Business

The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) has proposed the government impose temporary safeguard duties on imported pre-painted galvanized steel to protect local producers and workers.

Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are encouraged to promote brand building and e-commerce development to enhance competitiveness at a workshop on e-commerce yesterday in Cần Thơ City.

Vietnam attracted over US$17.61 billion in new and additional pledges of foreign direct investment as of October 20, representing an 8.7% decline compared to the same period of 2015, according to the General Statistics Office.

Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.83% in October from last month and posted a year-on-year increase of 4.9%, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The central city of Da Nang plans to relaunch a direct air route to Pakse, in Laos’ province of Champasak, in a bid to boost investment, cooperation, and tourism in the years to come.

Foreign arrivals to Vietnam have reached over 8 million in the first ten months of 2016, up 25.4% year on year, according to figures released by the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The Ministry of Finance said it would tighten spending next year as well as the financial planning for the next five years as state budget revenues have been lower than estimated.

Forty-six per cent of Vietnamese consumers have purchased a product or service on their mobile device in the past six months, according the latest report from Nielsen entitled “Mobile Money Makes the World Go Around”.

A series of projects with total capital of USD66bn for the 2017-2022 period have been submitted to the National Assembly for consideration.

Vietnam was listed in the top three most popular expansion destinations in South Asia, following Singapore and Japan, in United Overseas Bank’s Asian Enterprises Report 2016.

The Vietnamese national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, and Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) will officially implement cooperative programmes from October 30.

A roadmap for implementing a national one-door mechanism for arrival and departure procedures of aircraft will take effect on January 1 next year for Vietnam Airlines and on March 1 for other carriers.

According to the World Bank Group’s annual ease of doing business report released yesterday in Washington D.C., economies in the East Asia and Pacific region are steadily making progress to ease the process of doing business.

ODA interest rates for Vietnam may increase to 2%-3.5% starting from next July as preferential ODA loans end.

The ASEAN Regional Business Council (RBC) has been launched in Hà Nội with the aim of promoting public-private cooperation on the most pressing issues facing Southeast Asia.

The Ministry of Construction is seeking strategic investors in the Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation (IDICO), the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUD), the Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem), and the Song Da Corporation.

Many traditional lottery companies in the southern region are losing out to Vietnam Computerised Lottery Company, Vietlott, which is attracting lots of customers due to its high-value prizes.

The nine-month imports of coal reached 10.5 million tonnes, shooting up 147 percent from a year earlier, and this trend will continue in the next years to meet economic growth demand and ensure energy security.

The Prime Minister has approved a plan to add VND3.6 trillion of reciprocal capital to projects using ODA capital from the medium-term public investment plan for 2016-2020.