PM Nguyen Tan Dung recently gave a nod to agricultural development projects funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The agricultural sector, peasants and rural areas in the northern province of Tuyen Quang, the central province of Ninh Thuan and the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai will directly benefit from the non-refundable projects.

The People’s Committees of these three provinces were assigned to directly implement the projects.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will receive technical support to carry out a project on implementing the National Goal Program on rural development.   

A delegation, specializing in negotiating with the FAD on loan agreements and legal documents of the projects, has been set up.

As scheduled, the delegation just holds the first round of negotiation with IFAD on December 8-10, 2010.

Big surges in foreign currency and overseas remittance

Vietnam has witnessed sudden surges in foreign indirect investment (FII) and overseas remittance, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

The Foreign Currency Management Department of the SBV on December 9 announced that as of late November, the inflow of overseas remittance stood at $7.6 billion, higher than the forecast.

In the last month of 2010, overseas remittance is expected around $770 million, bringing the total figure for the whole year to $8 billion, up 25.6 per cent year-on-year.

In Q1, 2011, during the Lunar New Year festival, the remittance inflow may be on the rise, the Department predicted.

Meanwhile, since the beginning of the year, Vietnam has enjoyed a surplus in FII at approximately $800 million.

The investment disbursement went up 9.9 per cent against the same period last year.

China to supply Vietnam with building materials

Chinese businesses could supply building materials to Vietnam, said the deputy chairman of the Shanghai Construction Association, Qian Jing Wei.

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Qian Jing Wei and representatives from 20 leading Chinese businesses are currently on a fact finding tour of Vietnam from December 7-10 to examine the potentials for cooperation in manufacturing and trading building materials.

At a conference on December 9 in Hanoi, Qian Jing Wei said that over the past five years, Vietnam has maintained a high growth rate, paving the way for more economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Pham Khanh Toan, head of the Construction Ministry’s International Cooperation Department said that with the rapid spread of urbanisation in Vietnam, the demand for building materials and interior products is rising. He added that besides these products, Vietnam also imports spare parts and other equipment for producing construction materials.

Currently, China is the largest supplier of these products to Vietnam. In 2009, Vietnam imported over 150 million USD of products from this market, accounting for over 40 percent of its total imports of building materials.

Industry, Trade and Construction Fair to be held

The Industry, Trade and Construction Fair of southern and southeastern key economic zones will be held from December 21st to 26th in Tay Ninh Town in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

The upcoming event aims to promote investment, trade, tourism in 10 provinces and cities in key economic zones in the southern region.

Various products in agriculture, fishery, consumer goods, apparel, foods, appliances, furniture, interior decoration, and handicrafts will be showcased at around 500 stalls, including 30 from Cambodian businesses.

Both domestic and foreign businesses will have an opportunity to introduce their products, seek partners and expand their markets.

The organising panel will offer promotional programs, such as 50% discount for stall rental, free advertisement for domestic businesses, and free participation for foreign businesses.

Promotional program to be launched for tourists

Ho Chi Minh City’s tourism sector will work with the local Department of Trade and Industry to launch a month-long promotional program from December 15th, 2010 to attract more tourists to the city at the end of this (lunar) year.

Accordingly, both domestic and foreign visitors to Ho Chi Minh City will enjoy 5% - 10% discount in entertainment areas, shopping centres, hotels, transportation and other tourist services.

The program is part of an advertising campaign to promote the image of Ho Chi Minh City in the peak tourism season when the city will receive a large number of foreign tourists.

On this occasion, the city has prepared to welcome its three-millionth international visitor at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport on December 21st.

This year, the city will receive about 3.1 million foreign visitors, an increase of 20% compared to the last year’s figure.

Vietnamese construction materials to be exported

A seminar on exporting Vietnamese construction materials has been held by the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s African Market Department, the Ministry of Construction’s International Cooperation Department, and the IEC Joint Stock Company.

The event drew the participation of nearly 100 delegates, including 60 big businesses in producing construction materials, such as Vietnam Cement Industry Group, Viglacera, Thanh Tri Pottery Company, Ha Long Cement Company and Nghi Son Cement Company.

The participants discussed the development of Vietnam’s construction material industry and opportunities as well as challenges to export construction materials to such foreign markets as the Middle East.

With material sources, technologies and human resources seen as an advantage, Vietnam is expected to export more construction materials to some foreign markets in the near future.

The delegates agreed that Vietnamese companies should take part in international fairs and exhibition to promote their products and seek business opportunities.

Fair offers discounts on electronics and IT devices

The 2010 Fair of Electronics Communication Information Technology (FECIT), the second of its kind, opened in Ho Chi Minh City on December 9, offering local people the chance to purchase discounted electronics and IT devices.

The four-day event is being held by the Ho Chi Minh City Informatics Association and Intel Vietnam with sponsorship from electronics giants such as LG, Samsung, Canon, Gygabyte, and Microstar.

Local consumers, including those from Ho Chi Minh City and adjacent localities, can buy products such as laptops, cameras, antivirus, accounting and Lac Viet dictionary software, as well as USB flash drives at discounts of 20-60 percent at the fair.

Businesses displaying products at the event will also be handing out thousands of gifts to visitors.

Gas retail prices drop

PV Gas South, a state-run PetroVietnam offshoot which holds 60 percent of the market share, reduced cooking gas retails by VND8,000 (US$0.41) for a 12-kilogram cylinders Wednesday.

The drop was the first price cut on cooking gas after a four-month hike in the face price increases from other distributors. Earlier this month the price of a 12-kilogram cylinder was raised by VND38,000 to VND335,000-357,000.

Other cooking gas suppliers such as PetroVietnam Gas, VT Gas, Dang Phuoc Gas and A Gas are setting their new prices between VND327,000-349,000 per 12-kilogram cylinder.

PV Gas South’s cooking gas retail prices dropped VND30,000 ($1.53) for 45-kilogram cylinders.

Gas retail prices have been raised several times since late last year, each time on an average of VND4,000-22,000 per 12-kilo cylinder.

Although price-cutting is part of the government-promoted price stabilization program lasting until the end of the Lunar New Year Holiday, the price reduction for gas is just being applied until the end of December, Tran Van Nghi, deputy director of the PV Gas South, told Tuoi Tre.

“The prices are applied for all gas retail systems of PV Gas South from Da Nang to Ca Mau Province. Depending on world’s gas price, PV Gas South will adjust its gas prices from the beginning of January 2011,” Nghi added.

Increase in VND interest rate controlled

Deposit rates for VND, offered by commercial banks, have continuously increased to reach high levels in recent days, especially for one-month terms.

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After record highs of 13% and 14% per year were broken, on December 8, the Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Company (Techcombank) announced its deposit rate of 17% per annum for a one-month term. This caused a race to increase interest rates among commercial banks and they increased their deposit rates to 17.5% per year.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) held a meeting with commercial banks to discuss ways to cope with this situation.

According to the Hanoi branch of the SBV, the borrowing and lending situation in the city is stable. The ICOR (Incremental Capital - Output Rate) is not high and credit growth in the city is equivalent to the overall credit growth of the country. The current liquidity is enough to make the necessary payments.

Therefore, the SBV affirmed that the recent fluctuation in interest rates is not due to the lack of capital.

The SBV has asked Techcombank and other joint stock commercial banks to reduce their deposit interest rates soon.

The Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank, which raised its deposit rate to 18% in the late morning of December 8, decided to reduce it to 14% per year.

According to experts, taking into account anticipated double-digit inflation, deposit rates should be set at 12 -13% per year.