The Vietnamese government has set a low budget deficit target for next year given Vietnam’s sinking revenues from crude oil and tariffs, with a cut in recurrent spending which will leave the country’s public investment unaffected. 

 Fast food giants such as McDonald’s and Burger King have dominated the sector globally for decades, but unique cuisine culture and uncommon spending behaviours means Vietnam is one of the few countries they are struggling to crack.

Joining the CPTPP, Vietnam will see a wave of new opportunities but also face numerous challenges with tougher competition from foreign products and institutional reform.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam has become a new attractive destination for beef exporters from all over the world.

 Police in HCM City have cracked down loansharking and targeted 600 lenders.

 Vietnam is experiencing a period of “golden population structure” (understood as the proportion of labourers doubling the dependent population), which is forecast to last until 2034.

Bilateral agreements for a new generation of social insurance policies have been negotiated to support foreign workers engaging in Vietnam’s social insurance scheme.

 Despite some jitters, the business performance of Vietnam’s largest drugmakers took an uphill route in the first three quarters of 2018, with exports set to become a priority focus for many in the near future.

 Up to around 42 million people in Vietnam use Facebook every day, one of the highest rates in Southeast Asia.

 Companies have said that demand for Vietnamese workers to go to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea has increased during the final months of the year.

A report from the Ho Chi Minh Securities Company shows that bank interest rates have risen by 0.46 percentage points for short-term loans since the end of last year to 7-9 per cent and to 9-12.5 per cent for medium- and long-term loans.

 After suffering for nine consecutive sessions, strong rebounds of the benchmark VN Index last week raised hopes for a short-term recovery with forecasts predicted to touch 940-950 points this week.

Vietnam’s top female chess player Vo Thi Kim Phung is her country’s only representative at the Women’s World Chess Championship 2018 that started on Saturday in Russia.

 National Assembly deputies will discuss the ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and related documents on November 5 morning as part of their ongoing sixth session.

Many merger & acquisition (M&A) deals in Vietnam’s retail market have included buyers from Thailand.

The Hanoi University of Science & Technology and the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam in early October announced their agreement in research and application of high technologies in transport management. 

MBBR (Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor) is a medical waste water treatment technology which has 1.5-2 times higher efficiency than conventional aerobic bioreactors. 

VietNamNet Bridge - More than 3,321 plant protection chemical products for rice and 260 products for vegetables are on the market. 

 General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (CPVCC) and President Nguyen Phu Trong highlighted the significance of personnel planning, especially at the strategic level, at a meeting in Hanoi on November 4.

 Vietnam’s top tennis player Ly Hoang Nam finished second at the Vietnam F5 Futures-Hai Dang Cup 2018 held in the southern province of Tay Ninh on November 4.