No 2 project.The city government has asked the PM to approve the project's investment and imple-mentation adjustments and allow the city to assess and approve project adjustments.According to the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Planning and Investment and the State Bank of Vietnam, metro line No 2 can be approved by the city authority but com-ments from the PM are needed before implementation.According to the Ministry of Construction and Ministry of Finance, the project needs to be reported to the PM before it is submitted to the NA for approval.http://bizhub.vn/news/city-seeks-more-funds-for-metro-lines-1-2_291318.html

Thai fruits, vegetables to flood Vietnamese market


The volume of fruits and vegetables imported from Thailand is expected to surge this year as import tariffs imposed on these products are reduced to zero percent, heating up pressure on their Vietnamese peers.In 2017, Vietnam imported over 1.55 billion USD worth of fruits and vegetables, an an-nual increase of 68 percent, with Thai products accounting for a lion's share of the sum.Thailand's fruits and vegetables have secured a foothold in Vietnam and are taking up


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more shares in the market.A number of Thai fruits such as durian, purple mangosteen and rambutan are also grown in Vietnam but still gain favour from local consumers. Thai fruits and vegeta-bles have more stable and year-round supply compared to their Vietnamese peers.The Vietnamese products were said to face shortcomings in post-harvest preservation process and packaging, making them less attractive to domestic consumers.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/thai-fruits-vegetables-to-flood-vietnamese-market/124699.vnp

VNR launches luxury trains on North-South route


The Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR) has launched six new high-quality trains on the Thong Nhat (NorthSouth) route at Sai Gon Train Station.Vu Anh Minh, chair of VNR, said on January 10 that the new trains were five-star qual-ity and would meet passenger demand for transport during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.VNR has upgraded trains and stations and offered discount tickets.The new trains are expected to meet demand for quality services and conveniences, re-ducing the pressure on overcrowded roads.The six trains, which have a total of 90 carriages, include alert systems, displays of the next train station, temperature, and train speed.The trains have semi-automatic doors, power sockets, big corridors, eco-safe toilets, and quality air conditioning systems.Each carriage bed has a reading lamp and USB charger. A total of eight televisions are also installed in the carriages.Carriages serving meals are located in the middle of the train for passenger conven-ience.Free meals are served on the trains, with meals following aviation standards, at three train stations in Hanoi, Sai Gon and Da Nang.All staff have passed a training course at the Aviation Academy.Deputy minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong praised the efforts of VNR to en-hance transport quality and use technology in management."I hope the new trains can help reduce shortcomings in the railway and contribute to the sustainable growth of the country's railway sector," he said.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vnr-launches-luxury-trains-on-northsouth-route/124751.vnp

Real estate brokers association opens office in Thanh Hoa


The Association of Real Estate Brokers has opened a representative office in the central province of Thanh Hoa.The three-year-old body, which operates under the aegis of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, has 3,500 members and tie-ups with most real-estate transaction centres in the country.It has offices also in Hanoi, HCM City, Nha Trang, a Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho.Trinh Nguyen Tuan Anh, head of the new office, said it would streamline the real-es-tate market, human resources and information and adopt new technologies.This would enable brokerage activities in Thanh Hoa to improve rapidly, catching up with the places like Hanoi and HCM City, he added.The association said it plans to collaborate with foreign partners to set up an informa-tion system.It also plans to collate information for the government to draft suitable policies.http://bizhub.vn/property/real-estate-brokers-association-opens-office-in-thanh-hoa_291303.html

Dozens of illegal villas found in Danang

12/JAN/2018 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

Dozens of villas and bungalows in The Song Resort project have been built without li-cences along Danang beach.


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The project was invested by Song Viet Tourism-Urban Development JSC and given a building permit in 2011 for 37 villas. The construction was started in early 2017 but the investor failed to follow the regulations.The investor was given permits to build 19 villas, covering 5,008 square metres in total. In reality, they built 20 villas that cover 6,975 square metres. They also built 18 villas without licences. Some villas have different locations or are bigger than what were reg-istered. There are also seven unlicensed bungalows.Song Viet also built a 17-metres embankment that encroached on the water.Ngu Hanh Son District People's Committee Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Anh Thi said that they would punish Song Viet for their violations. According to Thi, they discov-ered the violations since May 2017 and directed authorities in Hoa Hai Ward to inspect and halt the construction.However, Song Viet continued the construction despite the ban. Hoa Hai Ward Peo-ple's Committee halted the construction again in November 2017 to no avail. When be-ing discovered on January 9, the workers quit the jobs afterwards.Thi said the Department of Construction didn't submit the project's documents to the district authorities. If Song Viet cannot submit required documents on January 18, their illegal buildings will be demolished. Vu Quang Hung, head of Danang Depart-ment of Construction, said that they had asked Song Viet to report about the illegal buildings by January 17.During a meeting with Ngu Hanh Son District People's Committee on January 10, Par-ty Secretary of Danang Truong Quang Nghia asked the local authorities to inspect 33 other coastal projects. Public access routes to the beach also need to be clearly identi-fied.dtinews.vn/en/news/018/54697/dozens-of-illegal-villas-found-in-danang.html

Thua Thien-Hue issues code of conduct for tourists


The Department of Tourism of the central province of Thua Thien-Hue has issued a code of conduct for tourists in Vietnamese and English.The guidebook includes illustrations of dos and don'ts. It encourages tourists to re-spect local traditions, behave in a civilised manner, protect historical relics, support the disabled, elderly, pregnant women and children, and to queue up when using public services or joining activities at public places.Thua Thien Hue houses Hue city, which was the imperial capital of Vietnam for hun-dreds of years. Hue is home to five heritages recognised by UNESCO, namely the Hue ancient citadel relic complex a World Cultural Heritage site; Nha Nhac (Hue royal court music) an intangible cultural heritage item; Nguyen Dynasty's wood blocks a documentary heritage item; Nguyen Dynasty's Chau ban (royal administrative docu-ments) part of the Asia-Pacific Register of UNESCO's Memory of the World Pro-gramme; and literature on Hue royal architecturea documentary heritage.In 2017, the total number of tourists to Hue rose 16 percent to 3.8 million, contributing to the local tourism revenue of over 320 billion VND (14 million USD).In 2018, the provincial tourism sector hopes to welcome between 4-4.2 million visitors, of which foreigners make up of 40-45 percent, up 10 percent and 12 percent from 2017, respectively, generating 4-4.2 trillion VND (176 million-184.8 million USD).http://dtinews.vn/en/news/017004/54705/thua-thien-hue-issues-code-of-conduct-for-tourists.html

Four loss-making fertiliser projects likely to be revitalised


Four of 12 State-owned loss-making projects could be revitalised after deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue approved a restructuring plan for the Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem) in the 2017-2020 period.According to the plan, the State-owned group will divest all of its stakes in four ferti-liser companies that have incurred losses of trillions of dong. They are Ha Bac Nitrog-enous Fertiliser and Chemicals Co Ltd, DAP-Vinachem Co Ltd, DAP No.2 Vinachem JSC, and Ninh Binh Nitrogenous Fertiliser Co Ltd


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To ensure successful State capital divestment, Vinachem has taken drastic measures to reduce production costs and thus improve overall performance in these projects, Lao Dong newspaper reports.A report by Vinachem shows the four projects have resumed operations and achieved positive results. Particularly, DAP-Vinachem Co Ltd reported a VND5.2 billion profit as of late 2017.Some of the remaining projects have shown signs of improvement, especially ethanol production projects, after RON 92 gasoline was banned from the market nationwide to boost E5 bio-fuel consumption. Dung Quat ethanol plant will resume operation in the second quarter this year while Binh Phuoc ethanol plant will get back to life after five years of interruption.The remaining projects Dinh Vu polyester fiber factory, Dung Quat shipyard, Phuong Nam paper pulp mill, the second phase of Thai Nguyen steel plant, and Vietnam-Chi-na steel plant are still mired in difficulties.english.thesaigontimes.vn/57968/Four-loss-making-fertiliser-projects-likely-to-be-re-vitalised.html

Phu Yen to get high-tech bitumen plant


Danish global machinery equipment maker DenimoTech and Vung Ro Petroleum Company Limited on Thursday signed an agreement to build a high-tech bitumen plant in the central coastal province of Phu Yen.The construction of the plant will be divided into two phases. The first will be imple-mented in a year, and the second will begin in the middle of the year and last for 26-28 months.During the first phase, the plant will import high quality bituminous binders from the world's leading manufacturers and process them into advanced construction materials for both the Vietnamese market and exports to neighbouring countries.The plant has been designed to have a storage capacity of 12,000 metric tonnes (MT) with a second phase upgrade to 30,000 MT. It is expected to be a top-notch environ-mentally-friendly bitumen-emulsion and polymer-modified bitumen plant. It will also be a state-of-the-art packing facility for exports of hi-tech bituminous products to re-gional markets. It will have its own port facility.The plant is part of Vung Ro Petroleum's attempt to produce its own high-quality bi-tuminous binders compliant with Vietnamese Standards, American Superpave Per-formance Grade Standards and other standards required by customers in the region.Kirill Korolev, CEO of Vung Ro Petroleum, believes that the project will contribute sig-nificantly to Vietnam's infrastructure development."The road, airport and port infrastructure of a country are barometres for its advance-ment, wealth and prosperity. We are proud to contribute to this development. We are selecting the world's best technology providers to bring the best materials and science to the Vietnamese market," Kirill said.Vung Ro Petroleum's CEO said he was not authorised to disclose the full amount of the investment, but said it was above $500 million."Together with our partners, international vendors and some of the best scientists from Denmark, we will deliver a cutting-edge facility for Vung Ro Petroleum and help solve the engineering problems of Vietnamese construction and industrial sectors," said Bernd Schmidt, chair of DeminoTech. 4http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/phu-yen-to-get-high-tech-bitumen-plant_291343.html

Vietnam develops air routes to key markets


The prime minister has approved a plan for the development of direct air routes be-tween Vietnam and key markets to boost Vietnam's global integration. The prime min-ister asks airlines to introduce new flights and not increase the frequency of current flights.Vietnam's key markets are he US, Russia, Germany, France, the UK, China, the Repub-


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lic of Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and India. Vietnam has no direct air routes to India or the US. Major international airports like Noi Bai, Da Nang, Nha Trang and Tan Son Nhat have been asked to expand their capacity and Cat Bi, Phu Bai, Can Tho and Phu Quoc need to upgrade their infrastructure.By 2020 Vietnam plans to open new air routes to Russia, the UK, and the Czech Repub-lic. Vietnam Airlines and Air France signed a comprehensive cooperative joint venture agreement which took effect last November.Duong Tri Thanh, general director of Vietnam Airlines says "The joint venture agree-ment is the most advanced and highest level of cooperation in aviation reflecting our commitment to increase benefits for customers. Vietnam Airlines and Air France have strengthened investment in the international markets, especially in France and Eu-rope."Vietnam Airlines has opened a general agent in Prague, the Czech Republic and in-tends to launch direct air routes between the two countries in the near future. The Czech Republic attracts tourists from European and Asian countries.Nguyen Quoc Phuong, director of Vietnam Airlines Office in Europe says "The Czech Republic is a strong potential market. That's one reasons that we want a general agent there to take better care of customers and expand the market."This year, Vietnam Airlines will also open direct air routes to San Francisco and Los Angeles. By 2020, the airline intends develop more flights to Australia. Other Vietnam-ese airlines plan to open more flights to China, the Republic of Korea, and Japan.Vietnam also hopes to expand its aviation market to the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Italy.http://english.vov.vn/market/vietnam-develops-air-routes-to-key-markets-366526.vov

Vietnam Airlines ends year with record pre-tax profit


National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines ended 2017 with pre-tax profit hitting a record high of over 2.8 trillion VND (123.2 million USD), an increase of 8.3 percent from the previous year and 72 percent higher than the yearly target.Vietnam Airlines earned about 88.4 trillion VND (3.9 billion USD) in revenue last year and its contribution to the State budget almost doubled 2016's number, the airline an-nounced on January 10.Vietnam Airlines and its subsidiaries, Jetstar Pacific and Vasco, operated approximate-ly 180,000 flights in 2017, carrying 26.5 million passengers and 343,000 tonnes of cargo, up 6.7 percent and 19 percent, respectively, from 2016.The company controlled roughly 60 percent of the domestic market share and about 32.3 percent of the market share of international passengers flying to and from Viet-nam.In 2018, the corporation will continue expanding its fleet with more Airbus A350-900 and A321neo and pursuing its plan to open direct flights to the United States.Vietnam Airlines stepped into the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) in Jan-uary 2017, offering more than 1.2 billion shares, coded HVN, at a debut price of 28,000 VND per share. By the end of last year, HVN's price soared to the peak of 42,000 VND per share, up 60 percent.The firm plans to sell its shares on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) in the second quarter of 2018 and will offer additional shares to existing shareholders in an attempt to increase its charter capital and reduce State ownership.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-airlines-ends-year-with-record-pre-tax-profit/124698.vnp

1,500 register to buy apartments in Phu My Hung's latest project, The Signature


Phu My Hung Development Corporation on Thursday said the number of registra-tions for buying apartments in the Signature in HCM City's District 7 has topped 1,500, some five times the number it plans to sell later this month.At a sales event on January 27 the company is set to sell 270 units.


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The company revealed that 20 per cent of the registrations are by foreigners.The deadline for registering is January 15. The names of the successful customers would be announced before the sales day, and those who fail to make the cut can reg-ister for the next round of sales to be held after Tet (the Lunar NewYear).The Signature is the third phase of a complex called Phu My Hung Midtown the com-pany developing in its Phu My Hung City Centre.It has 516 apartments, 71 per cent of them with two bedrooms and measuring 73-78sq.m. The rest are three- and four-bedroom units.It will have two blocks with 18 and 27 floors.In the first two phases of Phu My Hung Midtown, more than 600 apartments were sold.The company said 70 per cent of the people buying plan to live there.In Phu My Hung Midtown, residents can enjoy all the amenities of not only the indi-vidual projects but also the whole of Phu My Hung City Centre.http://bizhub.vn/property/1500-register-to-buy-apartments-in-phu-my-hungs-latest-project-the-signature_291337.html

Grab explains increase in share from bike fares


Grab has explained why the company decided to increase the percentage it took from the fares of GrabBike and GrabExpress services since the beginning of this year.The company started collecting a share of 23.6 per cent of GrabBike and GrabExpress fares from January 1, an increase of 3.6 percentage points, which was opposed by driv-ers.Nguyen Trung Thanh, manager of GrabBike and GrabExpress, said the increase was not a revenue-sharing policy of Grab to raise the fee the company collected from its partner drivers. Instead, the increased share was the tax amount the company declared and contributed to the State budget on behalf of the drivers following a guidance from the tax authority.Accordingly, Grab Vietnam helped collect three per cent of value-added tax and 1.5 per cent of individual income tax on its partner drivers' share of 80 per cent of the total fare, which was equivalent to 3.6 per cent of the total revenue.The tax collection was only applicable to drivers who earned a revenue of VND100 million (US$4,380) a year, Thanh said.In 2016-17, Grab Vietnam used its budget to pay taxes for drivers to support its partner motorbike drivers.Grab entered Vietnam in February 2014 with a legal capital of VND20 billion, but post-ed an aggregated loss of more than VND938 billion.Its total revenue in 2014-16 was VND1.755 trillion, and the company paid more than VND142 billion in taxes to the State budget during the period.In August last year, Grab increased the percentage it took from fares from 15 per cent to 20 per cent.With the increase in the share Grab collected, together with reductions in support pol-icies of the company and harsh competition as the number of drivers grew, the income of Grab drivers has significantly decreased.Tran Ngoc Tuan, a 28-year-old driver, said the increase was unreasonable, adding drivers wanted to pay tax themselves.http://bizhub.vn/news/grab-explains-increase-in-share-from-bike-fares_291335.html

HCM City GrabBike drivers go on strike


GrabBike drivers in HCM City on January 10 gathered at the company's headquarters in District 10 to protest against a new hike in revenue share. A driver, Duong Thanh Luc, said that they don't support the rise in commission rate deduction to 23.6 percent from the current 20 percent which is putting drivers at a fi-nancial disadvantage."Our income has already been affected by the recent petrol prices hike," Luc said. "With the 20 percent deduction, a fifth of the money earned from each ride has gone to


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the company, and now how can we live if they want to take more."Meanwhile, a representative from the company said that the further deduction of 3.6 percent in drivers' commission is, in fact, the drivers' personal income tax that they col-lect for tax authorities."Grab Vietnam has supported its partners or drivers in paying this tax over the past two years, and from January 1, 2018, those with a monthly income of VND8.3 million (USD366) or more will have to pay," the representative said.Many drivers were not satisfied with the company's explanation, saying that they are having to pay for many costs including internet, petrol, motorbike maintenance costs, and mobile phone services and so their income will be affected by this tax while the Grab service prices stay the same.Earlier in August, GrabBike drivers in Vietnam also staged a strike and called for a boycott of the ride-sharing app after the company raised the revenue share from 15 percent to 20 percent.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/017004/54702/hcm-city-grabbike-drivers-go-on-strike-.html

Hyundai considers plant in Vietnam or Indonesia


The Republic of Korea (RoK)'s Hyundai Motor said it is considering building a car plant in Southeast Asia with Indonesia and Vietnam being possible locations.The intention came from the intense political ties between Beijing and Seoul after the RoK allowed the US to deploy its anti-missile defense system THAAD in the country, hurting Hyundai and other Korean firms that are highly reliant on the Chinese market. Hyundai expects its China sales to reach about 900,000 vehicles in 2018, a recovery from last year, according to a company spokeswoman.Hyundai has not disclosed estimates for 2017 China sales but the figure of 900,000 would still be far below its production capacity of 1.65 million vehicles in its biggest market.The company aims to sell 7.55 million vehicles in 2018 amid sluggish global economic growth that reduces demand in numerous key markets.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/hyundai-considers-plant-in-vietnam-or-indonesia/124692.vnp

Vung Ro Petroleum shakes hands with DenimoTech


Vung Ro Petroleum Co., Ltd (VRP), the operator of Vietnam's third oil refinery located in the central province of Phu Yen and backed by the UK-based Technostar Manage-ment Limited, today signed a cooperative agreement with DenimoTech, a Denmark-headquartered firm, aiming to provide turnkey solutions for the petroleum by-prod-uct sector and aid the implementation of VRP's new manufacturing plant in Vietnam.Specifically, the Danish industrial product manufacturer committed to team up with $3.2 billion Vung Ro oil refinery in the construction of a high-tech state-of-the-art bitu-minous binders processing plant, utilising green technology from Denmark.The plant will have a storage capacity of 12,000 tonnes with a second phase upgrade to 30,000 tonnes. It is expected to be a top-notch environmental friendly bitumen emul-sion and polymer modified bitumen plant, which is also a state-of-the-art packing fa-cility to facilitate exports of hi-tech bituminous products to regional markets.Kirill Korolev, general director of Vung Ro Petroleum told VIR that it is expected to start the first phase development this year.He said that this plant is part of Vung Ro Petroleum's attempt to produce its own high-quality bituminous binders compliant to Vietnamese standards, American Superpave Performance Grade standards and other standards required by customers in the re-gion.He added that "this project will contribute significantly to Vietnam's infrastructure de-velopment. The road, airport and port infrastructure of a country are barometers for its advancement, wealth and prosperity.""We, at Vung Ro Petroleum, are proud to contribute to this development with our full


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commitment and selecting the world's best technology providers to bring possibly the best materials and science to the Vietnamese market," Korolev added.While, Bernd Schmidt, CEO of Bitumina Group and chair of DenimoTech, asserted that "Together with our partners, international vendors and some of our best scientists from Denmark, we will deliver a cutting-edge facility and technology for Vung Ro Pe-troleum and help bring in pavement design which has longer-life and can solve the lo-cal engineering problems of the Vietnamese construction and industrial sectors."http://www.vir.com.vn/vung-ro-petroleum-shakes-hands-with-denimotech.html

Prosecutors seek life sentence for fugitive oil executive


Vietnam's top prosecution body has called for a notorious fugitive oil executive to be sentenced to life in prison and a former Politburo member, HCM City Party Chief, and PetroVietnam Chair to receive 14-15 years in prison for their involvement in a massive corruption scandal at the oil giant.The Supreme People's Procuracy has accused Dinh La Thang, former Chair of the State-owned PetroVietnam, of "deliberately acting against State regulations on eco-nomic management, causing serious consequences", and the runaway Trinh Xuan Thanh of the same charge plus embezzling property.The two are standing trial with 20 other former PetroVietnam execs accused of being responsible for million-dollar losses at power projects run by the PetroVietnam Con-struction Corporation (PVC), PetroVietnam's construction arm.According to prosecutors, Thang abused his power as the group's leader and oversaw financial mismanagement.The indictment said he directly appointed Thanh as PVC's CEO in December 2007, be-fore making various promotion, funding and recruitment decisions to boost Thanh's power and facilitate the company's operations.He is accused of being responsible for Thanh's actions that led to losses of more than VND119 billion ($5.24 million) at a thermal power plant and the embezzlement of VND4 billion ($176,000) at another.Thang, 57, served as Chair of PetroVietnam from 2006 to 2011 before his political career took off as minister of Transport in prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung's cabinet and then as Party Secretary of HCM City.He was arrested on December 8 after being voted out of then 19-member Politburo, the Party's decision-making body, and was fired as Party Chief of HCM City in May.Fifty-two-year-old Thanh was detained last August, after which he fled to Europe and then turned himself in.Before the trial, prosecutors said that Thang could face 20 years in jailthe heaviest sen-tence possible for such crimesand that Thanh could be sentenced to death.Vietnam's revised Penal Code, effective from this month, allows those convicted of embezzlement to avoid the death sentence by returning at least 75 per cent of their ill-gotten gains. Thanh's mother handed over VND2 billion ($87,800) to authorities the week before the trial, in what lawyers have interpreted as an effort to save him from death.At another high-profile trial that wrapped up after a month last September, the Hanoi court sentenced Nguyen Xuan Son, another former Board Chair of PetroVietnam, to death, and Ha Van Tham, his counterpart at OceanBank, to life in jail for embezzle-ment and mismanagement that caused losses of nearly VND1.6 trillion ($70.4 million) at the bank, in which PetroVietnam held a 20 per cent stake.Son is also among the former oil executives standing trial with Thanh and Thang. Thang is set to stand trial again later this month for his role in the OceanBank case, for which he is also facing up to 20 years in prison.Thanh is also set to stand another trial for embezzlement at PVPLand, a subsidiary of PVC, for which he is facing the death sentence.The PetroVietnam trial opened on January 8 and is expected to last two weeks, taking place at the same time as a separate trial in HCM City where a $400 million fraud case involving the Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB) and Sacombank is being heard.


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Exchange programme promotes Vietnamese startups


An exchange programme promoting Vietnamese startups entitled "Runway to the World" was officially launched in HCM City on January 11.The programme, hosted by the Saigon Innovation Hub (SiHub), will link local startups with organisations and startup ecosystems in North America, Western Europe, North Asia and the Asia-Pacific.It will foster Vietnamese startups while selecting suitable foreign startups to explore, research and launch trade activities in Vietnam.The first programme, with cooperation from the Republic of Korea's Shinhan Bank, is hoped to connect the two countries' dynamic startup ecosystems and promote bilateral trade.SiHub director Huynh Kim Tuoc said the centre has taken various actions to bring lo-cal startups to the world. The programme offers chances for Vietnamese startups to study regional and international startup ecosystems, he added.After the Shinhan Bank, the programme will continue with businesses from Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, the US, Finland and Sweden.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/exchange-programme-promotes-vietnamese-startups/124737.vnp

HCM City to host Blockchain Week


The 2018 Vietnam Blockchain Week will be held in HCM City in March to promote the potential of blockchain and 4.0 technologies.Organised by Infinity Blockchain Labs (IBL), the event also aims to highlight Vietnam's position as a global hub of 4.0 technologies and advocate support from Vietnamese regulators to create a facilitating and nurturing environment for blockchain and 4.0 technologies.The event expects to attract 1,500 participants to demonstrate how blockchain is trans-forming the global economy and how Vietnam is poised to become the next global blockchain and 4.0 technologies hub.By inviting only top tier speakers, thought leaders, business leaders and regulators from Vietnam and the world in various realms of blockchain and other 4.0 technolo-gies such as AI, VR/AR, and the Internet of Things, the organisers hope to use the event to help the Vietnamese tech community position itself in the global market.It will be held on March 7 and 8 at Riverside Palace in District 4.The blockchain concept is one of the most transformative and game-changing ideas since the Internet.It is a public transaction ledger built in a network structure based on cryptographic principles which removes the need for intermediaries while generating massive trans-actional applications to establish trust, accountability and transparency at lower costs, with fewer legal constraints and with less system friction.Blockchain technology goes well beyond cryptocurrencies, fintech, public voting, data sharing networks, and decentralised marketplaces and interacts with other cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and Big Data. Blockchain is in fact heralded as the backbone of 4.0 technologies. Currently tech jug-gernauts such as IBM, Microsoft and Google and international banks are engaged in a blockchain research and development race on a global scale.Thanks to its geopolitical stability and one of the world's highest growth rates, Viet-nam has gained a global reputation in the ICT industry though still only as an out-sourcing hub, according to IBL.The inherent novelty, tremendous potential and range of possibilities of blockchain and other 4.0 technologies will undoubtedly enable Vietnam to thrive, especially its ICT industry, it said.http://bizhub.vn/events/hcmc-to-host-blockchain-week_291339.html


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Complast plastics exhibition opens in HCM City


Hundreds of new plastic products and the latest equipment and machines are on dis-play at the 3rd international complete plastics exhibition (Complast Vietnam 2018), which was opened on Wednesday in HCM City.Smart Expos and Fair (India) Pvt. Ltd (SEFIPL) organised the fair in cooperation with Vietnam Plastics Association (VPA) at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre (SECC) in District 7.Processing machines and technologies as well as chemicals, additives, test equipment and recycling services will be on display, among many other items.The three-day expo includes hundreds of exhibitors from 21 countries and regions, in-cluding India, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Africa, the Middle East, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Greece, UAE, Australia, Italy and Sri Lanka.Visitors can interact with global corporations and hundreds of plastic industry solu-tion providers.A seminar will be held on the sidelines of the expo on 3D printing technology for mak-ing tools, advanced recycling of plastic waste, and knowledge sessions on recycling plastics in Vietnam.Investment opportunities in the industry are promising as the country has high-growth prospects, significant dependence on imported raw materials and processing machineries, and a high level of plastics exports.PricewaterhouseCoopers said that Vietnam could become one the fastest-growing of the world's emerging economies by 2025, with a potential growth rate of almost 10 per cent per annum.http://bizhub.vn/news/complast-plastics-exhibition-opens-in-hcm-city_291332.html End


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finance & business news 12 January 2018...Intellasia 12 January 2018 2 / 47 FINANCE Vietnam finance & business 12 January 2018 VND/USD. During the week, the State Bank adjusted the