President of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group Doan Nguyen Duc decided to spend VND240 billion to buy back HAGL bonds, while the owner of Yeah 1 lost VND2.2 trillion in 2019.

Building a transparent legal framework; improving business climate; adopting flexible policies on imports, exports and foreign exchange rates; protecting environment will be needed to achieve economic growth target of 6.8%.

Many problems arose in the last months of 2019, which sparked the worry that 2020 would be a tough year for Vietnam’s economy.

Economists, applauding the decision to impose fines and force Coca Cola to pay tax arrears, totaling VND821 billion, said it is necessary to deal with foreign invested enterprises that evade tax and conduct transfer pricing.

Only 10 foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) have entered the bourse over the last decade, a very modest figure compared with the tens of thousands of enterprises now operational in Vietnam.

State management agencies affirmed that hundreds of thousand of tons of pork have been imported. However, consumers still cannot find imports at supermarkets and convenience stores in HCM City.

The growth rate of the beer market in 2020 will be at 6-7 percent, while the two-digit growth rate is unattainable, experts predict.

The newly set indexes, plus the possibility of the market upgrading, have led observers to believe that ETF will attract foreign capital.

The experts attending the Vietnam Investment Professionals Forum (VIPF) all predicted that the picture of the Vietnamese stock market would be bright in 2020 with the VN Index likely to exceed 1,200 points.

Nguyen Tran Nam, chair of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, said the real estate market shows an increasingly important role in the national economy. However, the majority of real estate firms still have small scale and heavily rely on bank loans.

MoMo speeded up, Moca made a high jump with the support of the holding company, and VinID Pay extended beyond Vingroup ecosystem.

While foreign investors continue selling in the share market, they have been buying more than selling in the bond market since early 2019.

The reliance of private enterprises, business households and individuals on bank credit has brought both positive and negative effects.

The average inflation rate in 2019 was low at 2.79 percent. However, the inflation rate in December 2019 reached 5.23 percent compared with December 2018, and this is worrying.

Associate Professor Dinh Trong Thinh of Academy of Finance talks about the important role of the private sector in the national economy.

Economists say the US-Iran tentions have had a mild impact on Vietnam, but the country needs to prepare for worse to come if tensions escalate.

Former chairman of Ocean Commercial Bank (OceanBank) Ha Van Tham was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison on charges of breaking lending violations, resulting in a loss of US$3.9 million at the Hanoi-based bank.

The tensions between the US and Iran are feared to create uncertainties which could influence Vietnam’s economy, experts say.

While some big foreign retailers had to leave the market, Vietnamese groups poured more money into retail chains and expanded business.

Since the core business field is facing difficulties, rubber companies are now gathering strength on developing industrial zones (IZs).