VietNamNet Bridge - The maritime shipping crisis has forced shipping firms worldwide to join alliances to improve their competitiveness. Such alliances have also been set up in Vietnam.

Experts have warned that some Vietnamese shipping firms, incurring big debts, will soon follow Hanjin and file for bankruptcy. At least two – Vinashinlines and Falcon – have been following procedures to declare bankruptcy.

VietNamNet Bridge - The bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping Global has surprised the world’s freight & forwarding market and caused alarm among Vietnamese goods owners.

VietNamNet Bridge - The record low freight for both inland waterways transport and international routes has caused a crisis among shipping firms, big and small, state-owned and privately run.

Iran's foreign minister has called for "urgent humanitarian assistance" in Yemen after a Saudi-led coalition ended air strikes against Houthi rebels.

 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said Russian conditions in ongoing negotiations in Belarus over the conflict in Ukraine are "unacceptable".

 German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said four-way talks on the crisis in eastern Ukraine had been difficult, but they had made progress.

The scale of the Ebola outbreak appears to be "vastly underestimated", the UN's health agency says, as the death toll from the disease reaches 1,069.

 The World Health Organization (WHO) is hosting an emergency meeting in Ghana on Wednesday on the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

 VietNamNet Bridge - The structure of the health sector is disturbed and it no longer fits the current situation (the half-subsidized health sector operating in the market economy).

 VietNamNet Bridge – While most Vietnamese try to fasten their belt in the context of the economic recession, the rich still spend money like water on luxurious goods.

 Greek parliament approved early on Thursday a new austerity and reform bill which contains mass job cuts in the public sector in a key step to unlock further international bailout aid to the debt-laden country.

The market is volatile and has potential risks, making investors to be increasingly cautious. Their top priority at present is probably not to “make money from money," but to preserve their capital - a negative signal for the economy.

According to economic experts, the current recession though not being recognized by any official document, comes to people everywhere. Some even said that we are falling into the "euphoric effect," even in the policymaking process.

VietNamNet Bridge - Reasoning economic difficulty, the National Assembly on March 18 agreed not to reduce the number of groups of goods that are entitled to the value added tax rate (VAT) of 0% and 5%.

International experts have warned that the bad debts, worth hundreds of trillions of dong would still be the big challenge for the Vietnam’s national economy for at least several years.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Music cafes and bars in HCM City have been badly affected by economic downturn and other problems, leaving local artists and promoters struggle to earn a living.  

VietNamNet Bridge – Foreign businesses have withdrawn investment capital and stopped pouring money into the real estate market without any statements about the plans to come back to the market.

Not only one, two or several businesses, but numerous foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) have disappeared.