Nguyen Van Lam, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said production facilities after a hiatus caused by COVID-19 are gathering steam to complete partners’ orders, preparing to serve the market in the end-of-year period and into early 2022.

Businesses need to recruit about 30,000 more workers to meet the increasing demand for commodities ahead of the Tet holiday that falls in late January 2022, said Lam. Of the total, the official added skilled workers account for 40% and are available to work in sectors such as garments and textiles, footwear, and food processing.

HCM City, the country’s largest metropolis, is expected to face a shortage of workforce, at between 70,000 and 75,000 labourers, as many workers do not normally return to businesses on time after the Tet holiday.

$23 billion of foreign ODA, concessional loans earmarked for 2021-2025

About 527.1 trillion VND (over 22.9 billion USD) in foreign official development assistance (ODA) and concessional loans will be allocated during the 2011 - 2025 period.

This is part of a plan on orientations for attracting, managing, and using ODA and concessional loans from foreign sponsors during the five years. The plan was recently approved by Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Accordingly, non-refundable ODA capital is prioritised for implementing socio-economic infrastructure development programmes and projects; enhancing capacity; assisting policy and institutional building and reform; preventing, controlling and mitigating natural disaster risks, and adapting to climate change; ensuring social welfare; preparing for investment projects or co-funding projects that use foreign concessional loans.

VN central bank promotes licensed consumer finance

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will enhance inspections to discover illegal finance companies and protect the interests of consumers and licensed finance companies, according to the SBV’s Governor Nguyen Thi Hong.

The decision was made in the Governor’s written response to questions from a National Assembly delegate on banking activities after the media reported some individuals and companies have recently set up and advertised unlicensed loan apps and websites that have affected the interests of consumers.

Sixteen finance companies are licensed to provide consumer lending with total charter capital worth more than 22 trillion VND (948 million USD). Those with the largest charter capital include FE Credit (7.32 trillion VND), SBIC Finance (2.53 trillion VND), EVN FC (2.5 trillion VND), Home Credit (2.05 trillion VND) and HD Saison (1.4 trillion VND).

A number of banks have launched finance companies, such as VP Bank with FE Credit, HDBank with HD Saison, SHB with SHB Finance and MBBank with Mcredit.

Reference exchange rate up VND2 

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,197 VND/USD on December 17, up 2 VND from the previous day.

With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applicable to commercial banks during the day is 23,897 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,502 VND/USD.

HCM City retail space rental market recovers strongly

Despite COVID-19, HCM City’s retail space rental market has begun to show signs of coming out of its long slump.

Near Ho Con Rua (Turtle Lake), Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon and Nguyen Hue Street in downtown districts 1 and 3, restaurants and coffee and tea shops are becoming crowded again, especially during weekends. After a long time period of shuttered doors and ‘Available for rent’ signs, the Phan Xich Long food street in Phu Nhuan District is almost filled with bustling restaurants and milk tea shops decorated with pine trees and Santa Claus outfits. Most shopping malls, supermarkets and convenience stores in HCM City are also recovering, on-site dining has resumed, and more and more customers are visiting restaurants.

According to real estate consulting and management company Jones Lang Lasalle, many businesses are still looking for affordable places to rent. In the medium and long terms, the city is expected to be a top destination for international brands, which would provide a boost to leasing, it said.

Savills, another global property consultancy, said in a report the house leasing market would recover strongly starting in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. 

Share rebound on pillar stocks but liquidity low

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index edged up 0.08 per cent to end at 1,476.61 points on Dec. 16.

It had slid 0.04 per cent to end Wednesday at 1,475.50 points. The market's breadth was negative with 209 gainers and 243 losers. Liquidity increased compared to the previous session with 927.5 million shares traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VND27 trillion (US$1.2 billion).

The VN30-Index, tracking the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, lost 0.61 per cent, to end at 1,510.17 points. Eighteen out of 30 stocks in the VN30 basket posted losses, while nine increased. In the VN-30 basket, gainers included Vietinbank (CTG), PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PLX), Sacombank (STB) and Vinamilk (VNM).

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index gained 0.73 per cent, to end yesterday at 457.03 points. On Wednesday, it had lost 0.22 per cent, to end at 453.70 points. During the session, investors poured over VND3.2 trillion into the market, equivalent to a trading volume of 116 million shares.  

Obstacles should be removed to facilitate offshore wind power development: Experts

Offshore wind power is considered a promising field and able to replace renewable energy in Vietnam but the industry is rather new and it is difficult to implement offshore wind power projects, heard participants at a seminar entitled "Development of offshore wind power for Vietnam’s clean energy in the future".

The issues that haven’t been solved for offshore wind power development include the development of mechanisms and policies, the construction of grid infrastructure as well as enhancing capacity in construction, installation and development of domestic supply chains, participants heard.

According to Vietnam Electricity (EVN), by the end of October 31, 2021, Vietnam had 88 wind power projects that has begun commercial operations with a total installed capacity of about 4.2 GW. There are 35 offshore wind power projects which are under research and development with a total capacity of up to 60 GW. 

Dong Thap seeks to tap Indian investment, technology in agriculture

The Indian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Thap province organised an online meeting to promote trade in the agricultural sector.

The ‘Virtual meet on Trade and Investment promotion between India and Dong Thap Province in Agriculture’ on December 15 saw Doan Tan Buu, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, saying trade with India had grown steadily in the first nine months of this year to reach 5.96 million USD.

Dong Thap province is ready to tie up with Indian investors and businesses for organic and sustainable food processing and wants to invite them to invest in farming mango, its main fruit, he said.

On the occasion, the Indian Business Chamber in Vietnam (INCHAM) and Dong Thap Trade, Tourism and Investment Promotion Centre signed an MoU to step up trade and investment cooperation between the two sides and increase communication and exchanges of delegations.

Digitalisation key to economic recovery

Digitalisation is key to Vietnam's economic recovery and crucial to Vietnamese firms' ability to compete and create value, said policymakers and business experts at a conference on December 15 discussing how the country's economic policies can help foster creativity and innovation among the business sector.

While Vietnam enjoyed a relatively high broadband penetration rate compared against other countries in the region, digitalised transactions still remained at just over 22 percent, lower than Indonesia (34 percent) and Thailand (62 percent). Online business transactions were also on the low side at just 10 percent against Indonesia (49 percent) and Malaysia (52 percent).

The most common issues experienced by Vietnamese businesses with digitalisation include a lack of financial resources, poor IT infrastructure and cyber security and a shortage of skilled workers.

WB, HSBC optimistic about Vietnam’s economy

Vietnam’s economy should get back to GDP growth of 6.8 percent next year, which will be driven by a return of strong foreign direct investment (FDI) into the market, mainly focusing on the manufacturing sector, CEO of HSBC Vietnam Tim Evans has said.

Infrastructure roll-out will also continue to fuel economic activity especially in the renewable/green arena given the strong ambitions made by the Vietnamese Government following the recent 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, the UK.

Meanwhile, the World Bank (WB) said in the December edition of its Vietnam Macro Monitoring that Vietnam’s economic conditions continued to improve, with both industrial production and retail sales registered a third month of growth.

Given the available fiscal space, and difficulties registered in implementing the budget in 2021, another policy option for consideration is a reduction in the value-added taxes for 2022 to support private consumption.

Rosy prospect for Vietnam-UK trade in spite of COVID-19 pandemic

Despite suffering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam-UK trade see positive developments with two-way trade turnover reached more than 5.4 billion USD in the first ten months of this year, representing a year-on-year rise of 16 percent, Ta Hoang Linh, director of the Europe-America Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), has said.

Vietnam’s total export turnover to the UK increased by 14.5 percent to over 4.73 billion USD from January to October this year, a decline of 14.5 percent compared to last year’s figure, Linh said, adding that most of Vietnam’s export items enjoy high growth.

The UK ranked 9th among Vietnam’s key export markets while the country is the UK’s top trading partner in the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN).

International expo on support industries underway

The 2nd The Vietnam International Expo on Support Industries and Processing -Manufacturing (VIMEXPO 2021) officially kicked off in Hanoi on December 15, 2021. The three-day event comprises 200 booths from more than 170 enterprises on a display area of 5,000sq.m.

Famous brands representing the automotive industry, equipment, and spare parts are on display at the expo.

Hosted by the Industry Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, VIMEXPO 2021 is the only international expo of this kind held under the Support Industry Development Programme approved by the Prime Minister.

Vietjet offers year-end promotion tickets

Vietjet offers customers hundreds of thousands of good-priced tickets from only 609,000 VND (26.43 USD), accompanying the journey to come back home, bringing the joy of reunion with family and loved ones with exciting travel experiences on all routes across Vietnam in the year-end season.

Hundreds of thousands of promotion tickets on flights connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Hanoi, Vinh, Thanh Hoa, Hai Phong, Da Nang, etc. are available for sale with unlimited time on the its  official website, Vietjet Air mobile app, Facebook page. Customers can enjoy free payment fees when booking tickets and paying via Vietjet SkyClub – Vietjet’s exclusive loyalty programme.

Vietnam becomes fifth largest seafood supplier to Japan

Vietnam exported 111,110 tonnes of seafood products to Japan worth US$840 million during the initial 10 months of the year, becoming the fifth largest seafood supplier to the Far East nation, according to statistics given by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The figures represent a rise of 1.1% in volume, but a decline of 2% in value against the same period from last year.

Japan imported a total of 1.53 million tonnes of aquatic products worth US$10.4 billion during the ten-month period, representing a decline of 0.2% in volume, but an upsurge of 3.9% in value.

Most notably, Vietnamese seafood slightly increased its market share in Japan from 7.2% last year to 7.3% this year.

Logistics optimisation boosts garment exports

Deputy general secretary of the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai said container shortages and delays at ports were causing a headache for exporters and importers globally.

From September to October, this firm had to pay US$400,000 to deliver garment products by plane. In addition, there were some large companies which had to spend up to $1.8 million for good delivery by plane in the two months of October and November.

If the logistics issue was not solved efficiently or the cost of logistics services did not decrease, Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises would not benefit from the new-generation free trade agreements Viet Nam had signed. That is a painful problem and VITAS wants to work with associations and logistics service providers to help Vietnamese textile firms overcome difficulties, she noted.

Leading manufacturers and traders of energy-saving products in 2021 honoured

139 certified products of the highest energy efficiency standards in 2021 have been identified at the Top Runner 2021 awards ceremony of the Energy Efficiency Award in Industry-Construction 2021.

The certified products with the highest energy efficiency standards in 2021 will receive a label from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and a QR code when brought to the market.

The awards were launched by the Steering Board of the Vietnam National Energy Efficiency Programme under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in cooperation with the Vietnam Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency Association (VECEA) and GIZ.

Rooftop solar power taking off in industrial zones

Sojitz Corporation, Hong Duc Industry JSC (part of DEEP C Industrial Zones), and Bamboo Capital Group have signed an MoU on tri-party cooperation to develop a $250 million industrial zone (IZ) and ancillary infrastructure. 

The highlight of the tri-party combination is that they set the target to develop the first IZ in Vietnam that is fully energy independent by enhancing the generation and consumption of renewable energy via the installation of rooftop solar power systems.

Meanwhile, in late October, Sojitz Osaka Gas Energy Co., Ltd., a joint venture company between Sojitz Corporation and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd., partnered with Looop Inc. to establish SOL Energy Co., Ltd. It will begin operations of a rooftop solar power generation business geared towards industrial and commercial customers in Vietnam.

Knight Frank establishes new subsidiary in Vietnam

Global real estate advisor Knight Frank has established a new subsidiary in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to partner with long-term resident and market leader, Alex Crane, formerly of Crane & Company and Cushman & Wakefield, who becomes managing director effective from December 13.

Water supply project for urban areas around Long Thanh airport proposed

The Binh Duong Water Environment JSC has formulated a project worth nearly VND5.2 trillion to provide clean water to satellite urban areas surrounding the Long Thanh International Airport project in Dong Nai Province. 

A representative of the Binh Duong Water Environment JSC said on December 16 that the project would have a capacity of 60,000 cubic meters of clean water per day. The company has worked with the Dong Nai government to execute the project at the earliest.

The project will be divided into two phases, with each having a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters. The first phase of the project requires an estimated investment of over VND3.7 trillion. The water for the project will be taken from the Dong Nai River.  

VND1.2-trillion bypass in Ba Ria-Vung Tau opened to traffic

The 12.1-kilometer bypass, which helps improve the connectivity between the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port and National Highway 1A, has four lanes and allows a maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour.

The bypass, called National Highway 56, will act as the main traffic axis connecting Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with Dong Nai Province and several south-central and central highlands provinces.

Besides, the bypass will help shorten the distance to transport goods between industrial parks and the Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port across the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway and National Highway 1 to key economic zones in the southern, south-central and central highlands regions, and contribute to completing the province’s traffic infrastructure and boosting its socio-economic growth.

Online consumers in Vietnam rise by eight million

The number of online consumers in Vietnam spiked by over eight million from the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak last year to the middle of this year, according to a report delivered at the Vietnam Online Marketing Forum 2021.

At the forum, held by the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) on December 12, Lai Viet Anh, deputy head of the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, cited a report by Google and Temasek as saying that the increase in online consumers showed changes in the shopping habits of Vietnamese consumers.

This has brought both opportunities and challenges for enterprises, who were forced to quickly develop online business models.

Vietnamese startups encouraged to carry out IPO process
 
Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB) and Swiss Entrepreneurship Program Vietnam (Swiss EP) cooperated to organize the conference ‘The Path to IPO for Innovative Startups’, in the framework of ‘The 7th National Festival for Innovative Startups – TechFest 2021’.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung informed that in the past few years, the Vietnamese innovative startup ecosystem has witnessed various positive signals thanks to the facilitation and support of the Government. The venture capital pouring into Vietnam this year has risen by 9 times compared to 2015 to reach over US$1.3 billion.

Vietnam has been considered a nation of a strong and diverse startup ecosystem, with a tenfold increase of startup enterprises from 400 in 2012 to 4,000 in 2020. Many of them have transformed into stable corporation such as VNG, VNPay, Axie Infinity.

However, the Deputy Minister commented that it is not at all easy for innovative startups to carry out the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process since they need to convince investors with their novel, unique model that is able to adapt quickly to unexpected fluctuations of the market, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic full of risks.

ILO, the Netherlands promote Vietnam's garment skills

The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Government of the Netherlands have inked an agreement to launch a new project with the aim to better address future skills needs in Vietnam’s garment sector.

The new project is guided by the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work (2019), the ILO Global Call to Action for a Human-Centered Recovery (2021), and the recent International Labour Conference resolution concerning skills and lifelong learning. 

It will apply lessons learned from similar ILO garment sector skills anticipation projects in the garment sector in Brazil, Ethiopia, Jordan, and Peru. It will build on the achievements of past ILO skills development programs in Vietnam. 

The project will be implemented in close collaboration with the IFC-ILO Better Work Vietnam program, and the findings and achievements in Vietnam will be shared with other Member States of the ILO through the creation of a regional knowledge platform on future skills needs in textiles and garments in Asia and the Pacific.

Source: SGT/VNS/VNA/VOV/VIR

VIETNAM BUSINESS NEWS DECEMBER 16

First Economics-Defence Combination exhibition underway