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Domestic gold prices set new record
Domestic gold prices soared on Oct. 6 to a new record of 33 million VND per tael (1,690 USD), an increase of 1.4 million VND (72 USD) per tael over Oct.5’s price, as speculators created a run on gold shops.
A tael is equivalent to 1.2 ounces.
The gold-selling districts in
Domestic gold prices have increased by over 24.4 percent since January, when prices stood at about 26.5 million VND (1,360 USD).
Sacombank Jewelry general director Nguyen Ngoc Que Chi said on Oct. 6’s rush of buyers was due to a large number of speculators who had bought futures contracts in prior months and now sought to acquire gold before the price shot up further, putting a run on the available supply of the precious metal.
SJC’s
The increase made domestic gold price be 1 million VND (51.28 USD) higher than global gold price, which ignites concerns involving gold smuggling to take profits. Domestic price is normally just 200,000-300,000 VND higher than global price.
Rumours were rife on the gold market last week that supplies were falling short of demand and that gold prices would continue to set new record highs,so State Bank of
"With this kind of sensitive item, our policy is not to completely ban gold imports, but gold companies are not permitted to import any volume they want," Giau said.
"Despite the shortage of gold at this time, I don’t think the State Bank of
On the global market on Oct. 6, spot gold rose as high as 1,349.80 USD per ounce, its eighth record in the past two weeks.
The US dollar on black market on Oct. 6 also rose by 170 VND to 19,750-19,850 VND while bank exchange rates remained unchanged at 19,500 VND per dollar.
3.8 million ha reserved for growing rice
Bong chaired a meeting to review a master plan for the country’s rice cultivation by 2020 with a vision towards 2030, to maintain the necessary acreage for the country’s most important crop, as
The report delivered at the meeting warned that the total acreage available for rice cultivation mapped out by provinces and cities nationwide for 2020 and towards 2030 is only 3.68 million ha, down by 408,800 ha compared with 2009 and 120,000 ha less than the target.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment agreed to re-adjust the planning of 33 provinces and cities, mostly in the country’s two major rice bowls, the Red River Delta and the Mekong Delta.
The report also put forward solutions to manage and use the land fund, including State investment in rice growing areas to improve productivity, issue encouraging policies for localities to retain their current rice acreage and set up a price stabilisation fund to ensure a 30 percent profit for rice growers.
According to the Vietnam Food Association,
In the first nine months of this year, the country shipped a record 5.55 million tonnes of rice, worth 2.56 billion USD, up nearly 12 percent in volume and 14.5 percent in value.
Laos Airlines will open a new air route connecting its capital city of
The new service will operate three flights per week every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from
The return fare for the Ho Chi Minh City-Vientiane route will be 501 USD , inclusive of taxes and fees.
Economic recovery helps businesses increase salaries
Better business results and the recovery of the economy after the global economic crisis are the main reasons for businesses to increase salaries for their employees.
The results of a salary survey conducted by Mercer, one of the world leading providers of human resource consultancy services and
Chemical and banking sectors saw the highest salary increase of 13.9 percent, followed by the pharmaceutical sector with 13.5 percent.
The survey, which was conducted at 253 joint venture and foreign-invested companies, also reported that salaries increases were seen in almost all businesses.
The rate of surveyed businesses that did not increase salaries for employees dropped to 0.79 percent from 13 percent in 2009. This shows that companies are now paying more attention to salary policies as well as methods to attract and keep human resources.
The voluntary resignation rate in 2009 also fell 3.1 percent compared to the previous year to 13.3 percent, proving the stability of the labour market.
The Mercer salary report, which has been conducted in
Le Thanh Hai, secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, has said the city will try its best to attain an annual GDP growth rate of 12 percent during the 2011-15 period.
In a political report delivered at the 9th Party Congress of HCM City, Hai said the city targeted an annual value-added growth of 13 percent for its service sector; 11 percent for the manufacturing sector and 5 percent for agriculture.
Hai said in 2015, the service, industrial and agricultural sectors would account for 57, 42 and 1 percent of the city’s GDP, respectively.
Other targets contained in the report include maintaining the city’s birth rate at less than 1.1 percent per annum.
By the end of 2015, per capital income in the city will reach 4,800 USD compared with 2,800 USD in 2010.
The city will create 120,000 new jobs every year compared with nearly 118,000 per year in the 2006-10 period.
Hai also said that by the end of 2015, skilled workers would make up 70 percent of the city’s workforce.
The number of families under the poverty line of 12 million VND/person/year would drop to below 2 percent of the city’s population, he said.
By the end of the next five-year plan, the city’s doctor-patient ratio would be 15 for every 10,000 residents.
The number of households in urban areas accessing clean water would reach 98 percent.
The city targets building 39 million square metres of new housing, raising the per capita housing area in the city to 17 sq.m in 2015 from 14.3sq. m in 2009.
Hai said 100 percent of solid waste and wastewater generated by city enterprises would be collected and treated by the end of the next five-year plan period, and all industrial parks and export processing zones without exception would have central wastewater treatment systems.
He added that the city would pay a lot of attention to envionmental protection by promoting green production and improving development quality.
It would also give priority to developing its service sectors including financial, banking, commerce, transportation, post and telecommunications, warehousing and port services.
Due attention would be paid to the development of the ITC, real estate and tourism industries, as well as the health, and education and training sectors, Hai said.
The city would focus on developing public transportation, including urban railway projects, expressways and beltways to connect the city with the Mekong Delta and other localities in the country, he added.
Authorities would spare no effort to curb traffic jams and prevent flooding. A programme covering 100sq.km had been mapped out to stop flooding in inner districts and to prevent flooding elsewhere.
The city would continue its efforts to create a level playing field for companies from different economic sectors and to assist small- and medium-sized enterprises to access loans, technology and new markets, Hai said.
Source: VNA
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