Day: January 24, 2022

Although the Lunar New Year (Tet) is nearing, long queues of people are no longer seen at automated teller machines (ATMs) like in previous years. Instead, online transactions on banking applications are facing difficulties, with network congestion frequently reported by users.

Le Anh Dung, Deputy Director of the Payment Department under the State Bank of Vietnam, said that this year, ATMs will not be as overloaded as in previous years. According to him, the pandemic has seriously affected people’s jobs and incomes. On the other hand, the trend of shifting from cash payment to non-cash payment will also help reduce the pressure on the ATM system.

ATMs not busy, banking apps congested as Tet nears hinh anh 2

Banking apps congested (Photo: VNA)

Regarding faults of banking apps, representatives of some banks said that the sudden increase in transaction demand in recent days has caused overload of the system sometimes, disrupting services. All banks have urgently taken measures to stabilise their services soon.

To avoid network congestion when doing online transactions or having to wait in line to withdraw money at ATMs or transaction offices, banks recommend that users plan ahead and avoid peak times./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

There are currently more than 93,000 foreigners with work permits in Vietnam, according to data from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

A majority of Vietnamese enterprises employ foreigners on contract basis and pay their share of social insurance premiums for those with working contracts of one year or longer. Most of the foreigners are experts or skilled workers who usually hold managing positions in the companies in Vietnam.

In Hanoi, the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs granted or renewed work permits for over 10,000 foreigners last year, or 11 percent of the country’s total number./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Vuong Dinh Hue joined workers in the southern province of Binh Duong in a celebration of the coming Lunar New Year (Tet) on January 23.

In his remarks, the top legislator expressed his delight that despite severe impacts of the COVID-19, Binh Duong – a major industrial hub of the country – still posted a growth rate higher than the national average last year.

He described this result as a resource for the province to continue caring for the material and spiritual lives of local people, including workers. Besides, domestic and foreign investors still maintain their trust in the investment environment of Vietnam, as well as of Binh Duong.

Chairman Hue spoke highly of social security, social welfare as well as political security that have been guaranteed in the province, and social order and safety during the recent COVID-19 outbreak, noting that Binh Duong has taken many creative actions to ensure a warm Tet for workers.

At the programme, he and other officials of the Party, State, Vietnam Fatherland Front, Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, and Binh Duong presented gifts to 500 local workers.

The same day, the NA leader visited and extended Tet greetings to employees of the Wanek Binh Duong company.

NA Chairman joins Binh Duong workers in Tet celebration hinh anh 2

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (seventh from left) presents Tet gifts to workers of the Wanek Binh Duong company on January 23 (Photo: VNA)

Andrew Michael Lien, Vice President and General Director of Asia Manufacturing at Wanek Furniture, thanked central and local authorities, along with employees, for assisting the firm in surmounting recent difficulties. He also expressed his hope for further facilitation of foreign experts and technicians’ entry into Vietnam so as to help maintain and expand production activities.

Chairman Hue highly valued the company’s strong resilience and flexible adaption to COVID-19, adding that Wanek Binh Duong has even expanded its investment, which shows investors’ trust in the investment climate of Vietnam, including of the province.

Vietnam always views businesses and investors’ difficulties or successes as its own, he affirmed, noting that it considers all FDI firms and businesses in all economic sectors operating in the country as those of Vietnam.

On this occasion, Chairman Hue and Secretary of the Binh Duong Party Committee Nguyen Van Loi presented Tet gifts to workers with disadvantages of the company.

Also on January 23, the parliamentary leader had a working session with the Standing Board of the provincial Party Committee./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The President’s Office held a press conference in Hanoi on January 24 to announce President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s order regarding the law amending and supplementing a number of articles of nine laws adopted by the 15th National Assembly during its first extraordinary session.

The laws related to the new law are: the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Public-Private Partnership, the Law on Investment, the Law on Housing, the Bidding Law, the Electricity Law, the Law on Enterprises, the Law on Special Consumption Tax, and the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgements.

The amendment and supplementation made to a number of articles of these laws are meant to institutionalise the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies on law building and to remove obstacles to production, business and social activities, especially in the context of COVID-19 prevention and control, and socio-economic recovery and development.

The new law comprises 11 articles, including nine amending and supplementing some articles of the nine laws, one on transitional provisions, and another on the enforcement.

It will take effect from March 1, 2022./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), Ministry of Health (MoH) together with municipal and provincial authorities are determined to re-open schools no later than February 14, said Deputy Minister of Education and Training Ngo Thi Minh.

During a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam in Hanoi on January 24, Minh said 14 localities nationwide have so far allowed in-person learning, 30 others combined both online and offline learning, and 19 others offered lessons online or via television. As scheduled on February 7, 35 more localities will re-open schools, bringing the total to 49 while 14 others will do the same on February 12.

At the event, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet also suggested resuming tourism activities from May 1.

Under a pilot plan to welcome foreign tourists in the first stage from November 2021, as many as 8,500 visitors, mostly from Russia, the Republic of Korea and Singapore, were served as of January 23.

Agreeing with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST)’s proposal to reboot tourism activities from May 1, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said the Health Ministry issued the Decision No.5772/QD-BYT on the process of issuing vaccine passport but it still needs counselling from the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to control the entry of the Omicron variant to Vietnam.

Opinions at the event suggested the MoH issue a new guideline on the level of the pandemic to that localities could adopt suitable measures when schools or tourism activities resume.

Others said children aged 5-11 should be allowed to go to school without conditions on vaccination. The MoET and MoH should direct localities prepare for plans to deal with infections at schools.

Representatives from ministries and agencies proposed arranging more flights to carry overseas Vietnamese home in line with pandemic prevention and control regulations.

The MoCST was also urged to actively expand the pilot scheme to welcome foreigners if conditions allow, including extending their stay or taking them to areas where residents have been given the third vaccine shots./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

With a solid financial foundation, bright prospects in the medium and long term, stocks of renewable energy companies are attracting more and more investors.

According to statistics from January last year to January this year, stocks of renewable energy companies all grew significantly, Truong Thanh Energy and Real Estate JSC (TEG) grew 175.59 percent, Licogi 13 JSC (LIG) rose 167.21 percent, Gelex Group JSC (GEX) gained 163.28 percent, Fecon JSC (FCN) increased 142.02 percent, Bamboo Capital Joint Stock Company (BCG) rose 141.22 percent.

“There are a few reasons why renewable energy stocks have risen sharply in recent times, such as predictions that this power source will account for the largest proportion in the total capacity of Vietnam’s power sources. The commitment of the Vietnamese Government to achieve net emissions of “zero” in the recent COP26 is a great motivation for businesses to continue participating in and expanding the exploitation of renewable energy sources, namely solar power, wind power,” said Ha Duc Tung, analyst of VNDirect Securities JSC.

Bamboo Capital Joint Stock Company (BCG) has signed cooperation deals with international enterprises like Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, SP Group, Sembcorp Utilities. Gelex Group JSC (GEX) has established a subsidiary named Gelex Electrical Equipment JSC specialised in renewable energy listed on UPCOM.

Many enterprises have positive business results in the first nine months of 2021. Truong Thanh Energy and Real Estate JSC (TEG)’s nine-month revenue reached 199.4 billion VND, up nearly 44 percent over the same period last year. The company’s net profit reached more than 19 billion VND, an increase of more than 2,300 percent – the highest growth rate of profit after tax among renewable energy companies.

Bamboo Capital Joint Stock Company (BCG)’s net profit in nine months reached 701 billion VND, up nearly 579 percent over the same period last year. According to BCG, this growth was achieved thanks to the cash flow earned from renewable energy projects that were energised at the end of 2020.

Gelex Group JSC (GEX) earned a profit of 1.16 trillion VND, up 81.3 percent, KOSY Joint Stock Company (KOS) reported 15 billion VND, up 68.9 percent, Alpha Seven Group JSC (DL1) achieved 35 billion VND, up 57.3 percent.

In terms of efficiency per dollar spent, Bamboo Capital Joint Stock Company (BCG) ranked first with return on equity (ROE) reaching 13.74 percent, followed by Power Construction JSC No.1 (PC1) (12.52 percent), Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE) 12.27 percent, Gelex Group JSC (GEX) 8.56 percent.

As for the return on asset (ROA), Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE) was the champion as its ROA reached 6.68 percent, followed by Power Construction JSC No.1 (PC1) 4.78 percent, Sao Mai Group Corporation (ASM) 3.26 percent and Truong Thanh Energy and Real Estate JSC (TEG) 3.02 percent.

Many analysts forecast renewable energy stocks still have room for growth in the long term.

Yuanta Securities Vietnam Joint Stock Company forecast that electricity demand will grow by 9.8 percent per year to support the expected GDP growth in the 2021-2030 period from 6.5-7.0 percent.

With the same opinion, Agriseco Research assesses that the electricity industry will achieve good growth this year following the recovery of the economy. In the medium and long term, thermoelectric power and renewable energy are expected to gradually replace traditional energy sources such as coal and hydroelectricity.

Under the Government’s plan, the installed capacity of solar and wind power will reach 35GW and 41GW by 2045, accounting for 20 percent and 23.3 percent of the total installed capacity of power sources in the country. Thanks to the incentives on electricity generation prices, the capacity of solar power has reached 16,500 MW.

According to Agriseco Research, thanks to the application of technology and price competition among the world’s turbine and solar cell suppliers, net costs, which include installation costs, management costs, operation management, repair costs, in the life cycle of renewable energy projects tend to decline sharply.

As a result, the installation costs of solar and wind power projects onshore may be cheaper than coal power projects in the next few years when the equipment market is saturated.

Meanwhile, in a recent analysis report, VNDirect Securities JSC highly valued the stocks of companies with renewable energy projects with attractive preferential feed-in-tariff (FIT) mechanism prices and low-cost development.

The government’s supportive policies may facilitate wind power companies to develop in the future such as Ha Do Group JSC (HDG), Gelex Group JSC (GEG), Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE) and Power Construction JSC No.1 (PC1)./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Tourism said on January 24 that it has sketched out a two-phase plan to welcome back foreign visitors this year.

During the first phase of the pilot programme, from January to March, foreigners and Vietnamese abroad will be able to enter Vietnam when they present vaccine passports or certificates of full vaccination against the COVID-19 pandemic, recognised by Vietnamese competent agencies, with the last shot given at least 14 days and no more than 12 months before departure.

Those who have a certificate proving that they have recovered from COVID-19 within six months before departure will also be eligible to enter the country.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children less than 18 years old can come with their parents, guardians and caregivers who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from the coronavirus disease.

Other conditions include having negative results for SARS-CoV-2 test by RT-PCR/RT-LAMP method within 72 hours before entry and certified by the authority of the country conducting the test, having medical or travel insurance that covers COVID-19 treatment with a minimum liability of 50,000 USD, and joining package tours offered by travel firms.

In the second phase, which will begin in April, the door will be open for those aged from 18 to 65 who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated apart from individuals that satisfy requirements set in the first phase.

Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of the municipal Tourism Department, said the sector has made preparations for the implementation of the pilot programme in terms of registration, visa grant and temporary residence certification, while offering necessary advice to tourists before their boarding or entry.

Notably, the sector has set up a hotline to deal with medical incidents emerging during the implementation, she added./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Coffee company CCL Products India Ltd (Continental Coffee), based in Andhra Pradesh, is investing 20 million USD in doubling the capacity of its coffee manufacturing facility in Vietnam, Times of India reported.

The capacity of the Vietnam facility, which makes about 13,000 – 14,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) spray dried coffee for global markets, are expected to double to 26,000 mtpa by the end of 2022, said CCL Products CEO Praveen Jaipuriar.

“The doubling of the Vietnam capacities will take our total capacities to 50,000 – 55,000 mtpa and help fuel our growth in the next 2 – 3 years,” he said.

Elaborating on the reasons for expanding in Vietnam, Jaipuriar pointed out that Vietnam not only offers a tariff advantage for exports but is also a strong coffee growing country, which means the proximity to the raw material also cuts down on freight costs.

Currently, CCL has a total capacity of 36,000 – 37,000 mtpa, a chunk of which is exported. This includes 25,000 mtpa in India across plants at Duggirala, Vijayawada.

Having clocked revenues of around 12.42 billion INR (167 million USD) in financial year 2020-2021, CCL is now eyeing revenues of around 16 billion INR in the current fiscal./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency