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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Hoa Phat increases steel pipe market share to over 30 percent
Hoa Phat's steel pipes (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Steel manufacturer Hoa Phat Group sold over 184,000 tonnes of steel pipes in the first three months of this year, a 27 percent increase against the same period last year and giving it the lead in market share, with 30.2 percent. Nearly 7,000 tonnes of pipes were shipped to the US, Australia, and Canada during the period, a year-on-year rise of 31 percent. Sales of its steel sheets, meanwhile, neared 74,000 tonnes in the first quarter, triple the figure posted in the same period last year. Steel pipe exports contributed 4 percent to total sales, while shipments of coated steel sheets accounted for 45 percent. Hoa Phat has to date inked deals to export products to the end of July, primarily to Europe, the US, and Mexico. In March alone, sale of steel pipes exceeded 90,000 tonnes, growing 73 percent year-on-year, while that of steel sheets totalled 31,000 tonnes, a four-fold increase year-on-year. Of the figure, steel sheet exports doubled and neared 14,000 tonnes. The combined capacity of Hoa Phat’s steel pipe factories around the country currently stands at 1 million tonnes a year, with steel sheet production reaching 400,000 tonnes. The steelmaker has set a target for the year of producing 20,000 tonnes of steel pipes and about 330,000 tonnes of coated steel sheets./. VNA …
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