Banks refinance rates

Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,163 VND/USD on December 11, unchanged from the previous day.   With the current trading band of  +/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,858 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,468 VND/USD. The opening hour rates at most commercial banks remained stable. At 8:25 am, Vietcombank listed the buying rate at 23,090 VND/USD and the selling rate at 23,240 VND/USD, unchanged from December 10. BIDV also kept both rates unchanged at 23,120 VND/USD (buying) and 23,240 VND/USD (selling). Techcombank cut both rates by 4 VND, listing the buying rate at 23,085 VND/USD and the selling rate at 23,225 VND/USD./. VNA … [Read more...] about Reference exchange rate unchanged on December 11

Participants listen to Phan Thi Thu Hien, director of the Department of Banking and Financial Institutions under the Ministry of Finance, review the ten-year operation of Viet Nam's G-bond market. — VNA/VNS Photo Thuy Duong Viet Nam’s Government bond (G-bond) market would become a safe, effective and highly lucrative investment mechanism for commercial banks, insurance networks, investment funds and foreign investors. The statement was made by Phan Thi Thu Hien, director of the Department of Banking and Financial Institutions under the Ministry of Finance, during a conference to review the ten-year operation and development of the G-bond market in Ha Noi on Tuesday. “The goal for the next five years is to meet the demand to raise capital for socio-economic development as official development assistance (ODA) and preferential loans decrease,” Hien said. To achieve this goal, Hien said the Government needed to connect capital mobilisation through G-bonds with the … [Read more...] about G-bond market aims to become a safe and effective investment tool

Jakarta (VNA) – Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo and Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso recently signed a memorandum of understanding on the use of the countries’ currencies in bilateral trade and direct investment transactions. The agreement on the establishment of a local currency settlement framework will enable the two sides to promote the direct exchange of rate quotation and interbank trading between the Japanese Yen and the Indonesian Rupiah. The cooperation will also be enhanced through information sharing and regular discussions. In a joint press statement released on December 5, they said the framework is a key milestone for both nations to intensify their financial cooperation. Japan is currently the second largest investor in Indonesia. Over the last 10 years, Japan has invested 31 billion USD in the archipelago nation. The contribution of Japanese companies to Indonesia’s exports increased from 18.1 percent to 24.4 percent in the first half of … [Read more...] about Indonesia, Japan to boost local currency use in bilateral transactions

Children at a kindergarten (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam needs new approaches that are designed based on geographic conditions and cultural characteristics of ethnic minority communities in order to address the persistent malnutrition among ethnic minority children, said a report of the World Bank. The WB released the report titled “Persistent Malnutrition in Ethnic Minority Communities of Viet Nam: Issues and Options or Policy and Interventions” in Hanoi on December 10.   Addressing the event, WB Country Director Ousmane Dione said Vietnam has made impressive progress in reducing malnutrition in children in the past two decades, but the disparity between ethnic minority children and their peers in plain areas is widening. He said priority should be given to provinces with highest malnutrition rates in the next period in order to create substantial changes.   The report found that only 39 percent of ethnic minority children from 6 to 23 … [Read more...] about New approaches needed to address malnutrition in ethnic minority children: WB report

  Girls of H'mong ethnicity in Nông trường Mộc Châu Township, Mộc Châu District, Sơn La Province. VNA/VNS Photo HÀ NỘI — One in every three ethnic minority children suffers from stunted growth, while one in five is underweight, according to the findings of a new report. The study, released by the World Bank (WB) and Việt Nam’s National Institute of Nutrition, is the latest comprehensive research on persistent malnutrition in the ethnic minorities. Ethnic minorities account for 73 per cent of the poor in the Southeast Asian country. According to the report, the rate of malnutrition in Vietnamese children remarkably decreased over the last two decades, from 36.5 per cent diagnosed with stunted growth in 2000 to 24.6 per cent in 2015. The disparities between children of ethnic minorities and those of Kinh people who have the largest population in Việt Nam, however, grew larger over time. There was … [Read more...] about Malnutrition a major problem in ethnic minorities: report