$750M project faces uncertain future after arrest of top officials

Authorities in the central city of Danang have promised to promptly inform the press of the fate of Thien Thanh Group Co. Ltd.’s $750 million Thien Thanh Danang Trade and Service Complex project as charges are being filed against the chairman and other leaders of the firm, dantri.com.vn reported.

The project, located at the centre of the city, has seen no progress since construction started in 2011. As of July 31, many residents located on the project site had not yet been relocated.

Thien Thanh Danang Trade and Service complex was planned to include six trade and service areas as well as hospitals, schools, international-standard stadiums, convention centres and residential housing with a total floor space of 1 million square metres. Construction was expected to finish in 2016.

On July 29 Vietnamese police arrested three top executives of the Ho Chi Minh City-based group, for alleged “deliberate acts against the state’s regulations on economic management, leading to serious consequences.”

Formosa Ha Tinh pledges to accelerate project pace

Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Company has promised to speed up the implementation pace of its steel complex in Ha Tinh Province after suffering considerable damage during the worker protests in mid-May against China’s illegal deployment of a giant oil rig in Vietnamese waters.

Wang Wen Xiang, an executive at Formosa Ha Tinh, told reporters in Hanoi on July 31 that as of June the company had disbursed US$4.2 billion out of the US$10 billion it pledged for the first phase of the project.

The Taiwanese investor is expected to inject an additional US$2.1 billion later this year before commissioning the first and the second blast furnaces in May 2015 and June 2016 respectively.

Wang recounted on May 14 when the protests occurred, there were 26,000 laborers working for contractors on the construction site. The number included 900 Taiwanese people and 3,600 Vietnamese people working directly for Formosa.

However, there are now only 19,000 laborers at the moment and the number is much lower than the 30,000 people as planned by the investor. “We are trying our best to regain the previous implementation pace as the slower the project is, the more we suffer,” he said.

At the press briefing, Wang also explained to the issues of public attention. Concerning the ownership of the project, Wang said nearly 95% of the Formosa Ha Tinh is owned by Formosa Group and its subsidiaries and a nearly 5% stake is held by China Steel, a Taiwanese steel maker.

He added that China Steel has joined hands with Japan’s Sumitomo in a steel project in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

As for the participation of Chinese contractors in construction of blast furnaces, Wang clarified Formosa had looked around the world and found that no countries have built blast furnaces in the past ten years except for China. “So we had to pick Chinese contractors,” he said.

Responding to a question that a Taiwanese leader once said on BBC that Vietnam was not honest in compensating the protest-hit Taiwanese companies, Wang said he did not know about this. He added Formosa is a private group and decides where to invest.

Wang said the company wants to thank Vietnam’s Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers for their words that Formosa is considered a local company when it invests in Ha Tinh, and there is no discrimination. “This has made us moved,” he said.

Wang said the company highly appreciates the efforts of the Government and Ha Tinh Province to restore security and help construction at the project resume early.

Central bank says money withdrawals at VNCB drop

The number of clients withdrawing their cash from Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB) declined on July 31, days after three former leaders of the bank were arrested, said a deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam.

Nguyen Dong Tien told the Government’s regular press briefing on July 31 that many depositors drew their money out of VNCB on Wednesday, one day after the detention of the bank’s former leaders was announced.

“Only those who lack trust in the bank have got their money out and these people are not allowed to enjoy full interest,” he said and urged depositors to count on the central bank to safeguard their interests.

At the press briefing, reporters raised questions about the role of the central bank in supervising VNCB and whether the central bank had detected irregularities at VNCB or not before investigation police detained the former senior executives of the bank.

Tien said that VNCB is one of the nine banks entitled to restructuring and the central bank has put it under close supervision and helped it avoid risks during the restructuring period. Inspectors of the central bank have discovered some irregularities at VNCB and taken measures to ensure its safe operations.

Government issues resolution to spur production

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on August 4 approved a Resolution on a string of steps to be taken to clear business obstacles and spur industrial and agro-production.

Under the resolution, reached by Cabinet members at their July meeting in Hanoi, the State Bank of Vietnam is requested to do its best to facilitate businesses’ access to preferential loans. At the same time, it is tasked with restructuring weak credit institutions, speeding up the tackling of bad debts, and reinforcing the operation of the entire banking system.

To improve business climate and national competitiveness, relevant agencies are assigned to refine the government’s draft taxation resolution.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade must join efforts with other agencies to seriously deal with fraud, especially the trade in alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and fertilisers. Meanwhile, it will closely monitor cross-border trade activity, and cases of temporary import for re-export.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is responsible for ensuring enough rice supply for export while mitigating consequences triggered by natural disasters.

For the State budget collection going on well, the Finance Ministry will crack down on tax evasion and fraud, and transfer pricing and closely watch over the refund of high-value added tax.

It will rearrange duty-free shops and non-tariff areas, address cross-border smuggling, adjust import duties on fertilisers, and issue a more transparent market price mechanism.

The Transport Ministry is directed to supervise the quality and progress of key projects, and drastically handle overloaded trucks and overload in several commercial ports.

Ministries and agencies concerned are in charge of offering social welfare services, including education and health care, to the poor and families of war heroes.

They are required to hasten the reform of administrative procedures, the combat against crime and corruption, and the settlement of complaints and denunciations while ensuring national defence and security.-

CEO Group to build social housing

The municipal People's Committee has approved the CEO Group's proposal to change Sunny Garden Urban Area in Quoc Oai District from a commercial housing project to a social housing purpose.

The VND242 billion ($11.5 million) project would include two nine-storey buildings of 432 apartments with areas of 48 to 66 sq.m. The selling price is expected to be VND10 million per sq.m.

Home buyers could borrow up to 80 per cent of their apartment value from the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam.

The project is scheduled to become operational by the end of 2016.

Parkson to rent Da Nang building

The Parkson Group and Duc Manh Joint Stock Company have decided to rent out the Dragon Vinh Trung trading centre in Da Nang City.

The eight-storey trading centre, which was financed by Duc Manh company with total capital of VND400 billion (US$19 million) and covers an area of 24,500 sq.m, will boost trading and shopping in the city.

It is expected that the Parkson Da Nang will debut in the fourth quarter this year.

Parkson plans to build a 40,000 sq.m shopping centre in co-operation with the VinaCapital property group and Lotte in Da Nang in the near future.

Exports to Russia increase by 93%

Export turnover to Russia in the first half of this year totaled US$ 797.2 million, an increase of 92.72 per cent, according to Viet Nam's customs department.

This included a number of high-valued products such as textiles and garments, which achieved the highest export turnover of $283.2 million, an increase of 73.26 per cent. Coffee products brought in $63.3 million, an increase of 140.32 per cent.

The Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center (VITIC) suggested that Vietnamese companies stop seeing Russia as risky and increase investments there, saying its tax incentives and high consumption volume made the country an attractive market.

Experts urge business environment reforms

If Viet Nam does not improve its business environment by simplifying administrative procedures and cutting business costs, the country will fall behind, experts warned at a workshop in the capital on Thursday.

Olin McGill, a consultant for the USAID-funded Governance for Inclusive Growth (GIG) Programme in Viet Nam, quoted a recent World Bank report that ranked Viet Nam 99th out of 189 nations when it came to the business environment.

He suggested the country focus on simplifying income tax compliance procedures, pointing out that each enterprise in Viet Nam currently spent an average of 872 hours a year complying with tax procedures. The worldwide average is around 300 hours.

Furthermore, he said, cross-border trade inefficiency wasted at least 15 per cent of Viet Nam's total trade turnover.

A resolution issued in March set as the goal that Viet Nam's results on key competitiveness indices equal the average of the other six ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore).

To reach this goal, State agencies plan to cut down administrative procedures and business expenses in order to improve cross-border trade, taxation and access to electricity.

At the workshop, agencies including the General Department of Taxation, the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam Social Insurance and the Vietnam Electricity Group pledged to make every effort to raise these indices by 2015.

Deputy Minister of Finance Do Hoang Anh Tuan said his ministry was amending some circulars so that the procedure handling duration complied with international accounting standards.

The ongoing tax declaration change could help cut the tax payment duration down by 201 hours, he said.

CIEM Director Nguyen Dinh Cung said CIEM was working with USAID/GIG to facilitate foreign investment and the growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The workshop was organised by the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) in coordination with the Governance for Inclusive Growth programme of the US Agency for International Development (USAID/GIG).

Seminar discusses cocoa sector

A series of measures to develop the cocoa industry in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta were proposed at a seminar held in Ben Tre Province on Thursday.

Phan Thi Thu Suong, deputy director of the Ben Tre Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the area under cocoa in the province plummeted from more than 10,000ha in 2012 to 5,100ha now.

Volatile prices and low productivity due to poor farming practices and limited use of technology were to blame for farmers chopping down cacao trees for other crops, she said.

Le Thi Phi Van, a cocoa researcher, said around 30 per cent of the cacao-growing area in Ben Tre was not nurtured while another 40 per cent suffered due to improper farming techniques.

The failure to balance various fertilisers had affected yields, she said.

Despite being an auxiliary plant, cacao trees needed proper caring in the form of irrigation and fertilisers, she said.

Nguyen Vinh Thanh, cocoa sourcing manager for Cargill Viet Nam, said global demand had outstripped supply for the last three years, and this was expected to continue.

Demand, especially from China, India, and Indonesia, had surged while the area under cultivation had not increased, and offered the cocoa industry in Ben Tre a good opportunity, he said.

Nguyen Van Hoa, deputy director of the Crop Production Department, said Ben Tre had suitable conditions for growing cacao and intercropping it with coconut would result in higher profits for farmers.

Since cacao was still a relatively new crop in Viet Nam, more research needed to be done to come up with better cultivation techniques to improve efficiency, he said.

More agricultural extension programmes to teach farmers the skills and techniques needed for growing, harvesting, and processing cocoa were required, delegates at the seminar agreed, as were close links between various stake holders.

Each area should draw up its own plans for cacao farming, they said.

Scientists and agricultural research institutes should focus on creating new high-quality strains and measures to prevent and control pests and diseases, they said.

Huynh Quang Duc, deputy director of the Ben Tre Agriculture Extension Centre, said large cocoa buying and processing firms should offer reasonable prices to encourage farmers to grow cacao.

Hoa said information about farming techniques, markets, and Government policies needed to be transmitted promptly and precisely to the cocoa community to enable them to understand and feel secure about growing the crop.

Cocoa bean prices in the domestic market have increased from VND45,000 (US$2.1) per kilogramme late last year to VND55,000-VND59,000 ($2.5-2.7) now.

Ngo Van Bu, a farmer in Chau Binh Commune in Ben Tre's Giong Trom District, said intercropping with his one hectare of coconut had improved his income substantially.

"Earnings from cocoa match that from coconut, and I did not need to hire people to harvest cocoa as I do with coconut," he said.

But without much experience in growing cacao, farmers remain wary.

According to Hoa, the quality of cocoa grown in the province is rated among the best in Asia, persuading many large cocoa buyers and processors to set up business there.

The seminar was held as part of the Viet Nam – Netherlands Public Private Partnership for sustainable cocoa development, whose members include the Vietnamese and Dutch governments, Rabobank, Mars Incorporated, and Cargill.

The project is aimed at improving the lives of cacao farmers and their families and ensuring the long-term sustainability of cacao farming.

Long An promotes fragrant rice

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Long An plans to develop an area of 400-500ha devoted to its popular rice speciality, Nang Thom Cho Dao, which has national protected status under the National Office of Intellectual Property.

The cultivation area and quality of this rice variety has declined in recent years.

Le Minh Duc, director of the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the area would produce Nang Thom Cho Dao with a consistent level of quality.

Nang Thom Cho Dao, one of the country's famous fragrant-rice varieties, is grown in Can Duoc District's My Le Commune, where the soil is suited to the small and long grain variety of the rice. If it were planted elsewhere, it would not have a fragrant aroma.

Huynh Van Co, chairman of the My Le Co-operative in My Le Commune, said that previously farmers planted this rice variety one crop a year with an average yield of 1.3-1.7 tonnes per ha.

With the building of dykes to prevent flooding in rice fields, the rice now has two crops a year with an average yield of four tonnes per ha, which has reduced quality, he said.

The building of dykes around rice fields has impoverished soil as the water of the Vam Co River cannot flow in and out the fields and bring in silt during the flooding season, he said.

In addition, many farmers have planted hybrid varieties of Nang Thom Cho Dao to get a higher yield, he said, adding that these have also caused the quality of the rice to decline.

Nang Thom Cho Dao has a mature period of six months, two times longer than many rice varieties.

Because of the long-term maturing period and low yield of Nang Thom Cho Dao compared to other rice varieties, many farmers in My Le Commune have switched to other rice varieties for better profits.

To attract more farmers to grow this rice, the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has developed large-scale rice fields for Nang Thom Cho Dao since the 2012-13 winter-spring crop.

Under this model, participating farmers are taught planting techniques of this rice variety under Vietnamese Good Agriculture Practices (VietGap). They are then guaranteed outlets.

The model has been carried out in more than 50ha, according to the Can Duoc District Bureau Agriculture and Rural Development.

Duc said the department has dredged canals in rice fields and opened more sluice gates to drain water in rice fields to improve soil quality.

The province's Agriculture Extension Centre is working with the National Plant Seed Centre to improve the pure variety of Nang Thom Cho Dao, he said.

The supply of Nang Thom Cho Dao pure variety seeds for cultivation is expected to meet demand by 2016, he said.

The province will design a logo for the rice speciality, he said.

My Le Commune's Cho Dao area has about 110ha of this rice variety with annual output of about 1,000 tonnes. It is also planted in My Le's other areas.

The trademark Nang Thom Cho Dao rice has been protected under the National Office of Intellectual Property since October 2005.

In April this year, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted a patent to Nang Thom Cho Dao rice. The certificate is valid for 10 years.

Delta fruit crops hit as disease spreads

With the Cuu Long (Mekong) province of Vinh Long failing to control witches' broom when it affected longan trees, the disease has now spread to the rambutan crop, causing farmers severe losses.

In recent years the disease, which causes an abnormal brush-like cluster of drafted, weak shoots arising from or near the same point on branches and affects fruiting, has infected large areas of longan in the delta.

Vinh Long was among the worst hit during the peak outbreaks between September 2011 and March 2012, with 9,000ha out of its 9,840ha of longan affected, according to the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Nguyen Thi Anh, who has grown rambutan on 3,000sq.m in her 8,000sq.m orchard in Long Ho District's Hoa Ninh Commune, said that three years ago the disease hit her longan trees and she had to cut them down and replace with rambutan.

This year the rambutan began to fruit but had been affected by the disease, she said.

All 60 rambutan trees in the 2,000sq.m orchard owned by Tran Anh Tuan in Hoa Ninh Commune were severely affected by the disease during the flowering period this year.

The trees, which yielded fruits for the last two years, are unlikely to do so this year because the disease causes young rambutan fruits to fall.

"Would we have to cut down the infected rambutan trees like we did with infected longan trees since there is no effective treatment for the disease?" he asked.

More than 126ha out of the commune's 550ha of rambutan are diseased, Doan Ngoc Niem, an agricultural official in Hoa Ninh Commune, said.

Witches' broom is caused by a bacteria whose vector is nhen long nhung (Eriophyes dimocarpi), a tiny pest species that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Authorities have warned farmers to apply measures to stop the disease from affecting rambutan, including cutting infected branches and using chemicals to kill nhen long nhung.

Nguyen Van Liem, deputy director of the Vinh Long Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said his department had instructed the Plant Protection Sub-department to take measures to treat and prevent the spread of the disease.

In the province, a large area of longan crop remained affected by the disease, which has the potential to spread to more rambutan trees, he said.

Therefore, preventive measures should be taken to control the disease in both cases, he said.

Public firms ignore registration protocol

There is growing concern that a number of enterprises listed as public companies that have yet to register with State Securities Commission (SSC) are also deliberately not disclosing information.

This week, Sai Gon-Song Lam Beer Joint Stock Company was fined VND40 million (US$1,900) by SSC for not registering as a public company, making the total number of companies penalised for violating the registration procedure this year to five, higher than the number of three in 2013.

The other four companies included Vinacomin – Cam Pha Coal Joint Stock Company, Viet Nam Power Development Joint Stock Company, Civil Construction Joint Stock Company No 484 and Real Estate Construction Company Limited No 6.

Since 2008, when the Law on Securities took effect, there were several companies fined for violating it each year.

The law on securities defines a public company as one of the three following types: (1) company that offers shares to the public; (2) company with shares listed on a stock exchange or securities trading centre; and (3) company that has at least 100 shareholders and a charter capital of VND10 billion ($474,000) or more.

At the same time, a company must register with SSC within 90 days of becoming a public company.

In a move to increase pressure that forced companies to comply with the law, the penalty for violation also increased from VND10 million to VND40 million last year, but to date there are a lot of unregistered businesses.

According to the Commission, there are 1,257 businesses having registered as public companies with SSC, of which 767 have yet to list shares on the stock exchange. However, this number is far behind when compared to the number of equitised State-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Since the beginning of this year, about 3,700 SOEs have been equitised, or sold stakes to the public, who are subject to the obligation of registration, according to data compiled by the Dau Tu Chung Khoan (Securities Investment) newspaper.

11 Vietnam banks cited among world’s top 1,000

The prestigious financial magazine, The Banker, has listed eleven Vietnam banks in its recently published Top World Banks ranking for 2014, affirming the country as a leading financial centre in Southeast Asia.

The top five of the 11 Vietnam banks include – Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam JSC (BIDV), Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) and Vietnam Export-Import Bank (Eximbank).

Bao Viet Bank was also cited among the top ten banks in Southeast Asia in terms of Tier 1 capital.

The world’s top five banks included the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC), the China Construction Bank (CCB), the JP Morgan Chase & Co, the Bank of America, and the Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank Corporation (HSBC).

Techcombank receives two Asian Banker awards

The Technological and Commercial Joint-Stock Bank (Techcombank) has been the only bank in Vietnam winning two awards from the Asian Banker magazine at the same time.

“The leading Counterparty Bank in Vietnam” and “the Best Trade Finance Bank in Vietnam” awards were given to Techcombank in recognition of its 2013 excellent business performance, especially the renovation of trade finance services, said the magazine in its notice sent to the bank.

This is the second consecutive year Techcombank has been voted as the best trade finance bank in Vietnam by the Asian Banker.

According to the magazine, Techcombank’s trade finance lending has increased by 125 percent and revenues from this activity have regularly enjoyed a two-digit growth.

The bank has also expanded cooperation with the International Financial Corporation (IFC), becoming the most active member and the largest customer of IFC in the Global Trade Finance Programme (GTFP).

Techcombank has been the first Vietnamese bank providing an international payment service for customers who conduct trade transactions overseas, known as a deferred payment credit.

It has also developed a network of 12,000 subsidiary banks and branches in 140 countries and territories worldwide.

The two new awards once again affirmed the prestige and quality of the bank’s products and services, particularly trade finance service.

Since the beginning of this year, Techcombank has received 15 awards from prestigious international newspapers and organisations, including four awards for its trade finance service from the Corporate Treasurer, the Global Finance, and the Asian Baking & Finance Review.

By March 31, 2014, Techcombank posted a total asset of over VND164 trillion (US$7.8 billion) and a charter capital of VND8.8 trillion (US$420 million).

With a staff of 7,000 people, the bank boasts a nationwide network of more than 300 branches and transaction sites and nearly 1,300 ATMs connected with more than 12,000 ATMs in the BankNet and Smartlink systems.

Currently, more than 3.3 million individuals and over 45,000 businesses are using Techcombank services.

US provides public procurement

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) on August 4 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreeing to provide public procurement training and technical assistance to Vietnam.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Hanoi, Andrea Lupo, Director for Global Programmes at the USTDA emphasised that the cooperation agreement aims to assist Vietnam enhance international competition and play a vitally important role in strengthening economic ties between the US and Vietnam.

The ceremony coincided with the launch of training courses on public procurement in Hanoi, Danang and HCM City for 150 staff with the support of experts from George Washington University and Jacobsen/Daniels Associates, international observers from the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), USTDA and Vietnam’s Public Procurement and Property Administration Agency (PPA).

Garment sector tops nation’s exports

Garment and textile exports jumped 11.1% on-month in July to US$2.1 billion, surpassing the telephone sector as the nation’s leading export industry, reports the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

According to the Ministry’s latest statistics, garment and textile exports outpaced the telephone sector by US$ 0.5 billion.

In the first seven months of the year, cumulative garment and textile exports increased 19.4% on-year to US$11.48 billion. Garment exports achieved two-digit growth in most markets including the US (14.85%), Europe (26%), Japan (13.82%), and the Republic of Korea (36%).

Regional businesses hold expo

Businesses from Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, the US and Vietnam will display their products at the International East-West Economic Corridor Commercial, Tourism and Investment Exhibition at Danang's Exhibition Centre from August 15-20.

The exhibition will feature 260 pavilions introducing tourism services and investment opportunities as well as conferences on the 2015 ASEAN Community.

Danang is situated in the central region of Vietnam and at the end of the East-West Economic Corridor, which links Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

Outstanding livestock businesses to be honoured

The forthcoming International Feed, Livestock and Meat Processing Show (Vietstock 2014) will honour outstanding businesses for actively taking part in the development of husbandry industry, particularly the livestock value chain in Vietnam.

The information was announced by Hoang Thanh Van, head of the husbandry department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, at a press conference in Hanoi in early August.

Fourteen awards will be presented to the best-performing livestock enterprises in cattle and poultry farming, animal feed production and milk processing according to M.Gandhi, Managing Director of UBM ASEAN Company, the event’s organiser.

Themed “Restructuring the Livestock Industry for Sustainable Development”, the expo expects to draw over 250 domestic and foreign businesses showcasing the latest products, technologies and equipment in the field.

A number of workshops highlighting opportunities and challenges for the husbandry sector when the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is signed as well as cattle health and nutrition will shape part of the event.

The expo, the 7th of its kind, will take place on October 15-17 in Ho Chi Minh City in conjunction with the Vietnam International Feed Industry Show (VietFeed) and Vietnam’s Meat Processing and Packaging Industry Event (VietMeat).    

Experts call for action on public debt

Economists have suggested that the Government needs to change loans from short-term to long-term and make a connection between internal and external (foreign) debts to better manage public debts.

Vu Dinh Anh, an economist with the Finance Academy, said at a recent workshop on public debts held by the National Assembly's Finance and State Budget Committee that there were some measures that needed to be implemented determinedly and synchronously when dealing with public debts.

He was quoted by Hai Quan (Customs) newspaper as saying that it was necessary to complete all legal frameworks and tools to manage public debts.

"The effectiveness of mobilising and using of loans, especially official development assistance (ODA) needs to be enhanced to eradicate all unreasonable processes in mobilisation and payment," he said.

"Meanwhile, risk management and supervision of public debts must also be enhanced with priority to research on building and implementing projects to solve risks," Anh added.

He commented that the Ministry of Finance should have necessary solutions to ensure the security and safety of public debts by changing them from short-term loans into long-term ones, issuing Government bonds for longer durations, reducing deficit of the State budget and avoiding repayment of old debts through new loans.

"However, the Ministry of Finance cannot do all these tasks without directives from the Government, the close supervision of the National Assembly and the co-ordination of agencies, organisations and enterprises," Anh said.

Agreeing with Anh on the importance of a completed legal framework on public debt management, Dang Van Thanh, a senior economist of the National Assembly, said that legal documents in Viet Nam regarding the issue were just regulations and principles.

"There needs to be a consensus on the notion of debts and debt management in the documents, such as external (foreign) debt, short-term, medium-term and long term loans and ODA along with Government's commercial loans, grace period, and guarantee for a foreign loan," Thanh said.

He said that one drawback in the public debt management system at the moment is the lack of a connection between the management of external/foreign debts and internal debts.

"There needs to be a complete legal framework in these two managements, especially the clue in income, debt information sharing and debt index supervision," he said.

Dinh Tuan Minh from the National Assembly Economic Committee's macro-economy consultation group said that the Government should take into account all risks that could happen to public debt.

"To better manage public debt, it is necessary to sum up all sources that form these debts," he said adding that right now the related law just counted Government debts, those that Government guaranteed and those of local governments as public debts.

"There are other sources of public debts coming from loans of organisations which the Government may be jointly liable for when organisations fail to repay debts," he said.

He explained that this was the result of state-owned enterprises failing to pay their debts, forcing the government to bail them out.

"The analysis and evaluation of debts of these organisations should be an important part of reports on public debts," he said.

Previously, the Ministry of Finance and Government had said that Viet Nam's public debts were still within the safety net.

Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung, in his Q&A session at the National Assembly in June, said that the debt was at 54.1 per cent of the GDP last year, which was within manageable levels.

New fleet of tuna vessels to set sail in September

The Ship Institute at the University of Nha Trang and the Yanmar Company of Japan last Saturday launched a composite-hulled tuna fishing ship in Nha Trang City.

The vessel, known as the VIJAS Research and Training Vessel, is the first of 180 tuna boats to be built for the central provinces of Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa.

The project has been organised by the Yanmar Company to lift fishermen's incomes and develop a sustainable tuna fishing industry.

The new boat is 18 metres long and 4.5 metres wide and has an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour. It has eight holds for fish cellars and one ice cellar.

Worth VND6 billion (US$285,700), it is expected to make its first fishing trip in September.

It is equipped with the latest fishing equipment and Japanese technology for catching and preserving tuna, Yanmar project director Yukio Kikuchi told the Vnexpress e-newspaper.

The vessel can store 6,000 litres of fuel and 3,000 litres of water, enabling it to stay at sea for up to 20 days.

Composite boats are said to be safer than those made of timber. They also consume 30 per cent less fuel.

The company plans to export 4,500 tonnes of Vietnamese tuna to Japan every year starting from 2015.

Kikuchi said the company would set up 10 teams with 60 vessels in each province.

Chinese tourists sees a drop in July

The number of tourists from Chinese-speaking countries and territories continued to fall, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

More than 123,000 Chinese tourists came in July, a decrease of 28.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. Tourist arrivals from Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore also declined by 15.7 per cent, 36.2 per cent and 8.6 per cent respectively. Tu Quy Thanh, director of Lien Bang Travelink Company, told the Saigon Times that the number of Vietnamese tourists to China also fell sharply.

VN boosts exports to Brazil

Trade value between Viet Nam and Brazil increased by 18 per cent to US$1.275 billion during the first half of this year against the same period last year, according to Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade.

Viet Nam's exports to Brazil, which included phone accessories, footwear, frozen fish fillets, industrial fibres and integrated circuits, saw a 33.3 per cent surge in value to $732.6 million.

Viet Nam's import value rose 2.2 per cent to $542.5 million. The most imported products were corn, soybeans, tobacco raw materials, cotton, shoe leather and chicken by-products.

Dong Nai posts $120m trade surplus

 Dong Nai earned US$6.94 billion from exports in the January-July period while spending $6.82 billion on imports, resulting in a trade surplus of $120 million, according to the provincial Industry and Trade Department.

Director of the department Le Van Danh said the province's export earnings rose 13.8 per cent year-on-year thanks to local enterprises' success in new markets.

Many key currency earners enjoyed strong growth, such as footwear (12.8 per cent), wood products (9.4 per cent) and garments and textiles (7.9 per cent). Major agriculture products also saw increases in both volume and value, with the exception of rubber.

At the same time, imports of consumer goods decreased remarkably. Purchases of yarns and fibre from abroad dropped, as did imports of pesticides, computers, electronics, spare parts and animal feed. Imports of some items increased, such as machinery and spare parts (27.7 per cent), cotton (11.1 percent), cloth (6.7 percent) and footwear materials and accessories (9.1 percent).

Can Tho eyes annual rice target

Authorities in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho are striving to produce 1.45 million tonnes of rice this year, 8 percent more than last year's volume.

To reach the goal, they aim to achieve output of 317,000 tonnes in the upcoming spring-winter crop.

The locality has planted over 61,800 ha of rice, 11,000 ha more than the same period last year, according to the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Vinh Thanh, Co Do and Thoi Lai districts, which have planted 40,000 ha, account for 65 percent of the total.

Director of the department Pham Van Quynh said that 132 embankments were reinforced in these districts and 56 km of internal ditches were dredged to prevent flooding, which could significantly decrease output.

AIA profits surge 15% in H1

AIA Vietnam announced "tremendous growth" for the first half of 2014.

The company saw 23 per cent growth in the value of new businesses (VONB), which rose to US$792 million, and annualised new premiums (ANP), which went up 11 per cent to $1.69 billion. After-tax profits rose by 15 per cent to $1.457 billion.

"Besides diversified product portfolio development and quality improvement of customer services, we continue to constantly invest in perfecting the professionalism of the agency force," said CEO Stephen Clark.

FLC Group to list on Singapore exchange

FLC group has, in Ha Noi, worked out the finer points with its Singaporean partners about its plan to list on Singapore's stock exchange.

It was the second meeting between the group and the Singaporean financial consulting company Putri Resources&Capital Pte Ltd and the United Overseas Bank (UOB) after the first one in April 2014 with regard to the plan.

FLC chairman Trinh Van Quyet said that the group has successfully listed on the local stock exchange and it aimed to list in other countries to attract more investment for its growing projects.

Quyet said Singapore was one of the biggest financial centres in the Asian market, adding that listing in the market would give FLC an opportunity to boost its managing capacity and transparency.

Meanwhile, Ernie Yap, Director of Putri Resources&Capital said the financial reports proved that FLC met all the requirements to be listed on Singapore's mainboard without being listed on its auxiliary exchange of Catalist. The director also said not all the companies in Viet Nam can meet the requirements.

Daniel Lim Jin Kong, Deputy Chairman of UOB, while appreciating what the group has achieved, added that a listing in Singapore will help the group enhance its managing standards to international levels.

In the first six months, profit before tax and after audit of the FLC Group reached over VND177 billion (US$8.428 million), completing 51 per cent of the whole year's profit plan in 2014.

Since early this year, FLC has kicked off constructions of the FLC Garden City in Dai Mo with the total investment of VND3.5 trillion ($166.6 million), FLC Complex Pham Hung at the cost of VND1.2 trillion ($57.1 million) in Ha Noi and international standard FLC Sam Son Golf Links in Sam Son, Thanh Hoa with an investment of VND5.5 trillion ($261.9 million).

NFSC report hints at further rate cuts for H2

Credit institutions could further cut interests on deposits and borrowing costs on falling provisional inflation rates in the latter part of this year, a financial report has suggested.

According to the National Financial Supervisor Commission's latest report on the first seven-month period, cited by Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times), the average interest rate for Vietnamese dong deposits was an estimated 5.53 per cent yearly, down 0.6 percentage point over last December.

Annual lending rate was about 10.08 per cent, 0.25 percentage point lower than the end of last year.

"Inflation forecasts see a stable low trend toward the year-end. Interest rates may be additionally trimmed to support production and business," said the report.

"However, deposit interests may fall at a faster rate than borrowing cost," it added.

In the first seven months, overall inflation rates remained lower than 5 per cent, excluding January for Luna New Year festivals. Core inflation, which eliminates certain items that face volatile price movements or shocks such as food, food stuff and public essential services, even went under 4 per cent.

In terms of investment, NFSC reported that in H1, investment from private sectors accounted for 10.3 per cent of the GDP compared to 11.1 per cent in the same period last year. Foreign direct investment in the first seven months rose by 2.3 per cent while in seven months last year it was 6.4 per cent.

The commission said that one of factors behind the low rate of investment was the ongoing sluggish credit growth.

Banks are struggling to increase lending, which is indicated through a low credit growth of only 3.52 per cent in the first six months, of which dong loans increased by 2.17 per cent, dollar loans up 12.3 per cent.

Viet Nam's 12 per cent credit growth in 2014 is likely to rest on the second half of the year.

Steel producers see sluggish sales due to economic woes

The domestic steel market has continued to be quiet as consumption is at a low level, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The ministry told a press meeting in Ha Noi yesterday that low steel consumption was due to the economic slowdown.

The ministry also said that raw steel output in July reached 311,300 tonnes, representing 21 per cent year-on-year increase. Rolled steel was 295,500 tonnes, rising 18 per cent over the same period last year. Steel bar output rose 1.5 per cent in comparison with the corresponding period last year to 285,200 tonnes.

In the first seven months of the year, raw steel output reached 708,900 tonnes, posting a 0.8 per cent year-on-year increase while that of rolled steel was 2.01 million tonnes, increasing 24 per cent compared with last year.

Steel imports in the period rose 5.8 per cent in terms of quantity and reduced 1.2 per cent in terms of value.

In addition, shops had not imported a large quantity of steel last month because of the rains which were not suitable for construction, it said.

In July, steel prices in the north showed a downward trend of VND100,000 to 200,000 per tonne over the previous month. Several steel producers in the region reduced prices through increased discounts and waiver of transport costs.

Selling prices in the south were stable with some producers increasing the price from VND100,000 to 200,000 per tonne due to the increasing input.

The ministry also said in the first seven months of the year, the country enjoyed a trade surplus of US$1.26 billion.

It said the garment and textile sector saw a breakthrough as it surpassed telephone exports to become the industry with the highest export turnover in the period.

Garment and textile turnover in July reached $2.1 billion, increasing 11 per cent over the previous month and representing a 17 per cent year-on-year rise. In the January to July period, the product export turnover was $11.48 billion, increasing 19 per cent against the corresponding period last year.

Answering the question on the reduction of power bills last month after a surge in June, Pham Quang Huy, deputy head of the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Viet Nam (ERAV) said power consumption mostly depended on the weather.

Huy said the ministry has asked the Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) and power companies to publish the power calculation method.

Last month, there were 183,000 households with power bills reduced 1.5 times over the previous month, 75,000 households reduced twice and 110,000 ones increased 1.5 times.

In June, 79,000 households had bills reduced 1.5 times against May and 42,000 reduced twice.

"It means that each month there is the usual increase and decrease in power bills," he said.

He added that the weather in July was cooler than in June, resulting in a reduction in power consumption. EVN Ha Noi also checked bills which claimed an increase.

Talking about the possibility of a rise in electricity tariffs, Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai said the ministry had not received any proposal from EVN, adding that there would be no increase in the near future.

Exports to HK see growth due to camera shipments

Vietnamese exports to Hong Kong posted strong growth in the first half of this year, according to Viet Nam's general department of customs.

The department reported that Vietnamese exports to Hong Kong grew 31.36 per cent year on year to touch US$2.1 billion during the first half of this year.

These export products included camera and camera components, all kinds of telephones and their components, computers, electronics and their components, machines, equipment, tools, textiles, garment, seafood, farm products, materials and subcomponents for textile, garment and footwear industries, wood products and electrical goods.

The general department of customs said that cameras and their components had the largest share of the total value of exports to Hong Kong at 27 per cent or $551.13 million, with a year-on-year surge of 39.6 per cent, reported.

The products which had the highest growth in export value in the first half of this year against the same period last year were computers and electronic products and their components (up 86.6 per cent), fibre (up 90.7 per cent), handbags, packages, hats and umbrellas (up 71.8 per cent), rubber products (up 54.5 per cent) and fruits and vegetables (up 92.2 per cent).

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Industrial and Trade Information Centre, Hong Kong has a developed system of trading services, wholesale and retail. Additionally, Hong Kong is an important financial and trading centre in Asia and the world, and the headquarters of large companies of the Asia-Pacific region are located there.

In particular, Hong Kong is a trade and investment bridge linking mainland China with other countries, the ministry said. Therefore, Vietnamese exports would get many opportunities to enter the mainland China market and also other countries via Hong Kong.

Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR