Day: January 2, 2023

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Some sectors to benefit, others to suffer from China’s reopening: Report

China has officially announced the easing of COVID-19 prevention measures which have been imposed for three year, and experts have said this is expected to kickstart the country’s economic recovery, opening opportunities for some Vietnamese sectors in the medium term.

 

In a recent report, Agribank Securities Company (Agriseco) said Vietnamese businesses will benefit when China opens its doors and resumes flights between the two countries.

 

According to Agriseco Research, business groups that can benefit include mechanical engineering, textiles, footwear, electronics, pangasius processing, and automobiles. On the other hand, the prices of some input materials may increase again when demand recovers, such as iron and steel, cement, and base metals.

 

In addition to the groups that benefit, Agriseco’s report also shows disadvantaged groups. For example, experts recommend that investors follow China’s output recovery in the fertiliser and chemical industry.

 

Agriseco analysts point out that when China opens up its economy, it can restore production and remove export restrictions, causing fertiliser prices to continue to fall in 2023. China is the world’s leading fertiliser exporter.

 

However, the country’s production cuts created opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to increase their exports strongly in the past two years. Businesses like PetroVietnam Fertiliser & Chemicals Corporation (DPM) and PetroVietnam Ca Mau Fertiliser JSC (DCM) have record growth in business results in 2022. These advantages may be lost if China restores production.

 

With the above assessment, Agriseco forecasts that the business results of fertiliser enterprises may go backwards in 2023 as fertiliser prices continue to cool down, and there may be a decline in export activities.

 

Agriseco Research believes that the business results of chemical enterprises will likely go backwards in 2023 due to the cooling of chemical prices and the restoration of production in China, making export activities more competitive.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Vietnam records best-ever performance in digital economic development

Vietnam is speeding up the development of the digital economy, considering this a “breakthrough” step to promote the country’s economic growth in the context of the 4th industrial revolution.

 

Vietnam is viewed as a country with high potential for fast digital economic development and digital transformation trend across all fields.

 

It has set a target to post 31% growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) from 23 billion USD in 2022 to 49 billion USD in 2025, the highest growth in the region, according to the “e-Conomy SEA 2022” report released by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company in October.

 

Data from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) showed that the ICT economy’s revenue reached an estimated 148 billion USD in 2022, representing a year-on-year increase of 8.7%.The contribution of the digital economy to national GDP in 2022 accounted for about 14.26% of the total, with 7.18% contributed by the ICT digital economy.

 

The information and communications sector has hosted a national digital transformation scheme with the dual goals of developing digital government, digital economy and digital society; and forming strong digital technology enterprises.

 

According to the MIC’s Department of Digital Economy and Digital Society, the scale of Vietnam’s digital economy has recorded growth in ICT digital economy, platform digital economy, and sectoral digital economy.

 

IT services contributed the most to the digital economy, accounting for about 30% of the total value. It was followed by e-commerce (14.3%), and hardware production (12.83%). Meanwhile, the digital content field recorded the strongest growth, up nearly 104% compared to the first quarter of 2022.

 

In 2022, Vietnamese digital businesses made inroads into foreign markets, including developed countries such as the US and Japan.

 

Notably, the total revenue of Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel) in foreign markets hit 3 billion USD, and the revenue of FPT Group reached 1 billion USD.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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National athletes win first International Half Marathon on New Year’s Day

 

National athletes Nguyen Thi Oanh and Do Quoc Luat met no difficulty in winning the first Vietnam International Half Marathon, the first sporting event of the year on January 1 in Hanoi.

 

The tournament was divided into two disciplines for almost 5,000 elite and amateur runners who ran in half marathon, 10km and 5km distances.

 

Oanh, the multi-time SEA Games champion, led from the start to the end of the women’s 21.1km event, finishing first with a time of 1hr 15.23min.

 

Veteran Chinese Taipei runner Chien-Ho Hsieh and famed Thai marathoner Linda Janthachit were expected to challenge Oanh, but they failed to complete their mission.

 

Hsieh came second at 1:19.35, and Linda Janthachit third at 1:20.52.

 

In the men’s side, Nguyen Van Lai and Luật of Vietnam and Sanchai Namkhet from Thailand quickly separated from the group to lead most of the race.

 

Former SEA Games champion Luat overcame his senior national team teammate Lai in the last meters to claim the top podium with a time of 1:07 Lai was one second behind and took second place while Namkhet was third at 1:08.02.

 

The organisers also held a category for people with disabilities, mainly visually impaired runners. They were escorted by a guide and ran 1.5km.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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Vietsovpetro surpasses two more tasks in 2022

The Vietnam – Russia oil and gas joint venture Vietsovpetro exploited over 3 million tonnes of oil and condensate gas at Block 09-1 in 2022, officially surpassing the two additional tasks assigned at the 54th Vietsovpetro Council meeting.

 

According Vietsovpetro, it faced many difficulties following the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, rising prices of raw materials, supply shortages, and disruptions in the global supply chain.

 

Vietsovpetro has implemented a series of solutions to control cash flow, and optimise costs. Nearly 100 initiatives have been recognised, bringing about economic benefits of nearly 10 million USD.

 

2022 is the first year Vietsovpetro ended the decline in production, and increased its reserves at over 3.5 million tonnes, exceeeding the set plan by 25%.

 

With its determination and creativity in management and administration, Vietsovpetro is striving to exploit nearly 2.9 million tonnes of oil and condensate gas, earn a total profit of 222 million USD, and contribute 673.4 million USD to the State budget in 2023.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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Quang Ngai advised to focus on processing-manufacturing development

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a working session with key leaders of Quang Ngai on January 1, during which he suggested that the central province should prioritise  the processing-manufacturing sector as well as high technology, innovation and digital transformation.

 

Quang Ngai should take Dung Quat Economic Zone and the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) as its new growth motivations, he said.

 

The PM asked Quang Ngai to promote its self-reliance and internal strengths, increasing flexibility and efficiency of direction and management activities to overcome all difficulties, while changing its mindset and staying determined to complete all socio-economic targets for this year, and paying greater attention to Party and administration building as well as personnel training.

 

He advised the province to speed up the transition of its economic structure in association with renovation of the growth model based on science-technology and innovation to make a breakthrough in productivity, quality and efficiency and competitiveness of its industrial sector, thus joining international supply and value chains more deeply.

 

He said that the locality should promote the synchronous development of its infrastructure system, especially transport infrastructure, and enhance the efficiency of its economic zone and industrial parks.

 

At the same time, Quang Ngai should speed up the restructuring of its agricultural sector and further strengthen the OCOP (One Commune-One Product) programme, he requested.

 

The Government leader asked Quang Ngai to improve the competitiveness of its tourism sector and boost the development of logistics, finance-banking and IT sectors.

 

He stressed the need for Quang Ngai to focus on planning work, along with human resources training, digital transformation, the protection of cultural values, and the ensuring of social welfare, defence, security, and social order and safety. Leaders of the province reported that in 2022, Quang Ngai completed and surpassed all 25 socio-economic targets, with gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth of 8.08%.

 

Last year, the province’s per capita GRDP reached 97.67 million VND (4,132 USD), while its total revenue from retail sales of goods and services rose 23.8%. Its export revenue fetched 2.15 billion USD, total social investment increased 50%, and State budget collection surged 44.7%.

 

Leaders of Quang Ngai also raised a number of proposals to the PM and the Government, including the approval of a planning for the Dung Quat Economic Zone until 2034 with a vision to 2050, and the provision of financial support for a number of transport infrastructure projects in the province.

 

PM Chinh agreed with Quang Ngai’s proposals and pledged that the Government will direct particular ministries and sectors to respond to the locality’s requests.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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Malaysia makes efforts to gain stronger confidence from foreign investors

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has affirmed that his country will work hard to improve foreign investor’s confidence by guaranteeing good governance and a corrupt-free nation.

 

Malaysia has received a list of investors from countries such as those in Europe, the US, China, India and several countries around Asia who will be monitoring developments in Malaysia themselves, especially from the economic aspects, he said in his New Year 2023 message.

 

He expressed his hope that there is a new focus that can increase and drive the country’s economic growth more convincingly, as Malaysia is a trading country with an impressive economic growth rate based on the efforts to secure domestic and foreign investment.

 

Besides political stability and good governance, another step that should be taken is to speed up the approval process by ensuring that Malaysia is not a place where leaders amass wealth and look for commissions, he said.

 

The Malaysian PM warned that he will not tolerate public servants and enforcement bodies found to be “negligent” in their duties with their “old practices” of asking for kickbacks and imposing additional costs

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Tourists flock to Hoi An during New Year holiday

Tens of thousands of visitors flocked to the ancient riverbank city of Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam during the New Year holiday (December 31, 2022 – January 2, 2023), opening a promising new year for the locality’s tourism sector.

 

In the second day of the holiday, Hoi An welcomed 34 foreign visitors from Mongolia and the Republic of Korea.

 

A representative of the foreign visitors expressed her impression of the friendliness and hospitality of local residents.

 

Cau Pagoda, Hoai River, and Lantern street are the biggest attractions for visitors on the occasion.

 

The municipal authorities have held a series of activities and events to attract visitors, and said Quang Nam will focus on enhancing tourism promotion activities in key markets to draw more foreigners to the locality.

 

Hoi An was ranked 20th among the 25 best cities of the world in 2022, as voted by readers of Travel Leisure US travel magazine.

 

Hoi An and My Son Sanctuary – two UNESCO World Heritage sites – and the world biosphere reserve of the Hoi An-Cham Islands in Quang Nam province are among the favourite destinations of foreign tourists in Vietnam along with Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Binh, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc island in Kien Giang province.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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Vietnam among world’s top 30 powerful countries: US News & World Report

Vietnam has been listed among the world’s top 30 powerful countries in 2022 by US News & World Report.

 

With a GDP of over 363 billion USD and a population of more than 98.2 million, Vietnam stands at the 30th position in the rankings, only after Singapore (26th position) among the Southeast Asian countries.

 

Meanwhile, Indonesia is ranked 33rd and Thailand 36th.

 

The ranking affirmed Vietnam’s increasing position in the world arena. Over the recent years, Vietnam has also received high evaluation in terms of “soft power”.

 

The US News & World Report’s ranking of the world’s most powerful countries is based on objective assessments of the level of influence of countries, foreign policies as well as political, economic and military strength of the countries globally.

 

This ranking is part of the annual “World’s Best Countries” report, which covers 85 countries based on feedback from 17,000 participants.

 

According to the ranking, the US, China and Russia are the three most powerful countries in the world in 2022.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency