Day: January 13, 2022

The World Bank (WB) has forecast that Vietnam’s economic recovery is likely to accelerate in 2022 as GDP growth is expected to rise to 5.5 percent from 2.6 percent in the year just ended.

The forecast was made in the WB’s economic update for Vietnam that was released during a press teleconference in Hanoi on January 13.

Entitled “No time to waste: The Challenges and Opportunities of Cleaner Trade for Vietnam”, this edition argued that greening the trade sector should be a priority. Trade, while an important driver of Vietnam’s remarkable economic growth over the past two decades, is carbon-intensive – accounting for one-third of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions – and polluting.

While Vietnam has started to decarbonise activities associated with trade, more need to be done to respond to mounting pressures from main destination markets, customers, and multinational companies for greener products and services, it said.

“Trade will be key component of Vietnam’s climate actions in the years to come,” said Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam. “Promoting greener trade will not only help Vietnam follow through on its pledge to reach net zero emission in 2050 but will also help it keep its competitive edge in international markets and ensure trade remains a critical income and job generator.”

The report recommended that the Vietnamese Government act on three fronts: facilitate the trade of green goods and services, incentivize green foreign direct investment, and develop more resilient and carbon-free industrial zones.

Assuming the COVID-19 pandemic will be brought under control at home and abroad, the forecast envisioned that Vietnam’s services sector will gradually recover as consumer and investor confidence restores, while the manufacturing sector benefits from steady demand from the US, the European Union, and China. The fiscal deficit and debt are expected to remain sustainable, with the debt-to-GDP ratio projected at 58.8 percent, well below the statutory limit.

The outlook, however, is subject to serious downside risks, particularly the unknown course of the pandemic. Outbreaks of new variants may prompt renewed social distancing measures, dampening economic activity. Weaker-than-expected domestic demand in Vietnam could weigh on the recovery. In addition, many trading partners are facing dwindling fiscal and monetary space, potentially restricting their ability to further support their economies if the crisis persists, which in turn could slow the global recovery and weaken demand for Vietnamese exports.

WB experts said careful policy responses could mitigate these risks. Fiscal policy measures, including temporary reduction of VAT rates and more spending on health and education, could support aggregate domestic demand. Support for affected businesses and citizens could be more substantial and more narrowly targeted. Social protection programmes could be more carefully targeted and efficiently implemented to address the severe and uneven social consequences of the crisis. Heightened risks in the financial sector should be closely monitored and addressed proactively.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang plans to transport goods with stabilised price to its seven island communes for locals on the occasion of Tet (Lunar New Year), according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

The activity is part of a programme to create favourable conditions for people living in island communes, especially disadvantaged and low-income households, on the threshold of the most important and longest holiday in Vietnam.

The goods include those largely consumed during the occasion such as cattle meat, rice, beans, eggs, milk, cooking oil, sauces, spices, confectionery, processed food, beverage, those needed for COVID-19 prevention and control work, and other essentials.

The department is authorised to coordinate with enterprises in the programme’s implementation. It will collaborate with relevant authorities in supervising the delivery of goods, ensuring that it meets the food safety and quality standards with reasonable prices.

The enterprises engaged in the programme have to commit to selling goods at an equal price or lower than that in the mainland as well as list prices of items so people are informed. They are also required to strictly follow COVID-19 pandemic prevention regulations to assure the safety of both sellers and buyers.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Home Affairs reduced the number of civil servants nationwide by 10.1 percent in 2021, for the first time exceeding the Politburo’s target.

This was one of the most outstanding achievements that came to light at the ministry’s online conference on January 12, reviewing performance in 2021 and setting out tasks for 2022.

The Party Central Committee issued Resolution 39-NQ/TW in 2015 on streamlining and restructuring public and civil workers. It set a target of downsizing 10 percent of public and civil workers.

According to the ministry, about 8.94 percent of commune-level officials and civil servants were made redundant in 2021.

As of the end of 2021, the number of part-time officials working at commune, village and residential levels reduced by 49.25 percent compared to 2015.

The number of public administrative units in 2021 reduced by 12.35 percent compared to that of 2015.

The provinces of Cao Bang, Binh Phuoc, Ninh Thuan, Ca Mau, Lang Son, Long An, Kien Giang, Vinh Phuc, An Giang and Gia Lai have all been active in rearranging civil servant structures.

The ministry has offered consultations to authorities at all levels to approve an additional 27,850 teachers to localities, as required by the National Assembly.

Thanks to the efforts of the ministry, 100 percent of administrative agencies have received and handled documents online.

The ministry has reviewed and removed required certificates of foreign language, computer and other training certificates for public employees and civil servants, receiving public support.

Attending the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh praised the sector for offering consultations to the Government and the Prime Minister to make amendments and supplements to a number of legal documents. The ministry has provided consultations to the National Election Council, the Government, the Prime Minister to successfully hold the national election of 15th National Assembly deputies and People’s Council members for the 2021-26 tenure.

The PM said the functions and responsibilities of the internal affairs ministry in 2022 would be important and sensitive because the work is related to personnel.

He urged the sector to compile criteria and procedures for its work and make a contribution to finalising mechanisms.

“Investing in mechanisms is investing in development,” he said.

He also asked the ministry to issue policies to attract talented people, build a streamlined apparatus with working efficiency and continue to make administrative procedure reforms.

He told the sector to strengthen Party building, along with preventing moral decline, ideological deviation and lifestyle problems, as well as fighting against corruption, wastefulness and negativity among cadres, civil servants and public employees.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has said there should be a comprehensive approach to tackling climate change, with the grassroots level as the foundation for delivering Vietnam’s commitment in the field.

Chairing the first meeting of the National Steering Committee for the Delivery of Vietnam’s Commitments at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), Chinh, who is also the committee’s head, said Vietnam’s commitments made at the COP26 to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 and methane emission by 30 percent by 2030 is in line with the national economic restructuring programme and the global trend of green, circular and digital economic development.

The Government leader emphasised that people and businesses should be the centre, the subject, the goal and driving force of climate change response.

He said climate change combat should be synchronously and effectively combined with green and digital transformation, and other transformations. The entire political system should engage in and all possible resources at home and abroad should be mobilised for the effort, which requires high determination and drastic actions.

He instructed that this year, the steering committee and relevant ministries and sectors should build a comprehensive programme detailing forecasts, goals and tasks for climate change response to submit to the competent authorities for consideration. Each ministry and sector should build its own plan for fulfilling climate change commitments.

The leader suggested focusing on switching to green and clean energy, reducing the use of vehicles using fossil fuel, developing forest coverage and green urban areas, stepping up digital transformation and encouraging the involvement of businesses and people in the effort, among others.

Chinh asked members of the committee, ministries and agencies to meet partners, donors and scientists to acquire expertise, resources and experience, and choose qualified personnel with passion and dedication to realise the country’s COP26 commitments.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Although the fourth wave of the pandemic negatively affected local production and businesses, the inflow of foreign investment to the southern key economic region increased significantly in 2021.

The region comprises HCM City and the seven provinces of Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Long An and Tien Giang.

Foreign enterprises chose the southern key economic region as an investment destination, due to its young and abundant labour force with lower wages than other countries, and large consumer market.

This year, HCM City was the locality most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. After prolonged social distancing, the city still ranked third in attracting foreign investment with nearly 3.74 billion USD, accounting for 12 percent of the country’s total.

Cao Thi Phi Van, deputy director of the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City (ITPC) attributed the city’s position in term of foreign investment to its great efforts in accelerating administrative reforms, simplifying business conditions and improving the quality of civil servants to better facilitate the business community, Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper reported.

In anther bright spot, over 96 percent of the 1,412 enterprises in HCM City Export Processing Zones and Industrial Parks (HEPZA) have resumed their operation and 80 percent of their employees have returned to factories, Hứa Quốc Hưng, head of the management board of HEPZA said.

The stability in economic management in HCM City over the past month has helped encourage foreign investment inflows back to the locality, Hung said, adding that after the social distancing period, a number of foreign investors worked with HEPZA.

As of last year, the city was home to 10,434 valid foreign-invested projects with capital totaling 49.47 billion USD.

Meanwhile, Binh Duong province ranked 4th among 59 localities in the country in terms of foreign investment attraction with over 2.13 billion USD in 2021. Thus far, the southern province has 4,021 valid foreign-invested projects with a total registered capital of over 37.17 billion USD.

Director of the Binh Duong Department of Planning and Investment Mai Bá Trước told Tien Phong that the positive inflow of foreign investment helped the province overcome difficulties to realise “dual goals” in 2021.

These were a 4.3 percent year-on-year growth in its industrial production index and yearly rises of 13.5 percent and 14.7 percent in its export and import turnovers to 31.5 billion USD and 24.6 billion USD, respectively, resulting in a trade surplus of 6.9 billion USD.

Similarly, Long An province was the second locality in attracting foreign investment in 2021 with over 3.84 billion USD, accounting for 12.3 percent of the total investment capital of the country. Of the sum, over 3.51 billion USD came from 54 newly-licensed projects; 255 million USD from 65 existing projects to raise their levels of capital while the remainder of investment from capital contribution or share purchase was made by foreign investors.

Dong Nai province in 2021 surpassed the yearly target with over 1.35 billion USD investment. During the year, the province licensed 51 new projects with a total registered capital of 295 million USD. It also allowed 49 operating projects to add 470 million USD to their capital and approved 597 million USD worth of capital contribution and share purchases of foreign businesses in a total of 87 transactions.

Dong Nai has to date attracted 1,792 foreign-invested projects with a total registered capital of nearly 32.7 billion USD. Most of these projects came in processing and manufacturing, textile and footwear industries.

The newspaper cited Nguyen Thi Hoang, deputy chairwoman of Dong Nai province People’s Committee as saying that many countries around the world now had policies to reopen their economies, and this would be an opportunity for foreign enterprises to accelerate their overseas investments.

Hoang said her province would concentrate on calling international enterprises to develop their projects in the province and contributing to its economic development. Top priority would be given to businesses with projects in supporting industries, high technology and clean technology rather than labour-intensive projects.

The vice chairwoman added that local authorities would create the most favourable conditions for businesses by shortening the time used for fulfilling procedures related to investment, production and export.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau, another province in the region also experienced a positive foreign investment inflow last year.

From January to December, the provincial Industrial Park Authority granted licences to 13 foreign-invested projects worth 207.76 million USD. It also approved 25 existing projects to raise their capital by 268 million USD. Most foreign-invested projects in the province were large-scale, with average registered capital of about 103 million USD per enterprise.

Nguyen Anh Triet, head of the authority, said the foreign investment registered in the province last year exceeded the plan set for the year. He attributed the result to the province’s efforts to improve its business and investment environment.

However, Triet said that Ba Ria-Vung Tau would not attract investment at all costs. Top priority would be given to projects in hi-tech industries and those that were environment-friendly, and less so in labour-intensive industries.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited and presented gifts to medical workers at Da Nang and Da Nang C hospitals in the central city of Da Nang on January 13.

A leader of Da Nang Hospital informed the President that with 2,000 beds and 2,200 staff members, the hospital is a health care centre of the central and Central Highland regions.

The hospital has received and treated 10,000 COVID-19 patients so far, with only two related deaths.

The Da Nang C hospital, which has 631 beds and over 700 staff members, also accomplished its tasks of caring for high-ranking Party and State officials in the central and Central Highlands regions, fighting the pandemic and conducting vaccination.

President Phuc hailed Da Nang Hospital for its effective treatment regimes, thus minimising serious and death cases. The Da Nang C Hospital was also lauded for sending hundreds of medical workers to Bac Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Da Nang to help with the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

On the occasion, he asked the municipal authorities to continue helping hospitals improve infrastructure and professional expertise, thus meeting public demand for health care and treatment. As the number of COVID-19 cases could rebound in the new normal situation, hospitals should stay prepared to respond to the pandemic, thus best protecting people’s health and lives.

The leader also conveyed his regards and encouragement to medical workers nationwide for making tireless efforts in the fight against the pandemic and protection of people’s health.

The same day, he attended an inauguration ceremony for a monument to nearly 100 heroic martyrs in Huong Que Nam village. Later, he presented gifts and offered New Year wishes to families of policy beneficiaries and ex-revolutionaries.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The northern port city of Hai Phong is working to continue to improve its business and investment environment to attract large investors and maintain its leading position in investment attraction.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in 2021, Hai Phong drew over 5.1 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI), the highest among localities nationwide, up nearly 3.4 times compared to that in the same period last year.

Commenting on the business and investment environment of Hai Phong, Wu Yu Gan, Deputy General Director of Flat Vietnam, said that his firm has received effective and practical support from authorities of Hai Phong, a promising investment destination.

Le Trung Kien, head of the Hai Phong Economic Zone Management Board said that the bright spot in FDI attraction of Hai Phong is the success in luring big investors with high technologies, including LG. By the end of 2021, local industrial parks attracted 420 FDI projects worth nearly 19.1 billion USD.

In 2022, the city aims to lure 2.5-3 billion USD. Right in January, the board accepted a 35-million USD project from a Chinese investor.

At a recent confrrence to implement the Resolution on socio-economic, defence, security tasks of the city in 2022, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Tran Luu Quang held that the city will face challenges in FDI attraction in the time to come.

In order to continue maintaining its FDI results, the city should roll out measures to attract human resources to work in IPs, he said, adding that in the 2021-2026 period, the city needs about 200,000 labourers from other localities.

Along with giving support to workers in health care services and housing, the city will speed up administrative reform to make it easier for investors during their investment process, while focusing on human resources training, he added.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade’s implementation of free trade agreements (FTAs) has produced positive results in the past two years, an official has said.

According to Nguyen Cam Trang, Deputy Director of the ministry’s Import-Export Department, in the first five months implementing the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) from August-December 2020, Vietnam’s export to the union recorded a positive growth of 3.8 percent, instead of the contraction in the previous period. Notably, in the subsequent seven months, the figure reached 17.8 percent.

Thanks to the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Vietnam’s export turnovers to the UK, and Mexico and Canada have also seen significant increases.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which becomes effective from January 1, 2022, is expected to create a long-term and stable export market for ASEAN countries in general and Vietnam in particular.

In order to help businesses make effective use of FTAs, the ministry has continuously stepped up dissemination about opportunities, regulations and rules of export to help them enjoy incentives and meet requirements.

It has also launched its own portal on FTA (FTAP) and is considered a useful tool for exports to seek necessary information.

Source: Vietnam News Agency