Day: January 5, 2022

The 2022 “Mua xuan cho em” (Spring for Children) programme will target children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, heard a press conference in Hanoi on January 15.

In its 15th edition, the programme is scheduled to be held at the Hanoi Opera House on January 9 night, the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) said at the press conference.

The event is expected to receive nearly 80 billion VND (3.51 million USD) from organisations, individuals, businesses and donors at home and abroad to support needy children.

NFVC Director Hoang Van Tien said since its inception, the programme has mobilised more than 1.2 trillion VND and provided help for nearly 1 million children.

The January 9 event aims to call for support to orphans in general and those who have lost their parents to COVID-19 in particular, he noted.

Last year, the fund mobilised more than 92 billion VND and assisted 115,000 children affected by the pandemic through different programmes and projects like building classrooms and entertainment areas, financing surgeries and presenting bikes and scholarships to the disadvantaged children.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) on January 5 published a press release regarding Flight VN5311/NRT-HAN of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, which had faced a security threat.

The agency said the flight, using aircraft B787-868, departed from Narita (Japan) for Hanoi at 10:30 (local time) on January 5, with 15 crew members and 47 passengers aboard.

At about 11:10, the Vietnam Airlines branch in Japan received a phone call, with a male voice, who spoke Japanese and claimed himself to be an American.

“Flight VN5311 had better come back to Narita or it will be shot down when passing Tokyo Bay,” the anonymous caller said.

The Vietnam Airlines office reported the incident to the Vietnam Airlines Corporation that then forwarded the information to Japanese authorities, the CAAV and competent agencies of the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security. The Corporation afterward convened an urgent meeting of its emergency committee and steering sub-committee for counter-terrorism.

The CAAV submitted a report on the incident to Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The and Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, who is also Chairman of the National Civil Aviation Security Committee.

With the approval of the Deputy PM and the Minister of Transport, the head of the CAAV instructed Vietnam Airlines to ask for permission from the Japanese side to divert the flight to Japan’s Fukuoka airport.

The flight safely landed at the Fukuoka airport at 13:02. After authorities and police checked the plane and interviewed the crew members and passengers, and the flight’s safety was evaluated, it was permitted to leave Fukuoka at 15:48 for Hanoi, and landed at Noi Bai International Airport at 18:12 (Vietnam time).

The CAAV has reported the incident to competent agencies that will coordinate with the Japanese side to clarify the case.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam has become one of the six countries with highest COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the world, Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh told a teleconference between the Government and localities on January 5.

The Deputy PM said the Government has constantly adjusted pandemic prevention and control measures in accordance with reality, while developing and promoting the vaccine diplomacy policy along with carrying out the largest ever free vaccination drive, which has brought about the remarkable achievement.

He reported that 99.6 percent of the 18-year-old and over-18 population have received at least one shot of vaccine and 90.9 of them have been fully inoculated. The ratios among children from 12 to 17 are 85.6 percent and 57 percent. Work is underway to purchase vaccine for children from 5 to 11 years old.

Deputy PM Minh said this year, the Government will make the best use of every opportunity for national socio-economic development in every sector and locality, and maintain drivers of growth for a long term. He required ministries, agencies and localities to prioritise resources for the effective implementation of the COVID-19 prevention and control programme and the socio-economic recovery and development programme.

He underlined key tasks for 2022, which are restoring and boosting production, trade and exports; stepping up disbursement of public investment capital; pooling resources in public-private partnership for infrastructure development, especially strategic infrastructure; maintaining macro-economic stability and improving the economy’s resilience; accelerating economic restructuring while developing e-commerce and digital economy.

Last year, Vietnam’s gross domestic product expanded by 2.58 percent. Revenue of the State budget surpassed 1.56 quadrillion VND (67.8 billion USD), or 16.4 percent higher than estimate. With a record 668.5 billion USD in export-import value, Vietnam’s trade surplus was estimated at 4 billion USD, making it one of the 20 countries with the biggest trade scale in the world.

Vietnam among six countries with highest vaccination coverage: Deputy PM hinh anh 3

The country saw a 9.2 percent rise in FDI inflows, demonstrating foreign investors’ confidence in Vietnam’s investment and business environment, Minh said.

At the same time, the Deputy PM called attention to existing problems, including potential macro-economic risks, rising inflation pressure and bad debts, exports’ reliance on the FDI sector and several markets, falling domestic purchasing power, and disruption in several manufacturing and supply chains.

According to him, equitisation of State-owned enterprises fails to meet schedule while the service sector, especially tourism, lodging and transportation, still meets difficulties. The handling of weak banks and less-efficient enterprises and projects remains ineffective and the disbursement of ODA and concessional loans is slow.

The Government has submitted to the extraordinary session of the 15th National Assembly fiscal and monetary policies to support the implementation of the programmes on COVID-19 prevention and control and on socio-economic recovery and development, Deputy PM Minh said.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Resolution 128 is of great significance in COVID-19 fight and economic recovery, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong told a seminar, referring to the Government’s Resolution 128/NQ-CP on safe and flexible adaption to and effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Held in Hanoi on January 4, the seminar saw speakers analyzing and evaluating policies adopted by the government last year that have brought about strategic changes to national COVID-19 response, and discussing outlook for 2022 and the following years.

Response strategies introduced by the Government have proved relevant and effective throughout the four waves of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Phuong said, emphaising that Resolution 128 was a game changer in the way Vietnam fights COVID-19 and revitalizes the economy.

It was something people yearning for after lengthy social distancing period, he noted, adding that thanks to the release of the resolution, Vietnam enjoyed positive economic growth in 2021.

Echoing Phuong’s view, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu said Resolution 128 reflects a shift in Vietnam’s COVID-19 fight strategy which has also been widely adopted by many countries worldwide. Most countries now accept “living with the virus,” combating COVID-19 and developing the economy at the same time, he explained.

Phuong further highlighted the positive influence of Resolution 128 on Vietnam’s economic recovery, saying that because of the resolution, GDP growth bounced back to 5.22 percent in the final quarter of 2021 after shrinking over 6 percent in the previous quarter.

“If we have a good and effective virus control model, all social and economic activities and people’s daily life will be able to resume immediately, even strongly,” he stated.

Last year, Vietnam was severely hit by the fourth wave of COVID-19 which started in late April, leaving nearly 1.7 million people infected and over 31,000 dead. The worst-ever COVID-19 resurgence took heavy toll on the country’s economy, pulling down GDP growth in 2021 to 2.58 percent, the lowest in a decade.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Despite the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of goods through seaports keeps growth momentum, especially container cargo. The connection between the two modes of maritime and inland waterway transport has had positive changes, thus reducing pressure on road transport.

According to statistics of the Vietnam Maritime Administration (VMA), currently the fleet of Vietnam-flagged cargo ships has nearly 1,050 units, but of which only 38, accounting for 4 percent, are container ships and the number almost kept unchanged in the 2016- 2021 period.

At present, Vietnam’s import and export transport market is mainly dominated by foreign shipping lines, and the proportion of the domestic fleet is only 6 percent.

Therefore, enhancing competitiveness in the international market by “rejuvenating” the national fleet is identified as an urgent task at present.

VMA deputy director Nguyen Dinh Viet said that in spite of serious impacts of the pandemic, the volume of cargo handled by domestic ships in 2021 is estimated at 156.5 million tonnes, up 2 percent year-on-year.

Container fleet needs to be upgraded to keep growth momentum hinh anh 2

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

In the year, Vietnam’s seaports handled over 703 million tonnes of goods, representing a year-on-year rise of 2 percent. The total volume of container cargo going through seaports rose 6 percent year-on-year to 23.9 million TEUs.

In late November, the container transport route directly connecting Vietnam, Malaysia and India of the Vietnam Maritime Corporation JSC (VIMC) was officially established. Not only shortening the transportation time by 10 days compared to the previous transshipment route through Port Kelang of Malaysia, ships choosing this route can also go directly, without having to combine with foreign container ships.

This raises hopes for Vietnam to have an intercontinental fleet, helping goods owners be proactive in importing and exporting goods, instead of depending on foreign shipping lines with costs of 5-7 times higher.

However, according to a maritime expert, in the intra-Asia market, the average container ship size is about 3,000-5,000 TEUs, while Vietnam’s largest container ship is nearly 1,800 TEUs. If the ships are not upgraded soon, it will be difficult for the Vietnamese fleet to survive in the intra-Asia region, not to mention to reach out to the international market.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Government’s Office has issued a document conveying Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh’s direction on adjustments to a pilot programme on receiving foreign tourists.

Accordingly, taking into account a proposal by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the Deputy PM tasked the Ministry, along with the Ministries of Health, Public Security, Defence, Foreign Ministry, Transport, and Information and Communications; authorities of Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, Binh Dinh; and other relevant agencies with implementing the pilot programme in a safe and effective manner.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, meanwhile, is assigned to work with competent ministries and sectors in studying, implementing, and amending a temporary guide for receiving foreign arrivals in line with regulations on COVID-19 prevention and control.

As many as 1,753 passengers from abroad came to Vietnam on 17 flights between January 1 and 3, the first three days after the resumption of regular international flights, according to a report by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Ho Chi Minh City plans to start work on several important transport projects in areas surrounding its Tan Son Nhat International Airport in 2022 so as to ensure synchronisation with the airport’s Terminal T3 project.

Specifically, this year, the city’s management board for investment and construction of transport projects will build a road connecting Tran Quoc Hoan and Cong Hoa streets, upgrade Cong Hoa street from alley 2 of Tran Quoc Hoan street to Thang Long street, expand Hoang Hoa Tham street from the military base near the airport to Cong Hoa street, and expand Tan Ky Tan Quy street.

Luong Minh Phuc, Director of the management board, said that in 2022, it will pay attention to investing in projects at the city’s gateway such as National Highways 22 and 50, An Phu intersection and Tan Son Nhat airport and Cat Lai port.

Construction is also sped up on the road connecting Tran Quoc Hoan street with Terminal T3, he added.

Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City is currently one of the two largest and most important airports of Vietnam. However, before the COVID-19 broke out over the globe, it was usually overloaded.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

As the corporate bond market has shown signs of fast growth, this capital mobilisation channel will be closely inspected and controlled this year.

The corporate bond market has flourished with an estimated annual issuance value of over 500 trillion VND (21.9 billion) in 2021, bringing the total value of recent outstanding corporate bonds to nearly 1.2 quadrillion VND, accounting for about 11.4 percent of the total credit outstanding of the whole economy and accounting for about 14.5 percent of 2021 GDP.

In the context of banks tightening credit growth, corporate bonds have become an increasingly important medium and long-term capital channel for businesses. In the residential real estate sector, corporate bonds even account for nearly half of the total loan balance.

As the corporate bond market has shown signs of rapid growth, the loopholes of the market are becoming more obvious. Due to easy issuance conditions, a series of loss-making businesses have still successfully mobilised thousands of billions of d?ng. Most corporate bonds on the market are unsecured. The rest are secured mainly by future projects or by stocks. In other words, if a business collapses, investors are left empty-handed.

The risks have made market regulators start to inspect the market. At the end of 2021, a series of bond issuers were sanctioned by the State Securities Commission for violating the provisions of the law.

In a recent announcement, the State Securities Commission said that it would continue to closely inspect and control the issuance of corporate bonds in the future. In addition, the State Bank has also issued Circular No 16/2021/TT-NHNN, tightening of corporate bond trading activities of credit institutions.

Dinh Trong Thinh, an economist, told Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) Newspaper that it was necessary to “purge the corporate bond market to avoid collapse”.

“Only a few issuers violating the law would make investors lose confidence in the whole corporate bond market,” he said.

“Although the corporate bond market is in its early stages of development, its recent scale has greatly reduced the credit pressure for banks. However, if a spillover effect occurs, the entire national financial system will be thrown into turmoil,” he said.

While corporate bond issuance activities are tightened, the maturity dates of most of the bonds in the market are close.

Nguyen Quang Thuan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of FiinGroup, said that out of a total of nearly 1.2 quadrillion VND of recent outstanding corporate bonds, up to 40.7 percent will hit their maturity dates in 2022 and 2023.

The outstanding value of corporate bonds in the non-financial sector currently totals 780 trillion VND, accounting for nearly 69 percent of the total value. In the next three years, businesses (excluding banks, securities companies and financial companies) are under pressure to pay their investors more than 500 trillion VND in debt.

The Ministry of Finance is drafting a Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No 153/2020/ND-CP dated December 31, 2020 stipulating the private placement of corporate bonds in the domestic market and international market. Accordingly, the conditions for the placement will be tightened and enterprises will face many difficulties in raising capital to pay debts when the bonds reach their maturity dates.

In order to ensure the source of debt repayment, experts said businesses must standardise their operations to meet the conditions for issuing bonds. Enterprises must also consider other sources of capital to pay debts to investors.

Both securities and corporate bonds are medium and long-term capital mobilisation channels for the economy, it is necessary to facilitate their development to reduce the capital dependence of enterprises on the banking system, Dao Minh Tu, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, said.

“However, corporate bonds are only good for the economy if this market develops transparently,” he said.

The State Securities Commission is urgently building a secondary bond trading floor and tightening the conditions for issuing corporate bonds. Amendments to Decree No 153 is expected to be officially issued in 2022. Under the amendments, enterprises without collateral, doing business at a loss will not be eligible to issue bonds on the floor.

Vu Thi Thuy Nga, Deputy General Director of the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), said this secondary bond trading floor will be launched by the end of 2022, contributing to increasing liquidity and reducing the risk for investors.

Source: Vietnam News Agency