20 million dollar homes

Le Thi Bao Tran, a young white-collar worker in Ho Chi Minh City, has spent the past eight years moving between rented rooms, doing her best to save up enough money to purchase a home of her own. Like other young, white-collar workers who have moved to Ho Chi Minh City to pursue their careers, Tran hopes to eventually purchase a home in the city, but the rising cost of real estate has kept that dream out of reach. A lifelong dream Tran spent her college years moving between rental apartments in Binh Thanh District. At one point, she shared a tiny 10-square-meter apartment with a friend for just VND1.1 million ($47) per month, including utilities. During the dry season, the apartment would heat up like an oven, and the putrid smell from a nearby garbage dump would waft through the windows. "If you closed the door, you could hardly breathe. If you opened the door, you still couldn’t breathe because of the horrible smell," she shared. Things were not much better in the … [Read more...] about Young Vietnamese turn to mortgages, installment plans to secure dream homes

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has issued 14 million ‘COVID-19 vaccine passports’ to the general public since April 15. A month after its official rollout, the passport is now available on the national COVID-19 app PC-Covid and the Digital Health app. It has 11 fields of information: name, date of birth, nationality, the targeted disease, doses of vaccines received, date of vaccination, lot number of the vaccine batch, type of vaccine, vaccine product received, the vaccine manufacturer, and a code for the certification. Information on the targeted disease, vaccine, vaccine product or manufacturer is compatible with the values provided in the World Health Organization’s 'COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker and Landscape' and the 'Value Sets for EU Digital COVID Certificates' issued by the European Union. Data is stored in a QR code, which will expire after 12 months. Following their expiration, users will be notified and a new QR code will be created. People who do not have the … [Read more...] about Vietnam issues 14 million ‘COVID-19 vaccine passports’

Shanghai on Tuesday declared it had achieved "zero-Covid" across all its districts, sparking derision on social media as millions in China's biggest city remained under lockdown. Confronted with its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, China -- the last major economy still closed off to the world -- put the city of 25 million under heavy restrictions in early April. The government's insistence on squashing the Omicron variant-driven outbreak prompted rare protests and angry scuffles with authorities as Shanghai residents reject the prolonged confinement and food shortages. "All 16 districts of Shanghai have already achieved zero-Covid at the community level," Shanghai health commission official Zhao Dandan told reporters on Tuesday. That means none of the over 1,000 new infections recorded on Tuesday was detected outside of quarantined areas, city authorities said. Vice mayor Chen Tong said Sunday that the city would gradually reopen businesses starting this … [Read more...] about Shanghai says ‘zero-Covid’ achieved but millions still in lockdown

With the nomination, Biden seeks to send the message to the region in which he stressed the importance of the relationship with the 10-member bloc, calling it “critical.” US President Joe Biden on May 13 nominated Yohannes Abraham, chief of staff to the White House National Security Council, as ambassador to ASEAN. US President Joe Biden at the US-ASEAN Special Summit held in Washington, D.C. on May 13. Photos: VGP Biden announced the decision at the US-ASEAN Special Summit held in Washington, D.C., participated by leaders of the 10-member bloc leaders and the ASEAN’s Secretary General. Abraham’s nomination, which requires Senate confirmation, aims to deepen the US-ASEAN partnership that the president called “critical” and underscores the Biden administration’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region. Abraham is a top national security staffer, serving since the first day of Biden’s administration. By appointing an ambassador to ASEAN, the US is currently … [Read more...] about Biden nominates ambassador to ASEAN

Hanoi-headquartered Techcombank recorded another year of stellar financial performance and growth in 2021, while continuing to support its customers, employees and communities in Vietnam, especially those impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, the bank recorded VND37.1 trillion (over $1.6 billion) in its total operating income, up 35.4 percent year-on-year. The bank’s profit before tax (PBT) rose to VND23.2 trillion. The company has achieved double-digit PBT growth for five consecutive years, at a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 50 percent between 2016 and 2021. The bank’s performance remained resilient despite Covid-19 casting its shadow on the local markets and causing disruption to businesses and people’s lives. Techcombank grew its total assets by 29.4 percent, to VND568.7 trillion, and delivered an "industry-leading" return on its assets of 3.7 percent, according to the bank. It has also been able to maintain an impressive current account and savings account … [Read more...] about Digital, data and human excellence key components in Techcombank’s transformational journey

Empty fish sauce containers at Ba Hai fish sauce factory Currently, dozens of fish sauce production facilities are having hundreds of empty fish salt containers, the traditional fish sauce craft village has been facing risks of production stoppage, and the supply of traditional fish sauce products is in danger of being disrupted in the area. In the context that the consumption of traditional fish sauce is increasing strongly when the country’s economy in general and tourism, in particular, recover after the pandemic, the shortage of fish for fish sauce production is alarming as scores of fish sauce production establishments in Phan Thiet city have been awaiting fish supply. From the beginning of the year until now, about 40 percent of the fish sauce containers at Ba Hai traditional fish sauce factory in Phu Hai Ward in Phan Thiet City has been empty because there is no source of anchovies for the production of fish sauce, a staple found on tables up and down the country. … [Read more...] about Traditional fish sauce craft village facing risks of production stoppage

Two firms in the southern province of Bac Lieu have been fined for violating Covid-19 prevention rules which have led to a large virus outbreak in the area. The Gia Rai Town People's Committee on November 10 announced a fine of VND 20 million each to Tan Khoi Seafood Company and Chau Ba Thao Seafood Company for violating Covid-19 prevention rules which have caused the largest virus outbreak in the area so far. According to local authorities, the two companies had failed to conform to the government's regulations on Covid-19 prevention and control. They didn't carry out weekly Covid-19 testing for workers at their workplaces, which had caused a large-scale virus spread in the community. A report from the Gia Rai Town People's Committee said that a female worker from Tan Khoi Seafood Company was accidentally found to be infected with Covid-19 on October 19 when being asked to take a quick test by a local healthcare centre where she took a relative to for a health check-up. Local … [Read more...] about Firms fined for Covid-19 spread in Bac Lieu

"The first thing I used to do after waking up was to open my crypto wallet and check how much money I gained or lost," the Hanoi-based cryptocurrency trader says. Every day his account would fluctuate by a few to dozens of dollars, and he says his investment of US$1,000 at the end of last year would sometimes hover around $1,500. Then it dropped to below $900 a week ago. "I thought I had been hacked, but when I looked at the tokens in my wallet, they were still there but all in the 'red'." Another precipitous drop took the value to around $600 on May 10, and he decided to delete the trading app and stop looking at the market. "I unfollowed some cryptocurrency groups and removed related apps." Le Minh of HCMC says he recently deleted all cryptocurrency-related apps from his phone. When prices plunged last week he decided to sell some tokens that he thought had little potential and used the few hundred dollars to buy Bitcoin. But within a few days Bitcoin and others in his … [Read more...] about Investors delete cryptocurrency trading apps as prices crash

Hoai Phuong of the central Quang Tri Province said he invested US$100 in Luna after its price hit $0.00001 Friday night. "I thought I should try my luck, but I didn’t dare to spend much and I was OK with losing all the money," he said. The coin was delisted from several exchanges immediately after his purchase. However, the price rose 10-fold by the next morning. It kept rising until the afternoon when he decided to sell at $0.0005, earning $5,000. Others shared similar stories on social media of earning thousands of dollars on a wager of a few hundred dollars. But not everyone was lucky. Nguyen Thanh of the southern Tra Vinh Province bought 2.5 million Luna tokens on Saturday afternoon at $0.0004. A day later he sold out after the price dropped to $0.0003, resulting in a $300 loss. Many experienced traders warn against buying on fear of missing out. "Luna prices will drop further, and some recent bounces were just a bait," Bang, a trader with five years’ experience … [Read more...] about Investors gamble on collapsed cryptocurrency

Techcombank is on track to be among the top ASEAN banks Techcombank’s rise within the Vietnamese banking industry was highlighted last year when it became the first non-state-owned bank to join Vietnam’s billion-dollar profit club. “Even in the very tough environment we are seeing, our employees have maintained a high quality and reliable service for our customers and this is helping us to deliver stellar performance year after year,” said Jens Lottner, CEO of Techcombank. Last year, the bank continued to reduce costs while focusing on building deposits in its current accounts and savings accounts (CASA), which Lottner described as a “stable and cheap” source of funding. Techcombank’s CASA ratio, which reflects the percentage of the bank’s total deposits that are CASA, jumped from 46.1 per cent in 2020 to 50.5 per cent last year, well on its way to the bank’s target of 55 per cent by 2025. Techcombank’s net interest margin, a measure of the difference between the interest … [Read more...] about Techcombank on track for a seat among the top ASEAN banks