The Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs has proposed the Government issue a 20 trillion VND (843 million USD) bailout package to soften the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vietnamese farmers, who incurred big losses because of African Swine Fever (ASF), may see the situation become even worse because of the import tariff cut.

Experts believe that in the immediate time, Laos and Cambodia will not be rivals on the same par with Vietnam.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese are some of Southeast Asia’s biggest buyers of luxury cars.

While foreign-invested manufacturers have shifted to importing cars for domestic sale, Vietnamese enterprises have increased investments and expanded production, vowing to develop a domestic automobile industry.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Vietnamese automobile market is expected to have an unpredictable year following an unsatisfactory 2017.

Dau Anh Tuan from VCCI said that of every 10 dong worth of export turnover, 7.5 dong belong to the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector. The figure was five out of 10 dong some years ago.

VietNamNet Bridge - Ministries have been proposing many solutions to develop the automobile industry, but no official decision has been made.

VAMA cited difficulties of the Vietnam industry – the small market, small output and high production costs, which all make it more costly to manufacture car parts in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Finance plans to cut import taxes on auto parts, in line with the World Trade Organisation’s rules.

The government has set up a steering committee to deal with state-owned enterprises’ (SOEs) unprofitable multi-billion dong projects. The projects will be dealt with market rules instead of preferences. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Foreign investors can see great auto sales opportunities in the Vietnamese market. Billions of dollars have been spent to develop car distribution networks instead of manufacturing.

VietNamNet Bridge - National Assembly committees all want to tax second and subsequent houses  purchased to restrict speculation, but it is still unclear when the tax would be applied.

VietNamNet Bridge - A loss of VND10 trillion (over $445 million) in tax revenue from petroleum imports occurred in the first 11 months of the year, according to a report released by GDC.

VietNamNet Bridge - The government has once again offered investment incentives to automobile manufacturers, but analysts still doubt Vietnam can build its own automobile industry. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Sugar production – the industry which now enjoys the highest protection level from the State – is expected to ‘die’ when Vietnam cuts the sugar import tariff to five percent in 2018 as committed.

Projects on Ly Son island prioritised; Retail petrol prices expected to fall further; Vietnam invests 19.1 billion USD abroad; Garment industry faces shortage in skilled workers; HCMC to become top garment, textile service center

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