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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VN-Index falls as selling pressure weighs market
Trading at JSC Bank For Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV)'s office. The bank shares plunged nearly 2.2 per cent on Thursday. — Photo www.bidv.com.vn Viet Nam’s stock exchange ended mixed on Thursday as the benchmark VN-Index reversed course to finish lower while the HNX-Index continued its rally. On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index declined by 8.62 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 1,247.25 points. The index rose slightly 0.15 per cent in the morning trade. The market breadth was negative with 294 stocks dropping while 141 stocks climbed. The market’s liquidity remained high as nearly 806.5 million shares were traded, worth over VND20.6 trillion. The index successfully tested the support territory of 1,225 – 1,232 points and rebounded at the end of Wednesday’s trade. The move is expected to help the index continue to rise and head toward the resistance zone of 1,275 – 1,300 points in the short-term, Bao Viet Securities Company said in a daily report to customers. “However, during this period, the market is likely to be dominated by some large-cap stocks, along with a strong division between groups of stocks,” the securities firm added. April futures contracts expired yesterday and the event might have a huge impact on large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket. The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks in HoSE, fell 0.51 per cent to 1,284.2 points. Of the VN30 basket, 24 stocks declined while only five increased. Stocks from banking, materials, utilities, information technology, retail, transportation and logistics posted poor performance on Thursday. Of which, top five stocks weighing the market were Vietcombank (VCB), JSC Bank For Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID), Investment And Industrial Development Corporation (BCM), Techcombank (TCB) and Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR). VCB posted the biggest loss in market capitalisation, down 1.22 per cent. The losses were limited by gains in material stocks and real …
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A story of founder of Vietnam’s first UXO female clearing squad
Female sapper Dieu Linh has just attended a virtual ministerial meeting entitled “Maintenance of international peace and security: Mine action and sustaining peace: Stronger partnerships for better delivery,” held by the UN Security Council. She was one of the three keynote speakers at the discussion session of the meeting. Dieu Linh was born and grew up in Quang Tri, Vietnam’s central province, which suffered thousands of tons of bombs dropped by the U.S. Air Force during the war. She said fate has brought her to the work of clearing UXO. “At first, I worked as an interpreter for a Norway-sponsored mine action project. I learnt a lot about the huge consequences of war legacy in my home land. Although decades have passed since the end of the war, UXO is often found in paddy fields, up on hills and in residential areas. I recall when I was small, my friends and I picked up a number of metal pieces and played with them. With our little knowledge, we did not know the metal pieces were grenades or artillery shells. I now feel lucky as these deadly things did not boom. But not all people are as lucky as we were. Since the end of the war [1975], nearly 3,500 were killed and more than 5,000 others were wounded by UXO in Quang Tri,” Dieu Linh spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. With her strong desire to contribute to her homeland, Dieu Linh studied to become a field officer and then a field manager in 2015. Now she is the Chief of the Quang Tri Female Sapper Squad, leading 300 sappers and workers. Every day, she leads the sapper squad to detect and move UXO to safe sites for neutralization. She and members of the squad are trying their best to bring peace and safety to local people and turn UXO-polluted land – the so called “land of death” into farmland for them. Regarding her female sapper squad, Dieu Linh said, “In the past, people used to think that bomb and mine clearance was men’s job, and that women should only serve in support forces like …
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