HDBank wins Asiamoney award
     
The Housing Development Bank (HDBank) received Asiamoney’s award for best bank in Viet Nam as chosen by corporate clients at a ceremony in Beijing this week.

The magazine said for its Corporate Client Choice Awards it asked corporate treasury officials to rank their banking partners for quality of execution capabilities and quality of relationship in six key business areas – capital markets, cash management, credit, rates, foreign exchange and trade finance.

Other lenders in Viet Nam to win awards included ANZ, HSBC, Citibank and Vietcombank.

HDBank reported solid results in the first half of the year, with its assets increasing by 31.4 per cent year-on-year to VND169.5 trillion (US$7.46 billion).

Deposits were up 34 per cent to VND152.3 trillion and loans outstanding were up 29.8 per cent to VND105.5 trillion.

Bad debts accounted for 1.6 per cent of loans, much lower than the limit stipulated by the State Bank of Viet Nam of 3 per cent. 

Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port needs changes
     
The Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Complex has obtained significant investment for its expansion, however, it has still not fully maximised efficiency and capacity, causing wastage of potential and national resources.

The statement was made by Nguyen Van Trinh, chairman of Ba Ria-Vung Tau People’s Committee, at a conference held in the province on Thursday.

The event was designed to find solutions to improve the management and exploitation of this port cluster.

Trinh recommended that enterprises, functional agencies and associations highlight problems and inadequacies and contribute ideas and solutions to help the province improve the performance of the port cluster.

Nguyen Duy Minh, secretary general of the Association of Logistics Services companies in Viet Nam, raised the question as to why people tend to use HCM City’s Cat Lai Port instead of Cai Mep-Thi Vai, despite the former being frequently overloaded.

He said the reason was that the Cat Lai Port had formed an "ecosystem" that included ports, customs (procedures) and fleet transportation, which were synchronised and had optimal cost. Therefore, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province needed to build an "ecosystem" for the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port like the Cat Lai Port, besides organising conferences to introduce the port to customers in the region.

In addition, the province should also coordinate with Dong Nai Province to form depots (dry docks) along Highway 51 and have mechanisms to attract transportation companies to this port, Minh added.

Meanwhile, Ngo Minh Thuan, deputy general director of Sai Gon Newport Corporation, suggested incentives on tax and policies should be prioritised and inspection procedures for goods to be shipped directly to the United State and Europe should be simplified.

Besides this, it is necessary to install a customs scanner at the port cluster for quick inspection work and deploy the port management scheme.

Under the project “Improving management efficiency for seaports of port group No 5 and ports in Cai Mep-Thi Vai area", over the past four years, the Ministry of Transport has been actively coordinating with HCM City, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces and other related ministries and agencies to enhance the efficiency of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Complex, according to Nguyen Dinh Viet, deputy director of the Viet Nam National Maritime Administration.

In recent years, total cargo and container cargo passing through the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Cluster has increased positively. Specifically, in 2013, total cargo reached 35 million tonnes, accounting for 5 per cent of the growth rate, and in 2016, the figure increased to 62 million tonnes, achieving a growth rate of more than 30 per cent.

The conference drew the participation of the Viet Nam National Maritime Administration, the General Department of Viet Nam Customs, the Association of Logistics Services companies in Viet Nam, and goods owners and ship owners in the area of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port Complex.

Vietnamese, Thai firms seek to promote trade at business-matching event
     
Vietnamese and Thai businesses have enhanced trade promotion activities in the other country to achieve bilateral trade of US$20 billion by 2020 as targeted by the two governments, a Viet Nam-Thailand Business Matching event heard in HCM City on September 29.

Pham Thanh Kien, director of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, said the trade has been grown rapidly in the last few years, topping $12.54 billion last year.

Viet Nam’s exports were worth $3.69 billion, an increase of 15.9 per cent over 2015, while Thailand’s exports grew by 6.9 per cent, he said.

He told the Thais, who included executives from 13 major Thai companies in the food and beverages, cosmetics, and personal care industries, to meet and explore the possibility of collaboration with more than 30 Vietnamese companies taking part in the event.

The event was organised by the Thai consulate in HCM City and Kasikorn Bank (KBank) together with the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and VietinBank.

This two-day programme, which ended yesterday, also included site visits on Thursday to MM Mega Market and Saigon Co-op, the leading supermarket operators in Viet Nam, to get an inkling into consumer behaviours in Viet Nam.

Ureerat Ratanaprukse, the Thai consul in HCM City, said with its large population, of whom more than 50 per cent are of working age and increasing affluence, Viet Nam offers a promising market for Thai products, which are of high quality and reasonable priced.

Many Vietnamese love Thai products, another reason for Thai firms to promote their products here, she said.

The consulate and Kasikorn Bank plan to take a Vietnamese business delegation to Thailand to explore business opportunities, she said.

“Building upon the already cordial and close relations between the two countries and Viet Nam being Thailand’s only strategic partner in ASEAN, the Royal Thai Consulate-General in HCM City is fully committed to continue working in close and sustainable partnership with authorities and leaders in HCM City as well as our business partners in promoting two-way trade and investment between two countries towards our leaders’ commitment to achieve bilateral trade of $20 billions by 2020.”

Nguyen Hoang Dung, deputy general manager of VietinBank, said business matching is a value-added service where the bank provides its clients with opportunities to expand their business, diversify distribution channels and develop new markets.

According to Thawee Teerasoontornwong, executive vice president of KBank, the event is part of the bank’s World Business Matching programme, which aims to deepen its client’s understanding of the Vietnamese market and connect them with their counterparts across the region.

“By leveraging the strong network of local partners, we can provide services to the clients which go beyond financial support.

“Viet Nam has always been our key focus, given the current economic performance and favourable policy to support business and investment. More importantly, Viet Nam has become one of the major export markets for Thai products and several Thai companies are now looking to expand their business to Viet Nam.

“I hope that this event can serve as a bridge to help deliver high-quality Thai products to Vietnamese consumers. I can also foresee more products from Viet Nam entering the Thai market, given the increasing awareness of Vietnamese products among Thai consumers, which in turn will help boost the trade between the two countries.” 

Agriculture research results remain on paper

The provinces of Long An and Đồng Nai have been unable to use high-quality research findings to boost agricultural development because they lack funds and are unable to match what farmers want, officials say.

Đinh Thị Phương Khanh, deputy director of the Long An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said farmers needed technical support obtained from scientific research that they can apply in production.

Many scientific projects have produced approved, high-quality results that can help farmers, but few have been applied in practice, she said.

By last year, her office had received 16 scientific research results from the Department of Science and Technology for application on the field.

Khanh said her office has asked district and commune authorities to apply the research findings to boost agricultural development, and 14 projects have been registered to do so. However, only one project has received financial support.

“A project to commercially breed catfish in Thanh Hoá District was the only one that received VNĐ190 million (US$8,360). The remaining projects are still on the waiting list, because the Department of Science and Technology has not been able to allocate funds,” Khanh said.

Lê Quốc Dũng, director of the province’s Department of Science and Technology, agreed that funding shortage was a big challenge. Without funding, scientific researches would remain theories, he said.

Dũng said the department has been allocated just VNĐ10 billion ($440,000) for all scientific and technological activities, so the maximum it could offer a project was VNĐ 200 million ($8,800).

There are as many as 32 projects that have not yet been implemented, he added. 

Scientific projects in Đồng Nai Province have faced another problem: selling the produce once the findings have been applied by farmers.

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the local Centre for Biotechnology Application has received the results of 30 scientific research, but 16 of them remain on paper.

A project to expand Mokara orchid gardens was carried out as a collaboration between the Đồng Nai Centre for Biotechnology Application and HCM City’s Biotechnology Centre in 2013.

Trial results were good. Mokara orchid growers could earn more than VNĐ1.2 billion ($52,800) per hectare from the second year onwards. However, the total area of orchid gardens four years after the project began implementation was only four hectares or so.

Trần Vũ, farmer in Long Khánh Township, said he had visited the model of orchid planting at the centre and decided not to invest in it.

Vũ said the centre asked farmers to invest more than VNĐ 1 billion ($44,000) for each hectare of orchids, but did not promise stable outlets.

Other projects, one to raise buffaloes in Đồng Tháp Mười and another to grow dragon fruits in Châu Thành District, have showed promise. However, the high cost of production and uncertain markets were major barriers to implementing them on a larger scale.

Highlighting yet another problem, Lương Thành Trung, director of Đồng Nai Province’s Agriculture Extension Centre, said farmers only wanted to plant crops with low production cost and high selling prices. But most of the scientific research projects focused on high-quality products, which increased production costs. This, combined with the inability of authorized agencies to guarantee stable outlets, made farmers reluctant to apply them.

Trung said among the projects applied in practice over the past five years, the project with the highest total area covered just a few dozen hectares.

Khanh of the Long An agriculture department suggested scientific researches should be based on specific requests.

For example, the department would use its budget to ask the Department of Science and Technology to study or research a certain project, and later, use agricultural extension funds for applying them practice through training courses for officials and farmers in districts and communes.

She said businesses could also ask the Department of Science and Technology to conduct research projects, the results of which could be bought for application in production.

This could help ensure that scientific and technological research for agricultural development is practical and efficient, she added.

Vietnam, China seek measures to balance trade

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh and his Chinese counterpart Gao Yan co-chaired the 10th meeting of the Vietnam-China Committee for Economic and Trade Cooperation in Hanoi, focusing on measures to reduce Vietnam’s trade deficit with China.

They were delighted that Vietnam-China trade is growing towards a balanced manner. 

Vietnam’s statistics showed that two-way trade reached 71.9 billion USD in 2016, a rise of 7.9 percent over the previous year, while trade deficit reduced 13.67 percent year on year.

By the end of August this year, trade between the two countries hit 55.2 billion USD, up 23.59 percent over the same period last year, with Vietnam running a deficit of 17.7 billion USD, down 5.76 percent.

China continued to be Vietnam’s top trade partner, while Vietnam was China’s biggest partner in ASEAN and ninth biggest in the world.

The Chinese side agreed to speed up the evaluation of Vietnamese milk and dairy products, while stepping up the quarantine of Vietnamese fruits before allowing the import of these products to China.

At the same time, the two sides discussed a wide range of issues to manage the quality of Vietnamese rice in the Chinese market, while concurring to increase the exchange of information to facilitate the export of rice and alive pigs to China.

Both countries will encourage businesses and relevant trade associations to foster connections to increase the export of Vietnamese farm produce, aquatic products and fruits to China.

They also recognised the effective operation of Vietnam’s Trade Promotion Office in China’s Chongqing city in bolstering bilateral economic and trade cooperation and supporting businesses of both sides. The Chinese side is finalizing procedures to approve the formation of a similar office in Hangzhou on the occasion of the Chinese leaders’ visit to Vietnam and attend the APEC Summit in November this year.

They will work together to deal with problems in joint projects, such as the Cat Linh – Ha Dong urban railway project, while discussing the signing of an agreement on cooperation in some additional projects in the future.

Both sides will also negotiate for the early signing of a protocol replacing the 1992 Vietnam-China border railway protocol, and launch a feasibility study for the use of China’s aid package worth 1 billion CNY (nearly 150 million USD) to build a traditional medicine academy in Vietnam in 2017.

Conference seeks ways to build sustainable rice production chains

Measures to build linkages towards sustainable rice production chains in the context of climate change were the focus of a workshop in the framework of the recent investment promotion conference held in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang.

Tran Huu Hiep from the Southwest Steering Committee said that investing in production chains will prevent imbalanced investment. He also recommended that Hau Giang should pay due attention to selecting suitable key products based on local comparative advantages to prevent stretching investment.   

Meanwhile, Doan Manh Truong from the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute suggested that Mekong Delta localities need to promote linkages through restructuring the rice market from purchasing, processing to consumption markets.

Transparent mechanisms for purchasing activities must be set up to prevent unhealthy competition and contract breakdown, he said, adding that priority should be given to facilitating businesses’ investment in advanced rice preserving and processing systems.

Truong highlighted that connections in rice production and consumption can also be established through cooperation in mechanization, the transfer of technology and scientific advances and development of services and product sale.

Hau Giang has over 200,000 hectares of rice with average rice productivity of 6.2 tonnes per hectare per year. The province has built over 3,300 hectares of large scale fields, drawing the participation of 3,200 local households.

BIM vital to construction sector in Industry 4.0

The Building Information Modeling (BIM) will be a vital solution for the construction sector to approach the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), said Tran Hong Mai, deputy head of the Ministry of Construction’s BIM Steering Committee.

He made the remarks at the September 28 conference on “BIM Implementation in Constructing and Facility Management Activities” held in Hanoi by the committee and Autodesk, an American multinational corporation that makes software for architecture, engineering and construction.

In Vietnam, BIM used to be applied mostly in projects involving foreign investors, consultants or designers in the past, but now the method has become more familiar to local firms thanks to benefits it brings to their projects, Mai said.

BIM enables shorter project duration and lower costs as it helps operators see where problems could occur during the planning phase and closely manage the construction process, he explained.

It not only is a virtual design but also contains lots of information of the project, said Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean director of Government Affairs of Autodesk Daniel Green, adding that the information will continue to be updated after the planning and designing phases by the contractor.

The operator could take advantages of the information archived in BIM to effectively operate the project, he noted.

The Prime Minister has approved a plan to apply BIM in construction and operation management, aiming to encourage and provide better environment for relevant parties to apply BIM and undertake measures to improve productivity and quality as well as save human resources.

The plan, between 2017 and 2019, will focus on encouraging organisations and companies to apply BIM, developing legal framework and technical standards for the model, and building guidelines and training courses.

HCM City credit growth reaches 13.5 percent in 9 months

Outstanding loans of commercial banks in HCM City in the first nine months of 2017 rose 13.5 percent against December last year to more than 1.67 quadrillion VND (73.57 billion USD), the city People’s Committee report stated.

Of the total, loans in Vietnamese dong accounted for 90.4 percent, equal to more than 1.5 quadrillion VND, up 13.2 percent against December last year. Loans in foreign currencies made up 160 billion VND, up 15.4 percent.

Non-performing loans accounted for 4 per cent of the city’s total outstanding loans, down 0.04 percentage points against December last year.

HCM City-based commercial banks during the period lent 152.77 trillion VND to 37,920 customers in the Government’s five prioritised industries of agricultural production, export business, production of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), supporting industry and high-tech production, of which loans to SMEs made up the highest proportion of 64.4 percent, or 98.44 trillion VND.

The committee also reported that the banks mobilised 1.94 quadrillion VND in the first nine months, up 9.2 percent against December last year.

Of the total capital, deposits in dong reached over 1.7 quadrillion VND, accounting for 87.9 percent and rising 9.6 percent against December last year.-

HCM City’s CPI rises 0.9 percent in September

The consumer price index (CPI) in the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City in September increased 0.9 percent from the previous month and 4.12 percent over the same period last year, reported the municipal Statistics Office on September 29.

According to the office, out of 11 surveyed commodity groups, education saw the highest price hike of 11.2 percent due to high demand in the beginning of the school year.

Meanwhile, transport services rose 0.99 percent as a result of petroleum price adjustment in September, the fifth consecutive increase in the year.

Other groups which experienced price hikes against August included housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials (0.3 percent); garments, hats, footwear (0.15 percent); other goods and services (0.02 percent); and drinks and cigarettes (0.01 percent).

The prices of of culture, entertainment and tourism services dropped 0.29 percent; home appliance and drinks, down 0.19 percent; posts and telecommunication, down 0.05 percent; and restaurants and catering services, down 0.02 percent.

In September, the gold price increased 0.93 percent, while that of US dollar dropped 0.01 percent month-on-month.

Vietnam – Thailand trade to hit 20 billion USD in 2020

Vietnam and Thailand are striving to increase bilateral trade to 20 billion USD in 2020, as heard a business connectivity conference in Ho Chi Minh City on September 29.

Thai Consul General in HCM City Ureerat Ratanaprukse stated Vietnam and Thailand are key economic partners, with leaders of both sides agreeing to boost comprehensive trade ties.

The agreement lays the basis for Vietnamese and Thai firms to work together and involve in global and regional supply chains.

Pham Thanh Kien, head of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, said the southern city is a potential destination for Thai products, which have gained favour with local consumers for their quality and competitive prices.

Since the beginning of 2017, seven Thai goods fairs have taken place in HCM City, with three more expected to run toward the year’s end.

Vietnam is currently Thailand’s second biggest partner in ASEAN, while Thailand is top trade partner of Vietnam in the bloc.

In 2016, bilateral trade reached 12.54 billion USD, which accounted for 3.6 percent of Vietnam’s total import-export value.

4G quality of Vietnam’s mobile carriers put to test

The official results of quality checks on the stability and speed of 4G mobile Internet services offered by two major carriers in Vietnam have been released.

The results, announced on September 27, showed that MobiFone and Viettel lived up to benchmarks issued by the Authority of Telecommunications, the agency responsible for conducting the tests.

The 4G services were tested on five indicators: the availability of the wireless network, access success rates, average latency time, data transfer drop rates, and data upload/download speeds as recorded in Hanoi.

Military-run telecom giant Viettel had their 4G service tested between June 8 and 16, scoring 100 percent in network availability and 0.65 percent in drop rates.

The average download speed using Viettel’s 4G Internet was 34.9 megabits per second, while the average upload speed was 16.88 Mbit/s.

MobiFone’s 4G service, which was tested between July 19 and 26, demonstrated 99.98 percent network availability in Hanoi and a drop rate of 0.74 percent.

The provider’s average 4G download and upload speeds were 36.91 Mbit/s and 19.28 Mbit/s, respectively.

The report by the Authority of Telecommunications, published on its website on Wednesday, did not include Vinaphone, the country’s third major mobile service provider.

In the State of the Internet Report issued by American content delivery network Akamai Technologies earlier this year, Vietnam’s average mobile Internet speed in the first quarter of 2017 was recorded at 5.3 Mbit/s.

The performance was much slower than the regional average of 9.69 Mbit/s, according to the same report.

WB, Vietnam discuss national priorities

Senior Vice President and World Bank Group General Counsel Ms. Sandie Okoro, has discussed with high-ranking Vietnamese officials on national priorities and support the Bank’s global experience could offer in meeting these goals.

During her first two-day visit to Vietnam September 26-27, Okoro held technical meetings with the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Justice. 

The discussions showcased the strong partnership between Vietnam and the World Bank and explored opportunities for continued Bank support.  Issues discussed included areas where the Bank has been providing technical advice, the fiscal constraints faced by Vietnam, and the importance of capacity building for institutional strengthening.

“Vietnam has made significant achievements in poverty reduction and economic growth, and it needs to tell its development story out loud. I would like to reaffirm the longstanding partnership between Vietnam and the World Bank Group,”said Sandie Okoro, Senior Vice President and World Bank Group General Counsel.

She had a fruitful discussion with women representatives of the private sector where she learnt how Vietnamese women are drivers of growth and contribute to all aspects of Vietnamese economy and other areas, such as climate change.  She also learnt about the constraints facing Vietnamese women in the public and private sector.

During her meeting and inspirational talks with hundreds of students of Hanoi Law University, Ms. Okoro shared her own life experience starting as a law student like them and stressed the importance of being humble, resilient, kind and helpful to all, especially embedding integrity in anything they do. 

During her visit to the Medium Cities Development Project financed by the World Bank in Phu Ly City, Ms. Okoro met with provincial leaders and officials as well as beneficiaries including students and teachers from kindergarten and schools financed by the project.  She also saw firsthand how project helps to improve basic infrastructure and services including water supply and environmental sanitation and rehabilitation of urban roads and bridges.    

The World Bank provides analytical and technical support in a wide range of development areas in Vietnam and is currently financing 51 IDA and IBRD projects, totaling US$10.5 billion. 
Areas of strategic focus include enabling inclusive growth and private sector participation, ensuring environmental sustainability and resilience, and investing in people and knowledge. 
     
Animal feed, corn imports from Argentina account for large share
 
Argentina is the largest exporter of animal feed and corn for Vietnam from South America with a value of US$1.6 billion in the first eight months of this year, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

In the period, animal feed and corn accounted for 86% of total import value. Vietnam imported more than US$1 billion of animal feed and materials from Argentina (up 4.92%) and 2.7 million tons of corn valued at US$525.7 million (up 54.66% in volume and 59.83% in value against the same period last year).

Garment and footwear materials were also major import products with US$29.3 million in eight months, up 57.05%.

In general, 87.5% of import products from Argentina saw a growth in eight months, particularly cotton (up 357.07% to US$6 million).

Coffee markets stay muted in Vietnam, Indonesia on low supply

Asian coffee markets remained subdued this week due to low supplies at the end the crop season in Vietnam and the harvest period in Indonesia, traders said on September 28.

In line with a drop in London prices, domestic coffee prices in Vietnam's Daklak province fell to 42,000-43,000 dong (US$1.85-US$1.89) per kg from 44,000-44,500 dong last week, discouraging farmers to sell beans, traders said.

London ICE January futures fell 2.23% on September 27 to US$1,931 a tonne, in their sharpest fall in three weeks.

Exporters in Vietnam hardly clinched any deal as they offered the 5 percent black and broken grade 2 robusta on par with the January contract, while importers sought a discount of US$30-US$40 amid low demand.

Meanwhile, local farmers also refused to lower their prices amid a thin stockpile at the end of the 2016/2017 crop season after unfavourable weather at end-2016 hurt output.

Vietnam's coffee exports volume in the 2016/2017 crop year as of August was 1.4 billion tonnes, down 13  from the same period last year, but exports value during the same period rose 9% to $3.16 billion as prices were higher this year, customs data showed.

The coffee crop season in Vietnam starts in October and ends in September of the following year.

In Indonesia, prices of the grade 4 defect 80 robusta beans in the province of Lampung stood at a premium of US$10 to the November contract, unchanged from last week.

A trader in Lampung, Indonesia's main coffee growing area, said trade remained light as sellers ran out of beans.

Administrative reforms help firms in Hau Giang

Alongside the application of a multitude of regulated investment incentives, Hau Giang province in the Mekong Delta is pushing administrative reforms to support businesses.

Hau Giang has taken the state focus on investment climate seriously, and the results seem to be paying off

Despite being a ‘young’ location still facing many difficulties in socio-economic development, Hau Giang currently ranks among the top five locations in the Mekong Delta region for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), according to the Hau Giang Department of Planning and Investment.

Currently, the province is home to 29 FDI projects valued at $808.5 million in total committed capital, including 16 wholly foreign-owned enterprises valued at $642.6 million and 13 joint ventures worth $165.8 million in total registered capital.

Each investment project averages $28 million in terms of committed capital, higher than the Mekong Delta region’s average of more than $14 million. FDI projects in the province come from 10 different countries and territories, such as the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, China, and Australia, providing jobs for more than 10,000 labourers.

The province expects to see breakthroughs in FDI attraction in the near future, as it has recently received two large-scale FDI projects in the energy sector, with combined investment capital surpassing $3.6 billion.

The first is Jinko Solar Vietnam, a solar energy plant invested by Hong Kong’s Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. in Phung Hieu district’s Hoa An commune. According to Jinko Solar’s project director James Gia Co, the group is set to expedite the project in Hau Giang later this year on an area of roughly 50 hectares with a designed capacity of 40 megawatts (MW). With total estimated capital of $70 million, the project is expected to come online next year.

The second project is the Song Hau 3 thermal power plant by Viet Lao Energy Investment Development JSC, which is a consortium consisting of Deo Ca Investment JSC, Viet Lao Energy Investment Development JSC, and Laos-based Phongsubthavy Road and Bridge Construction Co., Ltd.

The investor wants to deploy the project on a site belonging to Song Hau Power Centre in Chau Thanh district’s Phu Huu A commune. The plan entails building a large-scale thermal power plant to connect to the national power grid, thus meeting the ever-increasing electricity demands of the region.

The plant’s designed capacity comes to around 2,000MW (consisting of three 660MW turbines), with a total annual power production output of 13 billion kilowatt-hours. With an estimated VND81 trillion ($3.68 billion) in total investment capital, the project is to cover an area of 117ha.

As for domestic investment, Hau Giang is now home to 490 projects valued at VND123 trillion ($5.6 billion) in total registered capital. A number of leading players have made forays into the province.

Local consumer goods giant Masan Group operates Masan Brewery HG in the province under the White Lion brand. The brewery reported an initial designed capacity of 100 million litres per year, and is valued at more than VND1.6 trillion ($72.7 million).

Major beverage firm Tan Hiep Phat Group is racing to complete the project Number One Hau Giang, which is expected to be the largest beverage plant in the southwestern region, worth VND4 trillion ($181 million) in total investment capital.

AquaOne Hau Giang JSC is set to build a water refinery in the province to serve Song Hau Industrial Park and neighbouring locations, with first-phase production capacity reaching 100,000 cubic metres per day – valued at VND1.9 trillion ($86.3 million).

Businesses in the province have been consistently growing in number, strength, and professionalism. The province is currently home to 4,200 businesses, valued at over VND45 trillion ($2.04 billion) in total committed capital.

In the first half of this year, the registered capital amount rose 2.4-fold compared to one year ago, with the average capital size of each business reaching VND6.13 billion ($278,600) – compared to VND2.07 billion ($94,000) last year.

In the past, Hau Giang has focused on improving the local investment climate, with priority given to accelerating the pace of administrative reform and business support.

The single-window, one-stop shop mechanism has been applied across business fields, aiming to build an effective interface between businesses and the public administration. The licensing process can now be done online, and is constantly modernised to boost state management efficiency in diverse fields such as taxation, land-use rights registration, and business administration.

According to director of the Hau Giang Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Huu Nghia, the procedural administrative processing time in the province has been significantly shortened.

For instance, the time to obtain a business registration certificate now averages only 1.5 days, and changing the content of a business registration can be done in half a day.

The time to review an investment proposal now averages 15 days – against a regulated 32 days – while investment certificates will be granted after two days on average (compared to the regulated five days).

In industry and trade, certificates for food safety and petrol businesses require an average of three days against a regulated 15 days.

“Hau Giang is concentrating efforts into pushing administrative reforms, investment promotion, and planning activities in an attempt to attract effective investment projects to the province. Investors will enjoy a multitude of investment incentives and support activities when doing business in the province, such as tax reductions and exemptions as well as post-licensing support,” said Dong Van Thanh, Deputy Chairman of the Hau Giang People’s Committee.

New milestone in Vietnam’s enterprise-oriented economic reform

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) recently made a historic decision to scrap 675 business conditions in a significant move to remove the obstacles facing enterprises and improve the business climate in Vietnam.

The abolition came just after two weeks of reviewing the business regulations in the sectors under the MOIT’s jurisdiction.

The 675 removed conditions were 63 higher than the original plan and accounted for 55.5% of the total regulations under review.

Dau Anh Tuan, head of the Vietnam Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s Legal Department said that the MOIT’s move is a positive signal, adding that if other ministries follow suit, the business climate in Vietnam will improve significantly and the business community will gain more confidence in the government’s commitment to reform.

Echoing Tuan’s comment, Director of the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) Nguyen Dinh Cung stated that, except for the MOIT, no other ministry has yet taken steps to discard unnecessary business conditions.

MOIT Minister Tran Tuan Anh emphasised that removing the obstacles to businesses will be his ministry’s foremost undertaking as part of a wider administrative reform that seeks to re-organise the ministry and improve the business climate in Vietnam.

He stated that the MOIT’s efforts are bringing about positive effects and the frequent complaints of businesses, such as those concerning checks on energy efficiency, formaldehyde content and steel quality, energy labelling and declaration of chemicals have been or will be resolved completely.

For example, abolishing checks on formaldehyde content in textile materials and sample products has helped garment enterprises to save VND1.5 million for each check and has reduced the customs clearance time by up to nearly four days.

Meanwhile for steel products, the MOIT has scaled down its audits on enterprises fully complying with quality control regulations, helping to reduce the customs clearance time by three to four days and is saving enterprises roughly VND2 million for auditing each shipment. The customs clearance time is expected to be cut further, as of October 1, when post-clearance audits come into effect.

Most enterprises stated that the MOIT’s bold administrative reforms have helped them to cut costs and possess more resources to enhance their competitiveness and grow larger.

CIEM Director Nguyen Dinh Cung stated that abolishing the unnecessary business conditions will boost Vietnam’s industrial production, trade and exports.

In the time ahead, the MOIT will continue listening to voices from the business community in order to promptly deal with any arising issues, seeking to reduce the types of goods that require audits and simplify the administrative procedures and business conditions within the scope of the ministry.

Sacombank sells VND2,580 billion deep debt to VAMC

Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) has also signed contracts to sell three debts worth VND2,580 billion (US$114 billion) to Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC).
 
These bad debts will be purchased according to market value. Their mortgages are real estates, machines and equipment in Da Nang and HCMC.

The two sides yesterday signed a cooperation agreement on handling bad debts and asset backlog. According to the agreement, Sacombank and VAMC will work together to build a roadmap to handle debts every year.

Sacombank will propose the list of bad debts which will be sold to VAMC through special bonds and those which will be traded according to market value.

This year, they have set a target of tackling VND15-20 trillion of deep debts. Of these, at least VND1 trillion will be traded according to market value.     

Toyota recalls 20,000 Vios, Yaris cars for airbag problem

The Competition and Consumer Protection Agency has received a report from Toyota Vietnam Company about the recall of 20,000 Vios and Yaris cars to examine and repair the inflator modules of front passenger airbags. 

According to an announcement from the Ministry of Industry and Trade yesterday, 18,138 Vios cars locally assembled and 1,877 imported Yaris cars will be recalled.
The inflator modules of front passenger airbags will be replaced free of charge to ensure safety for passengers.
 
GDP growth rate strongly increases in third quarter

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate has been up quarter by quarter this year and reached 7.46 percent in the third quarter, a strong increase compared to 5.15 percent the first and 6.28 percent in the second quarter.
 
That was announced at a meeting presided over by deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, chairman of the Advisory Council on National Financial and Monetary Policies, yesterday afternoon.

The meeting was organized to estimate macroeconomic norms in the third quarter and the first nine months of 2017, aiming at providing the Government with estimations and advises in macroeconomic management at the regular cabinet meeting in September which will take place next week.

At the event, council members estimated that monetary and fiscal policies have been run stably in a harmonious way contributing in positive changes of macroeconomic norms.
Inflation rate continued being curbed below 4 percent. It increased 0.59 percent in September mainly because of petrol price adjustments. Core inflation averaged 1.45 percent in nine months, forecast to approximate 1.5-1.8 percent this year, below the assigned norm of the National Assembly.

In addition, capital mobilization for the economy via Government bonds during the nine months reached VND147 trillion (US$6.47 billion), accounting for 80 percent of plan, thanks to stable interest rates.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction hit a record high. As of September 20, there was $14.6 billion newly registered capital and $6.8 billion additional capital. Total new and additional funds rebounded 21.7 percent over the same period last year.

Although the Government has permitted the State Bank of Vietnam to increase the credit growth rate from 18 to 21 percent this year, council members said it is still needed to keep a close eye on the market to prevent fluctuations and pay attention to credit quality to ensure the progress and quality of projects.

They proposed the Government and the Prime Minister to continue administrative reform, reduce business and investment procedures to create advantageous conditions for enterprises, quickly amend and issue policies to lure investment in agriculture and rural development, require authorized agencies to further cut interest rates and lower costs for production and trading activities.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE