by Dzung Trieu law firm
Exports to Mexico earn US$300 mln in Q1
Vietnam’s export earnings from Mexico in the first three months of the year reached US$292.6 million, up 36.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
The Commercial Office of the Vietnamese Embassy in Mexico said March saw a rise of 17.2 percent to US$94.2 million over last year’s same month.
Vietnam’s imports from Mexico in the first quarter were estimated at US$17.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 47.2 percent over last year’s same period.
Vietnam’s Trade Counsellor to Mexico Hoang Anh Dung said bilateral trade turnover in 2011 exceeded US$1 billion.
Garment exports slow down
Vietnam’s garment exports in the first five months of the year earned US$5.33 billion, showing a slight fall from the same period last year.
May was the third consecutive month the growth rate of the garment sector continued to drop to US$1.1 billion.
In the meantime, footwear export earnings reached over US$2.7 billion, maintaining its growth rate at 10 percent.
Experts mull over banks’ bad debt problems
Senior economists have outlined several ways to pump more money into the economy by settling banks’ bad debt.
Although the banking sector has had negative credit growth in the first four months of the year, commercial banks are still reluctant to lend because of fear of more bad debt.
According to the National Financial Supervisory Committee, the banking sector’s bad-debt ratio last year reached 3.3 percent of all outstanding loans, compared to the 2010 figure of 2.14 percent.
Commercial banks have also said that bad debt rose during the first quarter of the year because many companies could not make payments due to the prolonged recession.
Vietcombank’s bad debt, for instance, increased from 2.03 percent earlier the year to 2.87 percent by March. Its credit growth fell by 0.6 percent compared with the last quarter of 2011.
In addition, Vietinbank’s bad debt also rose to 1.85 percent from 0.75 percent in the first quarter of the year. Its credit growth dropped by 2.6 percent.
Dr. Le Xuan Nghia, a senior economic expert, said the central bank has asked banks to support enterprises by re-scheduling loan terms.
However, he said that banks are also businesses and must ensure that they have profits. Many of them are also coping with a rising number of defaulted loans.
Because credit has been nearly frozen, businesses, and in turn, the economy, have suffered.
Banks can increase their lending only when the majority of the bad debt is settled, according to Nghia.
Dr. Tran Du Lich, a member of the National Advisory Council on Monetary and Financial Policies, also agreed with Nghia, saying that settling the bad debt problem will help raise credit growth.
If bad debt is not settled, the target of achieving credit growth of 17 percent by the year-end cannot be met. The State Bank of Vietnam recently issued document No 2871/NHNN-TD that asks 14 credit institutions to
implement debt-settlement measures based on the Government’s current regulations, and purchase and sell debts according to Decision No 29/2006/NHNN.
The affected banks include Agribank, BIDV, VietinBank, Vietcombank, ACB, Sacombank, Eximbank, Techcombank, MB, MaritimeBank, VPBank, VIB, SeAbank and SHB.
The central bank’s new policy is expected to accelerate bad-debt settlement through debt purchases and sales among banks.
Under this document, commercial banks are encouraged to buy debt from each other. The central bank will be responsible for settling bad debt that commercial banks are unable to sell.
Experts, however, have said that, with their current financial capacity, even strong commercial banks would have to make great efforts in settling their own bad debt before buying the bad debt of other banks. So, this solution appears to be infeasible.
To settle the issue, Nghia said that Government bonds could be issued to buy bad debt. However, he said that to ensure effectiveness, the bond-issuance process must be well-organized.
The Vietnam Debt and Asset Trading Corporation is the only company that specializes in debt purchase and sale.
But this company has certain limitations in capital and labour resources, and will not be able to settle all bad debt.
The branch of the State Bank of Vietnam in HCM City has proposed that the Government set up a company specializing in purchase and sale of bad debt of credit institutions.
Accordingly, the company will help banks settle bad debt, and encourage them to pump more money into enterprises.
The central bank should purchase major bad debt, and then when the banks have an opportunity, they can sell them, according to economist Vo Tri Thanh. “Vietnam had success when applying this method in 2001 and 2002,” Thanh told the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper.
Another economist Nguyen Tri Hieu said that if the central bank purchases major bad debt of commercial banks, it will become a shareholder of the banks.
This will create confidence for investors, and encourage them to pour more money into banks.
If the central bank helps commercial banks settle bad debt by purchasing dead loans, it will, in effect, be injecting capital in order to save small banks, according to Can Van Luc, another economic expert.
One director of a commercial bank in HCM City agreed with this measure, saying that if the central bank buys bad debt, commercial banks will not have to spend much time collecting and settling bad debt and will thus pay more attention to business activities, particularly credit activities.
Agro-forestry-fishery exports reach US$11 billion
Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fishery export turnover is estimated at US$10.9 billion in the first five months of 2012, representing a year-on-year increase of 10.1 percent.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, exports of agricultural products, excluding rice and rubber, saw growth in both export quantity and price to earn US$6.1 billion, two percent higher than the same period last year.
The country is also estimated to ship 3 million tonnes of rice to earn US$1.4 billion in the first five months of this year.
With a dramatic increase of 440 percent in volume and 400 percent in value compared to the same time last year, China has become Vietnam's largest rice export market, followed by Malaysia (30 percent) and Indonesia.
Vietnam is also seeking new alternative markets in African countries such as the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal.
In the meantime, 860,000 tonnes of coffee have been traded at about US$1.8 billion, a surge of 8.7 percent in volume and 3 percent in value compared to the first five months of last year.
Accounting for 13.9 percent and 12.8 percent of Vietnam’s total export volume, respectively, Germany and the US remain its biggest coffee importers, followed by Indonesia, which saw a sudden jump of 8 times higher than the same period in 2011.
Rubber exports enjoyed a considerable hike in volume in most of its major markets with 317 tonnes, including China (16.8 percent), Malaysia (threefold), Taiwan (61 percent) and India (sixfold). However, the falling export price from US$3,000 per tonne to its lowest level of US$1,365 per tonne has resulted in the export value decreased by 7.2 percent to US$952 million.
Around 49,000 tonnes of tea have been sold in the first five months of 2012 to earn US$69 million, an increase of 17.2 percent in quantity and 18.4 percent in revenue.
Such growth can be seen in most of Vietnam’s key export markets including its largest importer Pakistan, with Russia and Germany being the only exceptions.
Great amount of smuggled goods found in southern hub
The HCM City Market Watch Department said it has seized hundreds of thousands of smuggled goods this year.
They include 3,571 packs of cigarettes, 225 mobile phones, 3,383 cosmetic products, 39,593 toys, and 2,995 pieces of apparel, many of them fake Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and other branded products.
The fakes are sold mostly at Binh Tay and An Dong markets.
The department has also discovered and reported 70 instances of price-related violations. They include 55 cases where the prices were not listed and 15 others where it was not done according to regulations.
The offenders were fined a total of VND200 million (US$9,600).
Viettel enters world’s top 10 mobile operators
Viettel has been ranked in the top 10 mobile operators with the most new subscribers in the first quarter this year, according to a report by GSMA Wireless Intelligence.
Viettel surpassed Singapore's SingTel and Axiata of Malaysia and ranked only after network operators in India and China.
As a leading provider of telecommunications services in Vietnam, Viettel has invested both domestically and internationally in countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Haiti, Peru and Mozambique with a revenue of nearly US$6 billion last year.
Central bank continues cutting interest rates
The interest rate board displayed by the SeABank shows that deposit rate is listed at the ceiling -- 12 percent a year
The State Bank of Vietnam – the country’s central bank – cut interest rates for the third straight month as policy makers struggle to revive the economy after inflation slowed to the lowest since 2010.
The deposit interest rate ceiling, together with other benchmark interest rates, will be dropped by 1 percentage point starting next Monday, May 28, according to the State Bank of Vietnam’s Circular No 17 released yesterday.
Accordingly, the maximum interest rate for deposit of under-one-month term will drop to 3 percent a year, and terms from one month and above, 11 percent a year.
The lending rate cap for four preferential sectors will decline by 1 percentage point accordingly, under the central bank’s stipulation that the maximum interest rate slapped on short-term loans in Vietnamese dong will be equal to the maximum deposit interest rate as required by SBV for terms from one month and above plus 3 percentage points a year.
This means the lending cap is now 14 percent a year for borrowers that are small- and medium-sized enterprises, and businesses operating in the supporting industry, and exporting and agriculture sectors.
Meanwhile, other benchmark interest rates, such as the refinancing, discount, and interbank rates will also drop by 1 percentage point, to 12 percent, 10 percent, and 13 percent a year, respectively.
The interest rate cuts are imposed based on the ground that the banking system’s liquidity has been improved, while the consumer price index (CPI) only rose by 2.78 percent in the first five months of this year, the central bank said.
“The cuts are also the central bank’s bid to continue assisting businesses to ease their financial difficulties,” it said.
Sacombank’s power transferred to outsiders
The transfer of power in the Ho Chi Minh City-based Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank, better known as Sacombank, has been materialized with the introduction of a new board.
Almost all the power in Sacombank has been transferred to new shareholders group, ending a year-long acquisition.
At the recent shareholders’ meeting of Sacombank, the new board retained only two Sacombank former members, Dang Van Thanh and his son, Dang Hong Anh, and eight additional newly elected members.
The new 10-member board of Sacombank has four members from the Southern Commercial Joint Stock Bank, two members from the Vietnam Export-Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank), and an independent member.
Four members from Southern Bank are Tram Be, former deputy chairman, Be’s sonTram Khai Hoa - President of Southern Bank Securities Co (PNS), Phan Huy Khang, former Southern Bank CEO, and Duong Hoang Quynh Nhu, former Southern Bank vice CEO.
Two other members from Eximbank are Pham Huu Phu, chairman of Eximbank property arm (EximLand), and Nguyen Mien Tuan - General Director of Vietnam Dragon Securities Co.
Another member is Tran Xuan Huy, general director of Sacombank.
The independent member is Kieu Huu Dung, former Head of Banking Department of the State Bank of Vietnam.
Earlier, five former members of the Sacombank board have been approved for resignation.
Though most of the papers presented at the meeting, including reports on eight additional newly elected board members, have been passed with almost absolute rates, many shareholders have expressed concerns about Sacombank's future.
A shareholder said that the new board had many new members from Southern Bank, while the performance of the bank in the past was not good enough.
Regarding the shareholder’s question whether the new members could manage a big bank at such a scale like Sacombank, Le Hung Dung, Eximbank Chairman, said good administration not only depend on the board members, but also on supporting departments and the inspection committee.
Dung stressed that the business results in 2012 will remain good as before, even better.
"The question can be answered in the following year, after we attend the annual shareholders meeting in 2013,” he said.
A shareholder asked if Sacombank and Southern Bank will merge with one another after the leaders of the latter joined Sacombank board.
A representative group of major shareholders said that the merger and acquisition (M&A) trend will not only occur at just banks but all businesses, as it is a general trend of the economy.
Regarding Sacombank case, the scenario has also been listed in its operational plan during the period 2012-2015.
However, even when the merger take place, the leaders of the 2 banks will ensure the interests and the merger must be approved by a highest proportion of shareholders.
"We cannot rule out, it is not necessarily Southern Bank, or it could be Eximbank, but we cannot tell the future," said the representative, adding that there is no merger plan in 2012.
Regarding the loss of Sacombank Securities Co (SBS), Le Hung Dung said the initial recognition of the fact due to market fluctuations, and the board needs additional time to determine the causes.
The meeting, a major shareholder group will appoint one member, the head of internal audit of Eximbank, to Sacombank to keep a relatively independent role in the objective checkup in Sacombank.
Meanwhile, Dang Van Thanh, chairman of Sacombank, admitted the loss of SBS had made a incomplete picture of Sacombank.
On behalf of the incumbent board, Mr Thanh expressed his apologies to shareholders for the losses in SBS, adding that it had a bad impact to the brand and operations of Sacombank.
"Our issue has been seen as serious lessons learned in the work of governance," Thanh said.
Initially, this group of shareholders will accept the temporary losses of SBS is caused by objective reasons, but the losses due to human errors, would be clarified and reported to shareholders at the 2013 meeting.
The group of shareholders have also discuss and come to the agreement to launch overall audits at some units of Sacombank, including SBS.
Talking to media during the break, Dang Van Thanh said that once joining the stock market, all the participants have to accept the game’s rules.
Therefore, the participation of some new members in the new Sacombank board is very normal.
“By this time I am still the chairman of Sacombank.”
Regarding administration process, Sacombank is one of the pioneers in inviting foreign shareholders.
Sacombank now has many large foreign shareholders, such as IFC, ANZ, Dragon Capital, so it has obtained a professional working methods with the support of those foreign shareholders.
Any shareholder who participating in the bank will also work in a spirit likes that, focusing on transparency and professionalism.
Many entrepreneurs have said listing is extensive participating in the global economy, like sailing into the sea. So, the old sailors can be replaced by the new ones, and such a story is very ordinary.
Regarding small shareholders’ Thanh think this incident should be considered as a normal development process of the bank.
“I think nearly 800 shareholders attending the meeting today will sympathize and find that the market economy is like that, there is nothing to be worried about, and we have to look ahead.”
M&A deals valued at $1.5bln in Q1/2012
The total value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in Vietnam amounted $1.5 billion, accounting for only 1.62 percent of that of the whole Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, in Q1/2012, according to a recent conference.
The total regional value reached $92.4 billion at the same time, according to M&A Vietnam Forum in Hanoi.
The total value of M&A deals reached $4 billion last year, up 243.5 percent year on year compared to the figure of $1.7 billion in 2010, according statistics from Thomson Reuters, IMAA and AVM Vietnam.
Of those, over $2.6 billion transactions were conducted by, or related to, foreign investors.
M&A activities involving foreign investors’ participation will continue to play a major role in the growth of M&A transactions in Vietnam.
In M&A deals in 2011, foreign investors focused on consumption product industries, banking and property sectors.
The proportion participation of foreign investors to M&A deals in Vietnam has risen as foreign investors have found better investment opportunities by buying companies than direct investments.
About 65 percent of foreign investors expected their interest in M&A activities in Vietnam and they will visit Vietnam to study their opportunities, according to a prepared survey for Vietnam M&A Forum which will be held in June in Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnam ranks at the eighth place among regional countries with the most exciting M&A activities with expected annual growth rate of above 30 percent.
Financial – banking, consumer and real estate sectors will continue to be the most attractive targets for M&A activities. Of which, Japanese investors tend to invest strongly in the consumer product and financial sectors.
Japanese corporations/groups have contributed the highest cash flows for M&A activities in Vietnam with $596 million, according to statistics from aforementioned M&A research institutions.
M&A activities are expected to continue rising above 30 percent in 2012, said experts “Solution to promote and improve quality of investment flows in Vietnam” reference held within the forum.
Average growth rate of M&A activities in the country reached 30 percent for the last 5 years.
Transactions of foreign investors on Vietnamese stock market in the recent past showed that foreigners may continue making big deals in 2012.
According to Vietnam Depository Center (VSD), in January 2012, the number of foreign investors granted trading codes surged over 0.13 percent against the end of 2011.
Many local firms are seeking foreign partners to strengthen capital and experience.
Among them, financial companies such as securities companies, insurance companies, and banks, are fonder of foreign shareholders.
Re-export rule change proposed
Goods temporarily imported into Viet Nam for re-export will be permitted to stay in the country for only 60 days after customs procedures instead of 120 days if a proposal by the Ministry of Industry and Trade approved.
The ministry's proposed amendment to import regulations aims to make it more difficult for smuggled goods from abroad to enter the Vietnamese market, and to address deficiencies in the six-year-old Governmental Decision 12/2006/ND-CP on international trade.
Deputy director of the ministry's Import and Export Department Tran Thanh Hai said the new rules aimed to help curb the smuggled, banned and sub-standard goods being sold in Viet Nam.
According to Duong Xuan Sinh, an official from the Smuggling Investigation Department at the Viet Nam Customs, goods temporarily imported for re-export were mainly goods that were not encouraged or banned for import, such as foreign wine and tobacco or industrial waste.
In addition, when importing goods for the purpose of re-export, under current regulations importers were exempt from value added tax, said Sinh.
Taking advantage of Viet Nam's policies for goods imported for re-export, businesses imported goods and later opened containers at customs warehouses to illegally take the goods for sale in the domestic market.
"The longer the goods are allowed to stay in Viet Nam, the more possibilities there are for the goods to penetrate the domestic market," he said.
At a recent workshop to collect ideas on the draft, deputy minister Nguyen Thanh Bien said that after six years of implementation, some of the regulations revealed major shortcomings, including inconsistent mechanisms and legal documents to manage goods for import and export and overlapping or vague responsibilities of ministries and agencies in this field.
Moreover, the decision was issued before Viet Nam gained full membership of the World Trade Organisation, he said, and in the current context the country attached more importance to management of imports and curbing the trade deficit, thus relevant regulations should be more specific.
Under the draft, in Article 4 on procedures for import and export, there will be a regulation on border gates for customs clearance. This clarifies which border gates goods go through.
In Article 5 on goods that are prohibited from being imported, ministers or heads of authorised bodies may consider permitting the import/export of these goods in special cases if they take responsibility for the decision.
In Article 7, goods for import or export must undergo quarantine inspection prior to customs clearance; based on the existing Law on Food Safety and other relevant legal documents, specialised ministries announce lists of goods to inspect prior to customs clearance.
Another new point in the draft is about terms and conditions in goods-outsourcing contracts that involve foreign parties. Accordingly, the contract must include names and addresses of involved parties and the direct
outsourcing company; name, quantity and price of outsourced products, time and kinds of payment, and information on imported material value and waste treatment measures.
The draft amendments are expected to be finalised and proposed for approval by the Prime Minister during the first three months of next year.
Bank sets new standards for gold traders
The State Bank of Viet Nam issued last Friday a circular to guide implementation of Decree 24/2012 on managing gold trading.
According to the decree, effective from May 25, the central bank will issue bullion trading licences to businesses that meet the following conditions: have a charter capital of at least VND100 billion (US$4.8 million), paid tax of VND500 million ($24,000) in each of the last two years, and have branches in no less than three provinces or central cities (in case of credit institutions, the requirements are higher).
The circular, effective from July 10, allows businesses who can meet the requirements a six-month period to apply for a new licence while continuing with their trading activities.
After six months only those licensed by the central bank will be able to buy and sell bullion.
For the production and trading of jewellery and fine-art gold, the transition time is set at 12 months. Within 12 months from the effective day of the decree, producers have to re-register their business before applying for a certificate from the SBV.
Traders of jewellery and fine arts items are also required to re-register within 12 months.
It is estimated that there are around 10,000 gold shops nation-wide, one-fourth of them in HCM City.
Nguyen Van Dung, chairman of the HCM City Association of Fine Arts, Gold, Jewellery and Gemstones, says most gold shops in the city do not have the required VND100 billion ($4.76 million) charter capital and in fact have less than VND10 billion ($476,190).
Customs agencies to grapple with sophisticated transfer pricing fraud
Transfer pricing is the most common method companies use to evade tax, and many are becoming increasingly sophisticated at it, according to customs authorities.
This has prompted customs officers to seek out experts on prices and pricing methods to plug tax losses.
Figures released at recent conferences held to discuss measures against tax losses show that the HCM City customs department collected more than VND82 billion (US$3.9 million) in the last five months after such consultancy.
Tax that would otherwise have been lost on milk imports alone in the last three months was worth VND3 billion (nearly $143,000).
Last year the department avoided losses of VND250 billion ($11.9 million) by consulting experts.
Importers often try to evade taxes by cheating on names and prices, according to the city's Customs Department. This takes the form of claiming to use others product brands and cite lower prices than actual to avoid import taxes.
For instance, a company recently declared the prices of its imported frying pans as being $1.61 and $1.67, but they turned out to cost $1.74 and $1.83.
The city Department of Customs has ordered its offices to expand investigation into the prices of imported frying pans and add the products to their list. It also told them to consult experts to decrease tax losses.
Deputy head of the Hai Phong Customs Department Tran Van Hoi told a conference last week in the northern port city that there were five major types of fraud: cheating on products' origin, quantity, classification, tax level, and taking unfair advantage of tax breaks.
There are an average 10,000 items classified every year for the purpose of collecting import tax, according to the General Department of Customs.
But only around 47 per cent of them are priced correctly, causing a loss of 7.4 per cent in tax revenues. The reason for the rise in pricing frauds, according to customs officers, is the simple procedures in place for starting import-export businesses, which have therefore mushroomed.
These enterprises are, however, not aware of or follow the laws. The overlap in many legal documents, which are also often amended, also pose difficulties for both enterprises and customs.
Consumers' habit of paying for purchases with cash and not demanding receipts while shopping abets trade fraud by companies.
Tax evasion would worsen, deputy head of the Viet Nam Customs' Import-Export Tax Department Luu Manh Tuong warned that since procedures were being simplified making it easier for unscrupulous firms to take advantage if customs oversight was not strengthened.
He called on customs offices to improve oversight of imports by getting up-to-date prices, especially those that attract high taxes and in the list of goods considered vulnerable to fraud.
Vinh Long calls for investment
The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Vinh Long is creating favourable conditions for investors to pour money into the construction of sweet-potato processing plants, according to Nguyen Hoang Hoc, head of the province's People's Committee Office.
Farmers in Vinh Long, the Delta's largest sweet-potato cultivation area, now have a large quantity of sweet potatoes in stock as Chinese traders' purchases have dropped by 40-50 per cent.
Previously, Chinese traders bought about 500-600 tonnes of Japanese sweet potato a day in Vinh Long, according to local traders who sell to the Chinese agents.
The price of Japanese sweet potato in the Delta last Wednesday fell to VND160,000-170,000 per 100 kilos compared to VND1 million per 100 kilos last year.
Of 9,255 ha of sweet potato in Vinh Long, 70 per cent are of the Japanese sweet-potato variety, according to the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Many farmers who grow Japanese sweet potato are facing losses because of the price decline.
Meanwhile, farmers who grow white-flesh sweet potato and red-flesh sweet potato for the domestic market have sold at good prices, VND220,000-360,000 per 100 kilos.
In recent years, despite warnings from local authorities, many farmers have switched from planting rice to Japanese sweet potato because of the high price of Japanese sweet potato.
To help farmers sell sweet potato, the Vinh Long People's Committee has ordered agencies to find more outlets at home and abroad for sweet potato.
The committee has also asked local authorities and the agriculture sector to encourage farmers to not expand the cultivation area of Japanese sweet potato.
Local authorities and the agriculture sector have also been asked to reduce reliance on the Chinese market by carefully calculating the kind and number of sweet-potato varieties to grow to ensure that all of the supply can be sold to domestic and export markets.
Vinashin's revenue cut by over 80%
The Viet Nam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) saw its revenues fall by 81.5 per cent over the first three months this year, reported the Ministry of Transport.
The State-owned shipbuilding giant's revenue reached only VND282 billion (US$13.4 million) during the first three months of the year.
The ministry said this information was included in its report on the overall implementation of transport sector last year and in the first three months this year.
The ministry attributed the group's declining revenue to cumbersome administrative procedures on import of equipment that hinder the group reaching production deadlines. As a result, Vinashin's manufacturing value in the first three months only reached VND960 billion ($45.7 million) or 10.4 per cent of its yearly plan and a 72.3 per cent year-on-year decrease.
According to Vinashin, it is building a series of new cargo and container vessels ranging from 22,500 DWT to 56,200 DWT.
The report also said that total revenues for the entire transport sector stood at VND1.111 trillion ($52.9 million), a 55 per cent decrease over the same period last year.
The lack of State finance for the transport sector was attributed to the low revenues of the whole sector, especially investment capital from Government bonds, the report said.
In addition, the shortage of counterpart capital for land clearance also slowed work, especially for ODA financed projects.
City eyes fair for small, medium businesses in Guangzhou, China
The HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre, in collaboration with the Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency, has asked Vietnamese businesses to participate in the China International Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises fair to be held in Guangzhou, China, in September.
Viet Nam will be invited to be the co-host of the event, which will take place on September 22-25.
The fair will have 4,000 exhibitors coming from 31 provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities in mainland China, and from 20 foreign countries or regions, including France, the UK, Germany, the US, Canada, Sweden, Russia, Spain, and Hong Kong.
The event typically welcomes 200,000 visitors each year.
Top architecture projects recognised by media group
Asia's leading construction media group BCI has ranked Viet Nam's top 10 architecture firms and property developers for 2012.
The firms were recognised during the BCI Asia Top 10 Awards 2012 ceremony held in HCM City last Friday.
The awards for the architecture category were presented to 10 leading firms, including Aedas Viet Nam Ltd, Plan Add Viet Nam Co, Transform Architecture Co Ltd, DP Consulting Co Ltd and RSP Architects Planners&Engineers (Viet Nam) Co Ltd.
The 10 property projects awarded were Berjaya Viet Nam Financial Tower, Mulberry Lane, Noble Plaza, The Bayview Towers, The Estella, Starcity Centre, Celadon City, NOVOTEL, The Empire Residences&Resorts, and World Trade Centre Da Nang. All the projects are in HCM City, Ha Noi or Da Nang.-
Vietcombank offers preferential rates to overcome difficulties
Vietcombank has been providing VND2 trillion (US$95.2 million) in loans with a preferential interest rate to individuals and households from May 21 to September 21 to overcome difficulties in the context of the economic downturn.
Eligible borrowers could be given a rate of 14 per cent for household purchases, building and repairs.
Vietcombank has also offered an interest rate reduction programme in four areas including agriculture, export projects, small-and medium-sized enterprises and supporting industries, with a rate of 12 per cent per year.
Viettel earns $190m from subscribers each month
Viettel has earned VND4 trillion (US$190 million) each month from its 50 million subscribers using telecommunication services, said Nguyen Viet Dung, deputy director of Viettel Telecom.
The turnover included telecom charges of post paid subscribers and payment cards. It meant that Viettel had earned VND80,000 per mobile phone subscriber, equaling a monthly average revenue per unit of $3.8.
Viettel has invested in five foreign countries including Cambodia, Laos, Haiti, Peru and Mozambique, with last year's turnover of around $6 billion and 60 million subscribers worldwide.-
National power grid to feed ethnic homes
The Northern Power Corporation (NPC) under the Electricity of Viet Nam on Saturday launched a project to connect more than 30,000 ethnic households in northern mountainous Son La Province to the national electricity grid.
The project, worth VND557.8 billion (US$26.6 million), will be implemented in three years and include the laying of more than 540 kilometres of 35-kV and 22-kV transmission lines and 875 kilometres of 0,4-kV line, as well as the building of 218 transformer stations and installation of electricity meters for each household.
Eighty-five per cent of the project's capital was allocated from the State budget while the NPC contributed the rest, according to the NPC director, Nguyen Phuc Vinh.
The project would connect the national power grid to an additional 557 remote villages in the province. Currently, about 54,000 households in the province still live without power supplies, accounting for 24 per cent of the total population. The figure was expected to fall by 5 per cent when the project is completed by 2015.
Rice prices fall in Mekong Delta
Rice prices in the Mekong Delta have fallen sharply over the last few days, slowing down trade activities in the region.
Lieu Phuong, a rice trader in the delta region, said that on Sunday the price of unhusked rice had reduced by VND300-400 a kilogram.
A kilogram of IR50404 now fetches only VND4,700-5,100 and the long grain and glutinous rice variety around VND5,400-5,500.
Husked rice price also plunged VND300 a kilogram at the Cai Rang Market in Can Tho City and in Sa Dec town of Dong Thap Province.
Specifically, IR50404 rice variety has fallen down to VND6,800-7,100 a kilogram while a kilogram of long grain rice now fetches VND7,000-7,300.
Fall in rice prices have affected trade activities, with farmers unwilling to sell in anticipation of an increase in prices and rice processing plants reducing capacity or even stopping purchase of rice over the last few days.
IFC, BNP Paribas offer syndicated loan to OCB
Oriental Commercial Bank, or OCB, on Thursday finalized a credit agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC) and BNP Paribas for a syndicated loan of US$25 million, which will be used to retail to local small enterprises.
IFC, a private-sector financing arm of the World Bank Group, provides US$15 million to OCB and the remaining US$10 million is from BNP Paribas, the local lender’s French strategic partner.
The syndicated loan has an annual interest rate of the London Interbank Offered Rate plus 4.5%.
OCB plans to spend the amount lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including US$5 million set aside for those firms owned or run by businesswomen, said the local lender’s general director Nguyen Dinh Tung.
“OCB in the coming time will strengthen lending activity with the financial support from IFC and BNP Paribas. We will focus on giving credits to SMEs in production, export-import, trade, services and agriculture areas and will give priority to environmentally friendly projects,” Tung said in a statement.
According to the bank, it had earlier received from IFC trade guarantee loans totaling US$20 million. IFC has also assisted the bank in risk management in trade financing targeting local exporters and importers.
IFC specializes in supporting the private sector and developing nations via financial investment and consulting services to companies and governments.
Meanwhile, BNP Paribas as a strategic investor of OCB last year increased its capital contribution to the bank to 20%.
Survey shows lending rates still hover around 19%
Some 44% of corporate borrowers are offered lending rates at over 19%, while the acceptable rate is said to be below 14% per annum, says a survey of the HCMC Statistics Office.
From April 10 to May 10, the city’s statistics office conducted a survey into the difficult situation of businesses. Joining the survey were 1,904 enterprises operating in the fields of ago-aqua-forestry, mining, construction, transport, warehousing, accommodation and dining services.
The survey respondents are fairly representative, including micro-enterprises, small and medium enterprises, as well as big enterprises.
According to the survey report, up to 68.8% of the respondents said they had to access loans at lending rates of more than 17%. Among those, 24.5% borrowed at interest rates of over 20%, mostly micro-enterprises and small businesses.
Around 41.5% of the surveyed enterprises replied bank loans only met 25-50% of their capital demand, while 32.5% said the loans satisfied less than 25% of their demand.
Notably, a majority of State-owned enterprises approached State-run banks for loans (88.9%), while non-State enterprises borrowed mostly from joint stock banks (40.1%) and foreign-invested firms often took out loans at foreign bank branches (26.2%).
Of the surveyed small and medium enterprises, 43.9% said they knew of the preferential loan policy for small and medium-sized businesses, but only 9.4% of them had received cheap loans.
As for the interest rate support policy for export-import firms, only 28.6% of the survey participants said they knew of this policy, and a mere 6.5% of them had been given support loans.
Some 41.1% of those surveyed said they planned to scale down production and business due to shrinking domestic demand, difficult access to bank loans and input problems.
Regarding the factors that affect the business environment, 30.5% of the surveyed said inflation had the greatest impact, while 24.3% chose high lending rates as a major factor. Some 10.6% saw difficult access to bank loans as the toughest factor and 10.5% bemoaned the unstable economic management policy.
Enterprises hoped the State would further focus on stabilizing the macro-economy, lending rates and power prices, improving infrastructure and stimulating local consumption.
Source: Vietnamnet
