Category: Business

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has announced that the his government cabinet will set up a committee to supervise investments.

Earlier, Malaysia secured a record of 170 billion MYR (40 billion USD) worth of investment commitments from China. This was a result of the signing of 19 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) between Malaysian and Chinese companies.

The projects are being monitored by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, and Malaysia External Trade Development Corp.

Former second finance minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the government should set up a committee under the International Trade and Industry Ministry to monitor investments coming into the country.

Johari, who is the Titiwangsa MP, said it was important to monitor the implementation of MoUs entered by Malaysian companies with foreign entities so they can take the next action steps as well as grasp the difficulties and obstacles that investors encounter.

He emphasised that there must be a team to monitor such investments and this can be done through MITI. Reports from time to time are needed, on why the investments were successful, why they were not, and why postponements were warranted.

He said there must be follow-ups on the MoUs to understand the issues, including those faced by potential investors.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Dr. Carmelo Ferlito, Chief Executive Officer of Centre for Market Education (CEM), said there are three main issues that need to be monitored and popularised properly, namely the difference between the approved MoU, foreign direct investment (FDI) and actual (realised) FDI; the transition from MoUs to FDI which have been approved and then to FDI implemented; and the final matters that have hindered the implementation of FDI projects.

To enhance Malaysia's ability to attract FDI and develop an appropriate communication strategy, the official suggested that MITI should establish an FDI monitoring committee with the participation of International Chambers of Commerce and representatives from Malaysia’s industry./.

Source: Source: Vietnam News Agency

The first quarter of 2023 saw a decline of 2.2% in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) compared to the same period last year, due to the impact of the world economy's challenges on domestic production and business, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Among the sectors, the mining industry recorded the highest IIP decrease with 4.4%. The processing and manufacturing industry followed with 2.4%, while the electricity generation and distribution sector saw a decline of 1%.

However, the water supply, waste-water treatment and management activities witnessed an increase in IIP by 7.8%.

Several essential industrial products showed a decrease in IIP during the first quarter of 2023, including automobiles (17.8%), bar and angle steel (15.8%), motorbikes (13.8%), phone components (13.4%), textiles from natural fibres (13.1%), mobile phones (13.1%), casual wear (10.2%), and cement (9.9%).

The decline in production of these key products impacted the IIP and value-added of the industrial sector in the first quarter of the year.

The industry's consumption index also decreased. The consumption index of the processing and manufacturing industry in the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 2.9% year on year.

This led to an estimated inventory of the processing and manufacturing industry in the first quarter, up 19.8% over the same period last year.

That situation showed that enterprises' production and business efficiency was significantly affected.

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), IIP in the first quarter of 2023 increased in 48 localities but decreased in 15 localities.

Several localities with IIP achieved a relatively high increase due to the increase of IIP in the processing and manufacturing industry; and electricity generation and distribution industry. They included Cao Bang (up 26.8%); Tuyen Quang (22.6%); Hai Phong (14.8%); Quang Ninh (13.6%); Hai Duong (12.5%); and Nam Dinh (12.3%).

Some localities had low growth rates or reduction in IIP, such as Quang Nam (34.3%); Bac Ninh (18.8%); Vinh Long (16.5%); Soc Trang (15.6%); and Vinh Phuc (8.1%).

The decline in industrial production in the first months of 2023 was due to external and internal factors.

Economic competition and trade wars have been more intense. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has kept the global prices of input fuel, energy and logistics high, affecting the production costs of domestic enterprises.

In addition, inflation is still at a high level. Monetary policy has been tightened, leading to stricter spending in some large consumer markets such as the US and EU. This has caused export orders to decrease, greatly affecting the production of Vietnam's enterprises.

Moreover, the reopening of China has created a lot of pressure on countries with similar export products, including Vietnam.

In the domestic market, purchasing power has resumed, but the recovery has not stimulated production.

Enterprises still have difficulties accessing capital and face high bank interest rates and input costs of raw materials, especially in the processing and manufacturing industry. The absorption capacity of capital has begun to decrease due to the lack of orders.

Production and business optimism

The majority of surveyed enterprises have provided positive evaluations about the production and business situation in the first three months of this year, according to a report on the operation of enterprises in the first quarter of 2023 recently released by GSO.

Specifically, the survey results on business trends of enterprises in the processing and manufacturing industry in the first quarter of 2023 showed that 24.3% of enterprises rated the production and business situation as better than in the fourth quarter of 2022.

About 37.2% of enterprises said that the production and business situation was stable, and 38.5% of enterprises rated it as having difficulties.

For the second quarter of 2023, 44.1% of enterprises expect the trend to be better than the first quarter, while 35.3% of enterprises said that the production and business situation would be stable, and only 20.6% of enterprises have forecast greater difficulties.

In the first quarter of 2023, Vietnam had nearly 34,000 newly registered enterprises with total registered capital of 310.3 trillion VND, down 2% in the number of enterprises and down 34.1% in registered capital compared to the period last year.

The nation had more than 23,000 enterprises returning to operation, down 10% from the same period in 2022, bringing the total number of newly established and resumed enterprises in the first three months of 2023 to nearly 57,000 enterprises, down 5.4% on the year.

During the first three months, the number of enterprises temporarily suspending business was 42,900 enterprises, up 20.1% over the same period last year. About 12,800 enterprises stopped operating and waited for dissolution procedures, up 13.1%, and 4,600 enterprises completed dissolution procedures, up 6.5%./.

Source: Source: Vietnam News Agency

The paper industry needs to switch from production of normal packaging since supply exceeds demand and invest in other items such as high-quality packaging paper, which is still mostly imported, according to the Vietnam Paper and Pulp Association.

Dang Van Son, the association vice president and general secretary, said the paper industry had grown by over 10% annually in recent years to produce nearly 10 million tonnes a year now.

There are some 500 firms in the paper and pulp industry.

Around 90% of their output is normal packaging paper for the garment and textile, woodworking and other industries.

"Vietnam is now one of the largest packaging paper producers in Southeast Asia," Son told a meeting held to introduce four international exhibitions, Paper Vietnam, Rubber and Tyre Vietnam, Coatings Expo Vietnam, and Plastech Vietnam, in HCM City late last month.

Most of the output was sold domestically, he said.

But since September 2022 the industry had faced difficulties since demand in both the domestic and export markets had shrunk, he said.

“It is currently a supporting industry for exports such as footwear, textiles and furniture, and so their decline in exports has led to a decrease in consumption of packaging paper.”

"Paper mills are only operating at 50- 60% of capacity now," he said.

“We exported one million tonnes of paper in 2022, but this year it may decrease. Export orders have decreased sharply. In the domestic market, demand is forecast to decrease by 10%. This is a huge difficulty for businesses.”

With more new mills set to be commissioned in the coming years, another three million tonnes of output would be added by 2025, mainly of packaging paper, with foreign enterprises too seeking to invest in the industry, he said.

Demand for normal packaging paper is high in the domestic market, but supply has increased faster than demand, leading to oversupply, according to the association.

The country spends billions of dollar to import high-quality packaging, coated and other technical paper varieties.

Besides exporting to traditional markets such as China, the US and EU, the industry should also enter new markets such as the Americas, Middle East and North Africa, Son said.

Participating in trade fairs would give businesses a great opportunity to access new customers.

The industry faces difficulties such as reliance on imported raw materials since investment in pulp production remains modest and lack of skilled human resources.

It imports more than 500,000 tonnes of pulp a year, while the country exports over 15 million tonnes of wood chips, the main raw material for pulp production.

"The industry is naturally suited to a circular economy as its basic raw materials come from planted forests and used paper," Son said.

Addressing the lack of raw materials was among the keys to sustaining the industry, and the Government should encourage investment in pulp production using modern technology that ensures environmental protection, he said.

Fostering co-operation between academia and industry was imperative to ensure skilled human resources for the industry, he added./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

- Non-cash payment transactions witnessed a significant surge in the first two months of this year, indicating a notable shift in customers’ behaviour towards modern financial services.

Latest data of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) showed the volume of cashless transactions increased by 50.1% year-on-year, with QR code transactions posting the strongest surge of 142% in quantity and 50% in value.

Internet-based transactions saw an increase of 90.2% in volume and 10% in value, followed by mobile phone transactions with 60.3% and 13.9%, respectively. POS transactions increased by 36.7% in volume and 29.7% in value.

According to the SBV’s Payment Department, there has been notable progress in digital transformation activities in the banking industry when 95% of credit institutions have adopted and implemented digital transformation strategies in their units. Many of the top credit institutions that have embraced digital transformation have already achieved 90% of customer transactions on digital channels.

For example, VPBank's digital app streamlines banking activities from depositing money, making payments, opening credit cards and borrowing funds online. Sacombank offers "Tap to phone" for contactless payments and TPBank introduces personalised payment features like "Facepay."

These positive outcomes in digital transformation activities within the banking industry show that there is a clear shift towards a more digital future.

Last year, digital payment reported an 85.6% increase in volume and a 31.4% increase in value compared to 2021./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on April 1 sent a message of congratulations to Alikhan Smailov on his re-appointment as Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The same day, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue congratulated Erlan Koshanov, who was re-elected as Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) announced it would reduce several policy interest rates from April 3, the second cut within one month, the regulator announced on its website March 31 night.

"In order to extricate the obstacles for the economy, businesses and citizens, the SBV decided a further cut on the policy rate," it said in a website statement.

Refinancing rate will be revised down to 5.5% from 6%, while the discount rate will remain unchanged at 3.5%.

The overnight electronic interbank rate will remain at 6.0%.

Caps on interest rates of dong-denominated deposits for terms between one month and less than six months will be lowered to 5.5% from 6% while the cap on the lending interest rates for short-term loans in some sectors will be reduced to 4.5% from 5%, it said.

The central bank said it decided to cut the rates “amid continued global economic uncertainties that led to the nation’s slowing economic growth in the first quarter while inflation is under control and banks have a surplus of liquidity,” according to the website statement.

The decision reflected an uncertain global outlook, with inflation in several countries high and Q1's economic growth lower than those of the same quarters in previous years, the SBV said, adding that domestic inflation was under control.

Vietnam’s economy reduced its speed to 3.32% growth in the first quarter from a 5.92% expansion in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Earlier this month, the SBV also cut several policy rates, its first policy easing since late 2020 after a series of interest rate increases./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnamese Embassy in Canada on April organised activities to promote the images of the Vietnamese country, people, and tourism at the Ottawa Travel and Vacation Show.

The event is among activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Canada. It’s also the first major event that Canada has organised in Ottawa since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 150 representatives from embassies, international travel agencies, and travel service operators attended the event, which aims to show the importance and value of tourism products and services now, especially after the pandemic.

Visitors to the show are provided with information about more than 60 international destinations and dozens of Canadian attractions.

Vietnam and Canada are witnessing fruitful relations, especially in the economic field, with their two-way trade value reaching 11 billion CAD (8.31 billion USD).

Currently, the two sides maintain people-to-people and economic exchanges through associations and organisations such as the Canada-Vietnam Friendship Association or the Vietnam-Canada Business Association./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Thai authorities are hunting for a hacker who claims to have stolen personal data of 55 million Thais for ransom.

Local media cited Pol Lt Gen Worawat Watnakhonbancha, commissioner of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB), saying that the CCIB has asked the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) as well as the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) to look into the case and find out whether the personal data was hacked or leaked by certain officials.

Previously, local media reported that a hacker named “9Near” posted on BreachForum - an electronic information site specialising in the sale and purchase of leaked personal data from public agencies and private companies - that he/she is holding personal data of 55 million Thais, including name, address, date of birth, citizen identification number and phone numbers.

On the website 9near.org, the hacker threatened to reveal the source of the leaked information and make all the leaked information public if the relevant agency or organisation does not respond to the request for money before 4pm on April 5. The website also displays an online countdown timer.

DES Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn said on March 31 that personal identification card data kept by the Ministry of Internal Affairs has not been leaked.

He said the ministry contacted the 9near website’s hosting service, which is located overseas, to shut it down for possible privacy violations, but has yet to receive an answer.

The ministry is also seeking a court order to block the website in Thailand over possible violation of the Computer Crime Act of 2017.

Minister Chaiwut also said the leaked information did not appear to contain sensitive data, such as medical records. He believes the information gathered by the hackers may have been taken from agencies or companies that have substandard cyber-security systems.

Chaiwut also warned that releasing other people’s personal information is a criminal offence and can result in five years in prison and/or a fine of up to 1 million THB (29,350 USD)./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency