Consolidate school loans lower interest rate

The Hanoitimes - The project significantly enables Vietnam to enhance freedom of navigation. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on July 28 signed an agreement to provide Vietnam JPY36.6 billion (US$347 million) to help the Southeast Asian country improve coast guard capacity to enhance freedom of navigation. Japan’s largest flattop visits Vietnam’s Cam Ranh port in June 2019. Photo: Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) The loan will bear an annual interest rate of 0.1%, have a repayment period of 40 years and a grace period of 10 years. Through the Maritime Security and Safety Capacity Improvement Project, the JICA will enable the Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) to procure vessels, supporting an improvement in maritime rescue operations and maritime law enforcement. The project will contribute to the achievement of SDGs Goals 14 and 16 and the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific, the JICA said in a press release Tuesday. The project is of great meaning for Vietnam, a narrow, long country with a long coastline. In addition, there has been an increasing risk of maritime accidents in recent years due to (i) an increase in fishery activities and freight transportation, and (ii) a rise in natural disasters in the form of typhoons in summer and tidal waves in the monsoon season. Moreover, a rising risk of maritime crimes including smuggling and piracy will also be a matter of concern. This project is subject to Special Terms for Economic Partnership (STEP) that will be applied to the Japanese official development assistance (ODA) loan, and for which, Japanese shipbuilding technologies will be utilized. STEP refers to special assistance terms for promoting the visibility of Japanese aid through a transfer of outstanding Japanese technology and expertise to developing nations. The main contract is Japan tied and subcontracting is general untied. The main agreement partner must generally be a Japanese company, …

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A customer carries out a transaction at a branch of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) in Hà Nội. ACB lost 2 per cent on Monday. Photo courtesy of ACB HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares trimmed early gains on Monday with the VN-Index closing lower as banking stocks came under selling pressure towards the final minutes of trading. The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange edged down 0.04 per cent to close at 1,168.27 points. It had risen 0.02 per cent last week. More than 652.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ15.6 trillion (US$673.9 million). Market breadth was positive with 274 gaining stocks and 183 losers. After the lunch break, the market fluctuated in a quite negative direction as many banking stocks dropped sharply and pushed the VN-Index down to the reference level. Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) fell 2 per cent to VNĐ31,800 per share, VPBank (VPB) lost by 1.1 per cent to VNĐ41,350 per share, Vietcombank (VCB) declined by 1.5 per cent to VNĐ95,200 per share and Techcombank (TCB) dropped by 0.9 per cent to VNĐ38,850 per share. On the opposite side, the oil and gas sector increased, becoming one of the best-performing sectors in Việt Nam on Monday, data on vietstock.vn showed. Vietnamese oil and gas stocks grew well, including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD), PetroVietnam Power Corp (POW), and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS). “The market was moving sideways around 1,168 points. Liquidity increased slightly from the previous session and market breadth was positive, showing that investment cash flow is spreading,” said BIDV Securities Co. “Foreigners were net sellers on both HoSE and HNX. The VN-Index is likely to consolidate in the range of 1,160-1,200 points in the coming sessions,” said the company. Foreign investors net sold VNĐ1.25 trillion on HOSE, including PVPower (POW) (VNĐ212.8 billion), Vinamilk (VNM) …

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Residential segment sees little impact amid Covid-19 pandemic The Saigon Times High-rise apartment buildings in HCMC - PHOTO: VNA HCMC – As Vietnam is experiencing the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to impact the hospitality industry and various real estate sectors, prices of the residential segment appear to have remained unchanged and sales unaffected. David Jackson, chief executive officer of Colliers International in Vietnam, said the hospitality industry would be the most impacted, evident by hotels, tours and flight cancellations by domestic tourists and the limited number of international arrivals into Vietnam. However, the Covid-19 pandemic did not significantly impact the prices of residential properties in 2020, despite all condominium segments and landed properties having seen their prices increase from 2019. Sales remained robust, with agents and buyers taking to social media to interact, instead of the previous face-to-face interaction. Buyers are looking at the long-term picture after the Covid-19 pandemic and Vietnam’s infrastructure development and economic growth can help boost property prices. Jackson projected that if the pandemic continues, it may result in delays in construction or new launches as developers have to grapple with social distancing measures. They may face financial constraints or be forced to wait for a more suitable time to launch their projects. Talking about changes for investors during the “new normal” situation, Jackson said social distancing is prevalent and more interactions happen online, with developers and investors using social media to transact. In this aspect, if the investors are tech savvy and manage to understand the projects through online interaction, it can offer even more opportunities for speculators to profit. Those who speculate need to be careful during this “new normal”. Projects that are newly launched are more challenging to flip than projects that …

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