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Key Challenges in Vietnam-US Trade Negotiations: Unpacked
Vietnam’s Private Sector Development Push: Unpacked
Vietnam’s Aviation Industry: State of Play 2025
Vietnam and the Middle Income Trap: Unpacked
Vietnam’s 8 Percent GDP Growth Target: Unpacked
Buy More, Sell Less: Tackling Vietnam’s Trade Surplus with the US
Is Vietnam the Next Asian Tiger Economy?
What Recent Traffic Reforms Say About Doing Business in Vietnam
Building An International Financial Centre in Vietnam: Unpacked
Vietnam’s Economy in 2024: A Brief Recap
What to Watch Now Google Has An Office in Vietnam
Does Vietnam Have a Private Consumption Problem Too?
The 8th Session of Vietnam’s National Assembly: Key Takeaways
Rethinking Financing Vietnam’s Clean Energy Transition
Vietnam rare earth mine owner seeks partner for mine exploitation and more
The company, Lavreco, which is a subsidiary of Vinacomin-Minerals Holding Corporation which is part of state-owned miner Vinacomin, has had the licence on the mine for over ten years but progress has been slow. Of note, the company recorded revenue of just US$9,800 in 2022…
Unpaid taxes blamed on late payment from Electricity Vietnam
EVN was selling electricity at a loss for most of last year and 2022 and the start of this year too. This saw the state-owned enterprise accumulate losses of over US$1.5 billion. It has never been made clear how these losses have been covered but, in light of these claims, it could very well be that power producers may be footing the bill.
Interest rate hike speculation in Vietnam heats up
Whereas the bank has been spending its US dollar reserves in an attempt to keep the dong from devaluing too much, the reality is that it has already spent a lot–about US$2.95 billion according to ACB data and this has done little to weaken US dollar demand. With this in mind, an interest rate hike could be on the horizon.
Vietnam issued regulations for e-wallets, cryptocurrency
Authorities in Vietnam have been talking about regulating cryptocurrency for some time. Definitive regulations, however, have been somewhat elusive with parties engaged in the cryptocurrency trade relying on a patchwork of other regulations–digital payments guidelines, for example, to guide the industries development…
Vietnam minimum wage regions to change at next wage hike
The four regions by which Vietnam defines what minimum wage should be paid where, are to be updated this year when the minimum wage rises in July. This will see several local government areas move up a bracket giving an extra boost to minimum wage workers in these areas. Moving
Netflix takes down video games in Vietnam at MIC request
Netflix and the MIC have been at loggerheads for years now over compliance with the Cybersecurity Law with Netflix resisting demands from the MIC to open a local office. It’s not just Netflix either. The MIC wants all cross-border service providers to have a presence in Vietnam, ostensibly so that the ministry can better enforce its…
Vietnam’s Foreign Investor Stock Sell-Off: Unpacked 2024
On March 27, foreign traders net-sold US$73.8 million worth of Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange–known colloquially as the HoSE–stocks. This was the biggest single-day net withdrawal from the market since at least December. It was, however, part of a trend that has seen foreign traders exit the market to the tune of US$1.18 billion in the six months to May 3 alone…
State Bank of Vietnam adds US$600 million to forex intervention tally
The State Bank looks to be using its forex reserves as a stop gap until the US cuts interest rates which should take some heat out of the US dollar. That said, the earliest analysts are expecting a US rate cut is July but September is looking much more likely, according to Morgan Stanley…
Owner of Vietnam’s gold hotel in Hanoi sees debts put up for auction
The connection to the gold hotel in Hanoi, whether it’s up for grabs or not, is noteworthy in that it was finished in 2019 right before COVID-19 saw borders close for the better part of two years. Up to that point, Vietnam’s economy had been going gangbusters as Vietnamese real estate and construction tycoons issued bonds and borrowed money hand over fist expanding…
Apple deleted 5,000+ Vietnam apps mostly for fraud, one at gov’t request
Just one app was also removed in 2023 for beaching Vietnam’s Cybersecurity Law. This law requires cross border service providers like streaming sites and online video game distributors to open local offices and store data locally. That said, with just one takedown request for the whole of last year (for comparison in China it was 1,285) enforcing this law in Vietnam looks to be shaping up as…
Vietnam Electricity denies Apple supplier asked to reduce power use by 30 percent
EVN has said reports it had asked Apple supplier Foxconn to voluntarily reduce its power use by 30 percent, are incorrect. The original source of the report was a Reuters article based on information provided by ‘two people familiar with the matter’. In the interests of deciphering what’s true and what’s not, there are a few points to consider…
Vietnam’s Land law 2024 for Foreign Investors
Last year, a revised Law on Land passed Vietnam’s National Assembly. This revised law has the potential to have a huge impact on Vietnam’s land market and could speed up foreign-invested projects considerably. With this in mind, this cheat sheet runs through the key changes in the new Law on Land and how this might impact foreign firms doing business in Vietnam.
Total bad debt of 28 Vietnam banks up 14 percent at end March
Back in December banks went on a lending frenzy as they tried to make up for lacklustre credit growth throughout 2023 by cramming it all in at the end of the year. This saw very aggressive marketing campaigns take place and this led credit to…
Concerns raised in Vietnam over cheap steel imports from China
Needless to say, local producers have cried foul and argue that Chinese steel is being dumped on the Vietnam market. They have reportedly requested that the Ministry of Industry and Trade initiate an anti-dumping investigation…
Postponement of anti dumping duties on solar panels from Vietnam to come to an end in June
Of note, in a Department of Commerce hearing a couple of weeks ago, the core argument made by opponents of Vietnam’s redesignation as a market economy, was that Vietnam was being used as a conduit for Chinese goods looking to circumvent US trade restrictions. In this context, this latest development, especially in an election year, could speak to the thinking at the White House on the matter, in that it may not want to be seen as allowing this sort of thing to happen and, by extension, may also not want to be seen as supporting Vietnam’s efforts to be designated a market economy.
Vietnam’s VinFast runs into trouble in the US over unpaid rent
Of note, a lot of the challenges VinFast has faced entering the US market can largely be traced back to fundamental differences between doing business in Vietnam and doing business in the United States, and a failure to properly understand the differences…
Total forex reserves spent keeping the dong steady reach US$2 billion: ACB
This is a significant jump from last Wednesday when ACB estimated that the bank had spent just US$900 million. Of note, Vietnam is cagey about its foreign currency reserves and does not regularly publish forex data. It does, however, periodically communicate what it has on hand with the International Monetary Fund. The last report from the IMF, in September of 2023, recorded forex reserves of…
Apple supplier Foxconn has been asked to reduce its power use in Vietnam
Promoting power conservation is not a new concept. This happens just about everywhere in the world. That said, what should be concerning is the volume of power Foxconn is being asked to cut. Whereas a firm might be able to save a few kilowatts here or there, it would be very unusual for a firm to be operating with an inefficiency in their power use of 30 percent.
US agricultural exports scouting boost through trade mission to Vietnam
That said, imports of agricultural products into Vietnam have, of late, ruffled the feathers of local agricultural producers. In March, for example, the Vietnam Livestock Association and the Animal Feed, Large Livestock and Poultry Breeding Associations requested that the Government of Vietnam apply additional technical barriers on imported meats.
Vietnam bank-lending growth far from target at 1.6 percent
Whereas in the past credit growth for individual lenders has been set at the start of the year and increased as needed–but ensuring overall credit growth doesn’t go over a set limit–this year all stops have been pulled out. The State Bank has set the limit–although it’s more of a target at this point–at 15 percent overall but said banks are free to lend as they please with no institution-specific caps.