Domestic businesses

Illustrative photo (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The number of newly-established enterprises and businesses resuming operations in the real estate market saw a remarkable rise last year, said the Ministry of Construction . As per statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Business Registration Management Agency, there were 8,593 new enterprises and 2,081 businesses resuming operations in 2022, up 13.7% and 56.7% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the number of firms declaring bankruptcy or dissolution also grew by 38.7% against 2021. The Ministry of Construction said 2022 still saw many challenges facing realty firms and forcing them to change their business and management plans. The changes included debt restructuring, scaling down production and investment, streamlining apparatus, and suspending new projects, among others. In the face of complicated economic developments, from the middle of the third quarter to the end of last year, the operations of real … [Read more...] about More realty businesses established, resume operations in 2022

A health worker administers a shot of COVID-19 vaccine to a girl . (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Prime Minister has asked the Ministry of Health to continue keeping a close eye on the domestic and international pandemic situation in to strengthen the pandemic prevention and control measures during trade and tourism activities in the festive festival in the first months of 2023 and continue to promote the socio-economic development. The ministry was asked to give timely guidelines and coordination with ministries, sectors and localities in the pandemic fight, while working with localities to direct the implementation of measures to prevent COVID-19 and seasonal diseases, promptly stamping out outbreaks, and promoting COVID-19 vaccination activities. Vietnam's COVID-19 caseload rose to 11,526,167 with 27 new cases recorded on January 16, according to the Ministry of Health. With 12 patients given the all-clear on the day, the number of recoveries rose to 10,612,117. … [Read more...] about Health ministry asked to closely monitor domestic, int’l pandemic situation

Phan Cong Chanh, CEO of developer Phu Vinh Group, said the real estate market will pose more risks than opportunities for investors in 2023, adding that would-be investors should save their money instead of spending it. According to Chanh, in the long term the market will benefit from rosy economic growth prospects, better legal frameworks and improved stock markets, especially the corporate bond market, But he said this would be gradual recovery that wouldn’t flourish to its full potential until 2-4 years from now. The Central Institute for Economic Management put forth two economic growth scenarios for this year. Accordingly, GDP growth will either stand at 6.47%, inflation at 4.08%, export growth at 7.21% and trade balance at $5.64 billion, or at 6.83%, 3.69%, 8.43% and $8.15 billion, respectively. With the draft amendments to the Land Law submitted to the National Assembly for potential approval in October, and amendments to other related laws such as the Law on Real Estate … [Read more...] about Should you invest in property or save your money this year?

Many Vietnamese enterprises achieved success in 2022 after shifting to exports through e-commerce platforms, especially Amazon. The trend is expected to continue this year. Vietnam was among the top five countries with the highest e-commerce retail sale growth rates in 2022, according to a report by the U.S.’s market research company eMarketer. Impressive growth A year after beginning to sell goods on Amazon to European and American markets, ChicnChill, a Vietnamese handicraft brand, reported a growth rate of up to 700 percent. Tran Tuan Dung, CEO of ChicnChill, said he saw the start-up thrive when a majority of Vietnamese enterprises have scaled down their operations due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. He and his team spent months studying the lifestyle in European and American markets and home decoration trends there, thereby determining the company’s key products and penetrating into these markets. After a year, ChicnChill’s home decoration products are … [Read more...] about Vietnamese firms earn big from Amazon

Fluctuations in the global market in 2022 have forced Vietnam to import petrol to meet the domestic market's demand. Statistics from the General Department of Customs show that the import volume of petroleum in December 2022 was more than 944,000 tonnes, valued at $823 million. It marked a 22.3 per cent month-on-month rise in volume and 10.9 per cent in value. In 2022, the country imported 8.87 million tonnes of petrol worth $8.97 billion, a sharp increase of 27.7 per cent year-on-year in volume and 118.5 per cent year-on-year. In which, imported diesel oil reached 4.74 million tonnes, increased by 1.5 per cent year-on-year and accounted for 54 per cent of imported petrol and oil of the whole country. The imported petrol volume reached 1.7 million tonnes, increased 2.3 times compared to the previous year and accounted for 21 per cent of imported petrol and oil of the whole country. Besides that, imported jet fuel reached 1.46 million tonnes, increased 2.2 times compared to the … [Read more...] about Ministry of Industry and Trade aims to stabilise petrol market

The article cited the speech by Vietnamese Minister of Plan and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung at a start-up investment forum in December 2022 as saying that in recent years, more and more FDI flows have come to Vietnam’s start-ups. In the first nine months of 2022, Vietnam's innovative start-ups attracted about 500 million USD. Over the past two years, startups have attracted nearly 2 billion USD in foreign investment, which proved that “Vietnamese start-ups are increasingly attractive to international and regional investors.” In 2021, Vietnamese start-ups raised 1.4 billion USD in investment capital, 56% higher than the level of 894 million USD in 2019. The Vietnam National Innovation Center estimates that the capital attraction capacity of Vietnamese start-ups will maintain an upward trend in 2023. Thirty-nine investment funds have committed an investment of 1.5 billion USD to Vietnam in the period 2023-2025, bringing the total investment for Vietnamese start-ups to 5 billion … [Read more...] about Vietnam joins “golden triangle of start-ups” in Southeast Asia: Hong Kong newspaper

The office reported that in the month, total import-export turnover reached 46.56 billion USD, down 17.3% over the previous month and 25% year-on-year, with exports dropping 21.3% to 25.08 billion USD, and imports falling 28.9% to 21.48 billion USD. While the domestic sector saw a trade deficit of 1.04 billion USD, the foreign-invested sector (including crude oil) posted a surplus of 4.64 billion USD. Experts attributed the result to the long New Year and lunar New Year (Tet) holidays, which were all in January, reducing the number of working days. Last year, the Tet holiday fell in February. The GSO reported that the manufacturing-processing sector earned the highest export revenue with 22.32 billion USD, accounting for 89% of the country’s total. Meanwhile, there were three goods groups with imports of over 1 billion USD. In January, the U.S. remained the biggest importer of Vietnamese goods with a revenue of about 7.6 billion USD, while China was the biggest exporter to … [Read more...] about Vietnam posts trade surplus of 3.6 billion USD in January

Deputy Director of the FIA Do Van Su said disbursement of foreign investment this year is expected to hit USD 22-23 billion. Su acknowledged that the opening of China’s economy might affect Vietnam's foreign investment attraction, adding that China remained the leading investment destination in the region, so when they opened up, capital will flow into this market while that to Vietnam and other economies in the region will be limited. On the contrary, the investment capital movement of the Republic of Korea (RoK), Japan, and Taiwan (China) will be accelerated. This shift will be accelerated until 2025, and Vietnam will be a preferred investment destination for investors, he added. Currently, the RoK, Japan and Taiwan (China) are Vietnam’s major sources of foreign investment and they have constantly increased their investments in Southeast Asian countries. According to FIA, essential factors for FDI to continue to prosper in 2023 include economic growth results in 2022 and … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s FDI projected to reap up to USD 38 bln in 2023

Diesel prices increased by VND890 to VND22,520 per liter and mazut oil prices surged by VND570 to VND13,930 per kilogram. Oil prices rose about 2% last Thursday on expectations that global demand will strengthen as top oil importer China reopens its economy and on positive U.S. economic data, according to CNBC . Brent futures rose $1.35, or 1.6%, to settle at $87.47 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 86 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $81.01. Some gasoline stations in Hanoi and Hai Phong City ran out of stocks last week, causing inconvenience to people, who have to drive around and fill elsewhere. During the seven-day Tet holidays which began January 20, several stations in Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang Province also shut down. According to market management statistics, about a dozen gas stations in Ho Chi Minh City closed during Tet. But the HCMC Directorate of Market Surveillance claimed that only a few out of the over 550 stations in … [Read more...] about Gasoline prices surge amid higher global rates

Malaysia expects tourist arrivals to quadruple in 2023 (Photo:travelweekly-asia.com) Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s Kenanga Research (Kenanga) expects tourist arrivals in the country to jump almost four-fold to 9.6 million in 2023 from an estimated 2.5 million a year ago. The research house said the projection is supported by the resumption of both business and leisure air travel globally as the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end, the revocation of all on-arrival quarantine and testing requirements in Malaysia from Augusut 1, 2022, and the gradual reopening of China. In a study released on January 30, it noted the gradual reopening of China is positive for the country as historically, Chinese tourists account for an estimated 12% of the total tourist arrivals in Malaysia. Meanwhile, MIDF Research (MIDF) revised its FY23F passenger traffic recovery downward to 85% from 95% previously due to the slower return of Malaysia AirAsia’s (MAA) aircraft, but expect stronger growth … [Read more...] about Malaysia expects tourist arrivals to quadruple in 2023