Day: December 17, 2021

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will enhance inspections to discover illegal finance companies and protect the interests of consumers and licensed finance companies, according to the SBV’s Governor Nguyen Thi Hong.

The decision was made in the Governor’s written response to questions from a National Assembly delegate on banking activities after the media reported some individuals and companies have recently set up and advertised unlicensed loan apps and websites that have affected the interests of consumers.

According to Hong, the SBV has also received a request to cooperate in providing information to the Police for fraud and companies that violate the law.

The Governor said the SBV had directed its branches in provinces and cities to proactively report and propose to the municipal and provincial People’s Committees measures to prevent fraud, stopping individuals and companies from carrying out or advertising banking products and services without getting licences from the SBV.

According to the Governor, consumer loans play an important role in socio-economic development as they improve the quality of life for people through the provision of credit to promote consumption. The increase in consumer demand will help promote production and create more job opportunities, making a positive contribution to economic growth.

Sharing the same view, economist Vu Dinh Anh said in the context of declining incomes due to the pandemic, consumer lending is an important factor to stimulate domestic aggregate demand through a rise in retail and consumption. There will be a large number of people who need this type of consumer finance to enable them to fulfil needs and stabilise their lives.

Consumer credit is often used to describe an unsecured or collateralised loan to support financial resources to meet consumers’ needs such as housing, transportation, living facilities, study, travel and healthcare before they can afford it.

Compared with usury from unreliable sources, consumer loans from credit institutions will be a better and safer choice for consumers. However, experts noted when having access to credit, consumers need a written consumer loan contract, the form and minimum contents of which are specified in the State Bank of Vietnam’s Circular 43/2016/TT-NHNN dated December 30, 2016, to protect their interests and avoid undesirable consequences.

Sixteen finance companies are licensed to provide consumer lending with total charter capital worth more than 22 trillion VND (948 million USD). Those with the largest charter capital include FE Credit (7.32 trillion VND), SBIC Finance (2.53 trillion VND), EVN FC (2.5 trillion VND), Home Credit (2.05 trillion VND) and HD Saison (1.4 trillion VND).

A number of banks have launched finance companies, such as VP Bank with FE Credit, HDBank with HD Saison, SHB with SHB Finance and MBBank with Mcredit.

Banking expert Can Van Luc said Vietnam’s consumer credit market had significant potential for development. Consumer loans are estimated to account for around 18-20 percent of the total outstanding loans in the economy.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam recorded 15,236 COVID-19 infections, including 21 imported cases, during 24 hours from 4pm December 16 to 4pm December 17, according to the Ministry of Health.

There were 15,215 locally transmitted cases, a drop of 52 cases compared to the previous day.

Ben Tre posted the highest number of infections with 1,245, followed by Ca Mau with 1,071 and Ho Chi Minh City with 1,040. The capital city recorded 535 new cases.

Vietnam has so far documented 1,508,473 coronavirus infections, including 1,503,003 cases since the fourth wave of the pandemic hit the nation in late April.

On the day, the country saw 246 deaths from the disease. The death toll now hits 29,103, accounting for 2 percent of the total cases so far.

On December 17, a further 31,057 patients were given the all-clear, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,095,518.

According to the Ministry of Health’s report, 7,912 patients nationwide are in serious conditions, with 966 requiring invasive ventilation and 19 on life support (ECMO).

A total of 136,861,720 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Vietnam, with more than 60.17 million people now fully inoculated.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A seminar on Vietnam – India trade in farm produce and food processing was held in Hanoi on December 17.

The online event was co-hosted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Indian Embassy in Vietnam and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

Speaking at the event, deputy head of the VCCI’s Department of International Relations Truong Thi Bich Ngoc spoke highly of the Indian Embassy and APEDA’s initiative to hold the event, saying that it will open up trade opportunities for Vietnamese firms, especially those working in farm produce.

India is now one of the 10 biggest trade partners of Vietnam with a two-way trade of over 10 billion USD last year. Both countries are striving to achieve 15 billion USD at the earliest. Farm produce is the most important goods in two-way trade.

Vietnam could export fresh fruits, processed food, cashew nuts, tea, pepper and spices to India, a market with a population of nearly 1.4 billion people, she said.

She added that Vietnam lies in a strategic location in the centre of Southeast Asia with a long coastline, proximity to international transport routes and young workforce at competitive cost. Vietnam has reached 14 free trade agreements with over 50 countries and territories, including new-generation deals.

Ta Quang Kien, head of the farm produce policy office under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Agro Processing and Market Development Authority, said in 11 months of this year, Vietnam’s farm produce trade with India reached nearly 1.7 billion USD, of which 424 million USD was Vietnam’s exports.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue attended a ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of Vietnam-India comprehensive strategic partnership in New Delhi on December 17.

In his speech, Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said India always considers Vietnam an important partner and wished that bilateral ties would become increasingly closer, contributing to peace, stability and development in the region.

He also hoped that the two nations would tap their potential to support economic development in each country.

Chairman Hue said Indian political parties support friendship with Vietnam. Over the past five years, important achievements have been made in all pillars of the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.

He said the two countries share similar viewpoints on strategic issues and highlighted the need to maintain peace, maritime and aviation freedom in line with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The top legislator affirmed Vietnam’s policy of treasuring ties with India and supporting India’s Act East policy. Vietnam backs India’s bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council when the organ is expanded, he said.

He also proposed the two nations work closely together to carry out the 2021-2023 Action Programme for bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership as well as the Joint Vision Statement for Peace, Prosperity and People.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam was the fifth largest supplier of aquatic products for Japan in the first 10 months of this year, data from the Japan Customs show.

Between January and October, Vietnam shipped 111,100 tonnes of aquatic products worth 94.94 billion JPY (840 million USD) to Japan, up 1.1 percent in volume but down 2 percent in value year on year.

The Foreign Trade Agency under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade said the market share of Vietnam’s aquatic products in the Northeast Asian country increased slightly to 7.3 percent in the 10 months, from 7.2 percent in the same period of 2020.

Meanwhile, Japan’s demand for aquatic imports often peaks in December and January, when this country marks the New Year festival.

Besides, as COVID-19 has been brought under control in Japan, big-sized shrimp products of Vietnam will have many chances to raise their market share there during this time, the agency noted, recommending businesses further improve product quality to compete with rivals from Indonesia and India.

During the 10 months, Japan imported 1.53 million tonnes of aquatic products valued at 1.17 trillion JPY, down 0.2 percent in volume but up 3.9 percent in value.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

An investment cooperation agreement on infrastructure, industry and innovation development between Vietnam and India worth 4 billion USD was signed in New Dehli on December 17.

The agreement was inked by the Saigon Telecommunications Technology Joint Stock Company (Saigontel) and Ecologic Engineering Private Limited of India within the framework of the Vietnam-India business forum which was organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Federation of Indian Industry and the Vietnamese Embassy in India.

Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and other Indian officials attended the event.

Under the signed agreement, the two companies will focus on infrastructure investment projects with a long-term vision in such localities as Thai Nguyen, Hai Duong, Dong Nai, and Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam.

In India, the two sides will pour capital into innovation hubs and high-tech manufacturing hubs such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telegana, Tamilnadu, Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh and Bangalore – the localities which were regarded as the Silicon Valley of India.

In addition to the development of the above-mentioned large-scale investment projects, Ecologic Engineering and Saigontel will actively contribute to promoting bilateral economic cooperation between Vietnam and India, concentrating on training and developing human resources.

Saigontel, a member of the Saigon Investment Group, is a leading private corporation in Vietnam in developing industrial – urban – service infrastructure. In addition to completing the infrastructure of adjacent industrial parks, urban areas and necessary services to attract investment, Saigontel also pioneers in investment and development of a network of innovation centres at localities, following international models and trends.

Ecologic Engineering is the Indian branch of US-based Quantum Corporation, a leading multi-industry investment group in the US and Europe, currently managing many investment funds and investment companies in the fields of oil and gas, energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, healthcare and high technology. Ecologic Engineering is interested in developing industrial zones, logistics service centres, transport and industrial infrastructure in India and Vietnam.

With a population of 1.39 billion people – the world’s second in terms of population and the 6th largest economy in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the 3rd largest globally by purchasing power parity, India will be a promising market, affirming its role in the Indo-Pacific region in the future.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue hosted a reception in New Delhi for Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on December 17, assuring him that Vietnam always treasures its comprehensive strategic partnership with India.

Hue also lauded India for considering Vietnam a priority in its Act East policy.

He suggested the two foreign ministries work closely together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties next year, continue facilitating high-level exchanges via Party, State, Government, NA and people-to-people exchange channels.

The leader proposed enhancing economic and tourism recovery and development post pandemic, encouraging airlines to soon restore and open more direct flights connecting the two nations’ major cities.

Speaking highly of their close coordination at regional and international forums, especially when the two countries are non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council this year, he wished that India would back Vietnam’s bid for seats at international organisations and agencies.

Jaishankar, for his part, stressed that India attaches special importance to Vietnam’s increasingly improved role in the region and the world, and in ASEAN in particular. He wished that Vietnam would continue serving as a bridge promoting closer linkages between India and ASEAN.

They shared the view that the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership is growing on the five pillars of politics-diplomacy, national defence-security, economy-trade-investment, science-technology, culture-sport and people-to-people exchange. The two countries are actively carrying out the 2021-2023 Action Programme and the Joint Vision for Peace, Prosperity and People adopted in December 2020.

Both sides agreed to step up ties in education-training by increasing India’s scholarships for Vietnam, as well as offer all possible support to energy cooperation, including exploration and exploitation of oil and gas at sea, a field of India’s strength.

On regional and global issues of shared concern, they affirmed that Vietnam and India will continue backing efforts to step up the settlement of disputes via peaceful means in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, for the sake of peace, cooperation, stability and development in the region and the world.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The northern province of Quang Ninh is willing to hold open discussions with Japanese enterprises and create all possible conditions for them in terms of administrative procedures, land clearance, and human resources, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Nguyen Xuan Ky has affirmed.

Addressing a conference to promote Japanese investment in Quang Ninh, held in both online and in-person forms on December 17, Ky said that Quang Ninh prioritises attracting investment in the fields that it has outstanding competitive advantages and distinct potential such as modern general services, processing, manufacturing, high technology, marine economy, logistics, seaports and seaport services, ecological agriculture, and renewable energy.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong stated that the relationship between Vietnam and Japan is in the best-ever stage of development and Japan has always had an extremely important position on the basis of the Vietnam-Japan Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment welcomes Japanese businesses to invest in Vietnam in general and Quang Ninh in particular, especially in the fields that the two sides have potential for cooperation such as healthcare, education and training, infrastructure, energy, oil and gas, digital transformation, environment, trade and hi-tech agriculture.

The ministry commits to joining other ministries, sectors and localities, including Quang Ninh province, to accompany Japanese investors, and cooperate with each other to overcome challenges, take advantage of new opportunities, promote investment, and develop a win-win sustainable economic cooperation, Phuong added.

Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Taikio highly evaluated Quang Ninh province’s completed infrastructures such as an expressway connecting Van Don international airport with Hanoi and Hai Phong.

Although the number of Japanese enterprises in Quang Ninh remains modest, many are interested in investing in the province, he said. Therefore, he expected Quang Ninh to devise a plan to train human resources who know Japanese and proposed establishing a Japanese language department at Ha Long University.

Takeo Nakajima, Chief Representative of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Hanoi, cited a survey conducted by JETRO in August and September 2021 as saying that since 2015, Japanese enterprises have shown more interest in investing in Vietnam than in other countries.

Japanese businesses have pinned high hopes on Vietnam’s development and appreciated the qualifications of the Vietnamese workforce, he added.

At present, Japan is Vietnam’s second biggest investor with 4,792 projects and combined registered capital of 64.2 billion USD, and its fourth largest trade partner with two-way trade reaching 40 billion USD last year.

At the conference, Amata Ha Long Urban JSC signed two memoranda of understanding on cooperation with two Japanese partners, namely KDDI Vietnam Group and Marubeni Group.

Source: Vietnam News Agency