Deposits at banks modest due to low interest rates A person arranges stacks of Vietnamese banknotes. Capital has been poured into other sectors rather than banks due to their low deposit rates According to the Department of Credit for Economic Sectors under the State Bank of Vietnam, in the first quarter of this year, the deposit growth reached only 0.54%, well below the credit growth of 2.93% and the average deposit growth of 2.28% in the first quarter of the past seven years, Lao Dong newspaper reported. At present, the rate for savings of less than six months is 3%-4%. Meanwhile, tenors of six to less than 12 months and over 12 months enjoy a rate of 3.5%-5.5% and 4.6%-6%, respectively. Although some banks have revised up their deposit rates by 0.1-0.4 percentage points, the banks’ average deposit rate in the first quarter remained some 2 percentage points lower than that in the same period last year. If the trend continues, the banking system’s liquidity will no longer be ample this year, according to Bao Viet Securities Company. Meanwhile, the General Statistics Office stated that capital had been injected into other sectors, with life insurance premium soaring 11%. Meanwhile, the securities market mobilized nearly VND55.6 trillion, surging 42% over the same period last year. Pham Lam, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Realtors, attributed land fevers over the past few months partly to residents’ idle money and their expectations of higher prices of real estate products. According to Dao Minh Tu, deputy governor of the central bank, as of mid-March, banks’ outstanding loans for the property sector grew 2.13%, higher than the current credit growth of 2.04%, despite the central bank’s close control over credit for the sector. Market rebounds, VN-Index returns to 1,250 point-level Shares settled higher on Wednesday, reversing their morning course on recoveries of materials and banking stocks. The benchmark VN-Index …
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AppWorks leads $1 million round in Vietnamese healthcare booking app Docosan
The investment by AppWorks is a vote of confidence in Vietnamese healthcare booking app Docosan AppWorks is known for its investments in leading Southeast Asian companies such as Lalamove, Carousell, and ShopBack. Other investors that joined the round include Singapore-based Huat Ventures and biotech entrepreneur David Ma, according to TechinAsia . Established in January 2020, Docosan is an app for searching and booking appointments online with doctors 24/7, checking price lists and reviews by real patients. Docosan has helped 50,000 patients in Vietnam book appointments with physicians across 35 specialties within less than a year of operations. “Many clinics are frustrated after spending large amounts on social media marketing because these networks’ vast, opaque user bases are difficult to harness to reach new patients,” Docosan’s CEO and co-founder Beth Ann Lopez said in a press statement. “Docosan’s proprietary booking software provides doctors an easier way to manage bookings compared to the crowded waiting rooms, which people are increasingly wary of amid the pandemic,” she added. In press statement, AppWorks partner Andy Tsai said, “We noticed Docosan’s potential early on because of its participation in the AppWorks Accelerator. Docosan’s founders demonstrated strong experience and dedication to the healthcare issues in the region. We are proud to be supporting Docosan’s vision of better healthcare access for all.” The potential for healthtech startups is huge as the healthcare market will double in the next 7-10 years. Digital healthcare makes up less than 1 per cent of the total market size currently, a figure which is projected to skyrocket. Many healthtech startups are ramping up operations in Vietnam including eDoctor, Zoop Care, Doctor Anywhere, MedPro, and Jio Health. A report by Fitch Solutions identified great promise in digital healthcare in light of the current challenges faced by public hospitals in Vietnam and the COVID-19 …
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The war-time secret behind Saigon eatery
Visiting the Dai Han broken rice shop at 113A Dang Dung Street, District 1, customers typically feel themselves transported back to the Vietnam war time (1955-1975). Before 1975, the shop, then named Do Phu cafe, was a secret base of the People's Army overseen by Tran Van Lai. The house had been assigned to Do Mien and his wife Su to sell broken rice and coffee, but in fact, served to store and transfer letters and confidential documents to the war zone. The Do Phu cafe, now Dai Han broken rice shop, in Saigon. Photo by VnExpress/Huynh Nhi. Tran Vu Binh, son of Lai and the current owner of the eatery, recalled the birth of the shop. Before opening the business, Su went with her husband to Phnom Penh, Cambodia on an undercover intelligence mission. After a few years in Phnom Penh, Su returned to the country with her husband and started selling broken rice. The shop sold meals for workers and gradually became popular among residents in the area, including many Korean soldiers taking part in the war. Since the cafe was located next to the house of Ngo Quang Truong, an officer of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the opposite side in the war, the couple had to be extra cautious. "The postman had to wear shoes with a rotatable sole to hide secret mail. When he went into the kitchen of the shop to deliver letters, the owner had to be on guard to prevent others from following and avoid exposure," Binh recounted. Servings here comprise a blend of Vietnamese broken rice and kimchi, traditional Korean fermented vegetables, creating a unique flavor. The shop's original broken rice serving includes grilled ribs, roasted pork skin, fried eggs, pickled vegetables and sweet southern-style chili garlic fish sauce. Since the Korean soldiers were not used to this, they had asked the owner to add kimchi . "At the time, my mother used Vietnamese chili and garlic to make the kimchi, but after the Korean soldiers objected she switched to using Korean …
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