Day: January 3, 2023

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Reference exchange down 6 VND after New Year holiday

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,606 VND/USD on January 3, down 6 VND from the rate on the last day before the New Year holiday (December 30).

 

With the current trading band of +/-5 percent, the ceiling rate applicable to commercial banks during the day is 24,787 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,424 VND/USD.

 

The opening-hour rates at commercial banks saw decreases.

 

Vietcombank kept both rates unchanged from December 30 the end of the last week, listing the buying rate at 22,410 VND/USD and the selling rate at 22,760 VND/USD.

 

Meanwhile, BIDV listed the buying rate at 23,405 VND/USD and the selling rate at 23,685VND/USD, both down 50 VND from December 30.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Vietnam sees strong growth of data centres

Foreign and domestic companies are strongly eyeing to develop data centres in Vietnam, as demand for data storage in the country is increasing.

 

In December, VNG Company put into operation a new and international standard data centre called VNG Data Centre in Ho Chi Minh city. The centre has an initial size of 410 server racks and will expand to 1,600 racks.

 

Earlier, in October, Viettel also launched the Viettel Cloud ecosystem with 13 centres and more than 9,000 racks, and over 60,000 sq.m of floor area – the largest data centre infrastructure in Vietnam.

 

The group announced that it will invest another 10 trillion VND (424.4 million) in Viettel Cloud to expand its scale to 17,000 racks by 2025.

 

In August the same year, CMC Corporation inaugurated an international standard data centre with a scale of 1,200 racks on an area of13,000 sq.m in Ho Chi Minh city, and an investment of 1.5 trillion VND.

 

Not only domestic enterprises, but famous foreign enterprises also participate in building data centres in Vietnam. For example, in March, Quang Dung Technology Distribution Joint Stock Company under GREENFEED Vietnam Corporation and NTT Global Data Centres Company under Japan’s NTT Group jointly built a Tier III centre in Ho Chi Minh city which is expected to officially come into operation in 2024.

 

Huy Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of KardiaChain, and former senior technical director of Google told Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper that it is no coincidence that many businesses invest in data centres because the revenue is very large.

 

The company is currently using the service of a Vietnamese business with a cost of up to 50,000 USD each month, he said.

 

According to ResearchAndMarkets, the world’s leading market research store, Vietnam is in the top 10 emerging markets in 2021 in the global data centre market.

 

The Vietnamese data centre market stood at 858 million USD in 2020 and is forecast to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of nearly 15% until 2026.

 

The growth in the Vietnamese data centre market is impressive with international standard service delivery capacity, and a large number of organisations and enterprises, according to ResearchAndMarkets.

 

Statistics show that Vietnam now has nearly 30 data centres with more than 46% based in northern, over 35% in southern, and over 18% in central localities.

 

This rate is different because large data centres are mainly based in ministries and branches in the north. From 2010, the electricity consumption capacity of the centre in Vietnam has tripled.

 

Domestic companies expect a data centre system made in Vietnam will contribute to the country’s digital economy.

 

Tao Duc Thang, chairman and director general of Viettel Group, said it sets a target that each Vietnamese citizen, household, organisation, and enterprise will have a cloud-based data store located in Vietnam, researched, developed and operated by Vietnamese engineers./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Fewer storms to hit Vietnam this year

Vietnam is forecast to face fewer storms and tropical depressions in 2023 than in previous years, according to the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration.

 

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said up to 1,057 natural disasters hit the country last year, leaving 175 dead and causing economic losses of some 19.5 trillion VND (828.55 million USD), up 1.6 times and 3.4 times year-on-year, respectively.

 

MARD Minister Le Minh Hoan, who is also deputy head of the Standing Committee of the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, said that to reduce risks and damage caused by natural disasters, all authorities should perfect the legal system for the work.

 

They should develop appropriate strategies and warning maps, perform forest protection, and control investment in construction projects for climate change, he suggested.

 

They should also ensure the quality of early warnings and forecasting to proactively prevent and minimise damage.

 

To improve forecasting, the hydro meteorological sector has extended the time limit for weather forecasting and warning for natural disasters to 10 days.

 

Seasonal forecasting period has also been also extended. The sector has a newsletter identifying natural disasters, issued twice a year.

 

Forecasts for storms and tropical depressions are issued three or five days in advance, forecasts for heavy rain two or three days, and warnings for thunderstorms released from 30 minutes to two hours in advance. Severe cold spells are forecast five to seven days in advance.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Hanoi attracts nearly 1.7 billion USD in FDI in 2022

 

Hanoi attracted 1.69 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) last year, still among the localities leading the nation in this field.

 

The figure represents a year-on-year rise of 10.3%, according to the city’s Statistics Office.

 

In the year, there were 365 newly-registered projects totaling 233 million USD, and 202 projects that had their capital adjusted with a combined investment of 834 million USD. Foreign investors also spent 625 million USD on contributing capital to and purchasing shares of existing ones.

 

Foreign capital was mainly poured into import-export activities, goods distribution, construction, information technology, telecommunications, processing, and manufacturing.

 

According to the Hanoi Promotion Agency (HPA), after more than two years of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022, the city implemented a lot of trade promotion activities both inside and outside the country, with priority given to such key markets as Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan (China), China, the US and the European Union.

 

Most recently, a working delegation led by Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Manh Quyen paid visits to the US and Belgium to step up trade promotion with traditional partners and seek new ones.

 

For the 2021-2025 period, Hanoi has set a target of attracting 30-40 billion USD in foreign investment, and disbursing from 20 to 30 billion USD.

 

The city is giving priority to projects in urban infrastructure, smart city building, supporting industry, information technology, tourism, finance-banking, human resources training, and hi-tech agriculture./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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Politburo issues resolution on development of HCM City

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on January 2 signed off the Politburo’s Resolution No 31-NQ/TW on orientations and tasks for the development of Ho Chi Minh City by 2030, with a vision to 2045.

 

The resolution clarified the viewpoint that building and developing a civilised and modern HCM City is an important political task of the entire Party, people, army, and political system, especially the local Party organisation, administration, and people.

 

Priority must be given to perfecting regulations and policies and creating favourable conditions to make breakthroughs in mobilising combined strength and capitalising on the city’s potential, advantages, and strategic location so as to boost its fast and sustainable development.

 

HCM City must firmly uphold its role as a big economic, cultural, educational – training, and scientific – technological hub, its important political position in Vietnam, as well as its influence on the development of the southeastern region and the southern key economic region. It is also envisioned to soon become a centre of economy, finance, services, culture, education – training, science – technology, and innovation in Southeast Asia and Asia while having its competitiveness comparable to global cities’.

 

The viewpoint also includes strongly combining socio-economic development with cultural development, environmental protection, defence and security safeguarding, and external relations; building a united, clean, and comprehensively strong Party organisation and political system; and bringing into play diplomacy, public consensus, self-reliance, and revolutionary traditions.

 

The resolution targets that by 2030, HCM City will have become a civilised, modern, humane, dynamic, and creative city with high-quality human resources; a modern service and industrial city; a locomotive in terms of digital economy and digital society; and a centre of economy, finance, trade, culture, education, and science – technology of the country. It is set to intensively and extensively integrate into the world and hold an outstanding stature in Southeast Asia.

 

The city is expected to post annual growth of 8 – 8.5%, per capita gross regional domestic product (GRDP) of about 14,500 USD, and contribution of 40% to Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.

 

By 2045, HCM City is set to have become comparable to major cities around the globe; an economic, financial, and service centre of Asia; an attractive destination in the world; the nucleus of the HCM City region and the southeastern region; a growth engine of Vietnam; and a magnet for international financial institutions and enterprises. Besides, the local economy and culture will have also developed and residents had high living standards, according to the resolution./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Nearly 4,000 tonnes of cargo cleared through Mong Cai border gate

 

Nearly 4,000 tonnes of cargo were customs-cleared in Hai Yen ward, Mong Cai city, in the northern province of Quang Ninh in the first two days of 2023, according to the management board of Mong Cai International Border Gate.

 

Of the total, 3,316 tonnes of goods, mostly agricultural and aquatic products, were exported to the Chinese side. Meanwhile, 527 tonnes of goods were imported.

 

On January 3, Bac Luan 2 Bridge will open for vehicles. Local authorities have prepared COVID-19 prevention and control measures to ensure safety.

 

Earlier, on December 31, the border bridge in Hai Yen handled 187 vehicles transporting 2,108 tonnes of goods to China and 94 others carrying 298 tonnes of goods to Vietnam.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

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Pressure on capital market forecast to ease in 2023

 

Despite many difficulties due to increasing interest rates, the pressure on the capital market is expected to decrease gradually in 2023, experts forecast.

 

Citing forecast data of financial institutions, financial expert Dr Dinh The Hien said Vietnam’s GDP growth rate in 2023 will slow to below 7%, but it is still a good growth rate compared to that of ASEAN region (4.9%), Asia-Pacific (4.6%), and the world (2%). The National Assembly has recently also approved the country’s GDP in 2023 at about 6.5%, which is also close to the above forecasts.

 

Hien said both international financial institutions and Vietnamese experts forecast the difficulties and challenges of the Vietnamese economy in 2023 will come from external factors, especially the decline in consumption of developed countries and disruption of the global supply chain. However, Vietnam still has certain advantages and opportunities besides the pessimism on interest rates and inflation.

 

According to Hien, Vietnamese management authorities have gradually controlled high interest rates and restricted credit, which will help the country avoid shocks like in the 2011-12 period. Therefore, concerns about the banking system and corporate bonds have been gradually removed.

 

Hien predicts difficulties related interest rates and credit will be resolved next year. Interest rates will cool down in the first quarter of 2023 and stabilise by the end of the second quarter of 2023. Credit sources with reasonable interest rates for production and business enterprises will increase gradually from the second quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, exports will continue to decline in the first two quarters of 2023, but will rebound in the third quarter of 2023.

 

“The difficulties for the domestic economy will ease from the second quarter of 2023 and gain positive growth from the third quarter of 2023, buoyed by upbeat impacts from public investment, and financial and monetary stability. At the same time, the real estate market is also expected to recover slightly from the fourth quarter of 2023, mainly in urban areas, industrial parks and other areas with strong infrastructure investment,” Hien forecast.

 

Tran Ngoc Bau, CEO of financial data provider WiGroup Data Company, is also upbeat about market liquidity in 2023.

 

According to Bau, though the economic forecast in 2023 is more difficult than in 2022, with initial signals such as export order decline, the cause will be a factor for the Government to partly loose the monetary market to stimulate economic development. Therefore, the market liquidity is likely to be more positive in the second half of 2023.

 

Nguyen Quang Thuan, chairman of financial data provider FiinGroup, expects the corporate bond market in 2023 will be more active as credit institutions increase to issue bonds after policies are changed.

 

The market also expects many businesses in 2023 will issue bonds to the public after being rated.

 

In addition, other capital channels such as issuing green bonds and borrowing/issuing international bonds are also forecast to be further improved, helping businesses have more opportunities to access capital.

 

However, experts also recommend in the difficult context, businesses need to review their investment portfolios and limit high risk projects. The businesses should review current debt obligations, proactively make public transparent information and improve credit profile for a longer-term capital strategy.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Indonesian capital market’s performance best in ASEAN in 2022

Indonesia’s capital market performance in 2022 was the best as compared to that of other ASEAN and Asian countries in general, Chairperson of Board of Commissioners of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) Mahendra Siregar stated.

 

The Indonesian capital market had survived in 2022 and its performance tended to be very positive and even the best among the ASEAN and Asian countries in general, he remarked at the inauguration of the 2023 Indonesia Stock Exchange Trading.

 

Siregar noted that the positive achievement was apparent from the performance of the Indonesia Composite Stock Exchange (IHSG) in 2022 that closed at 4% higher than the index reached at the closing time of the trading in 2021.

 

In addition, the trading activity in 2022 also experienced a significant increase, as the frequency of daily transactions reached 1.31 million times, making it the largest in ASEAN.

 

Furthermore, market capitalisation in Indonesia is also the highest, reaching 600 billion USD – equivalent to 50% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

 

The OJK official also noted that 59 companies had issued their initial shares (IPO) on the stock exchange in 2022.

 

The number of capital market investors also increased to 10.3 million investors, thereby translating to a 10-fold or a 1,000% increase since 2017, and was dominated by domestic investors, reaching 55 percent of the total investors.

 

About 58.7% of them were members of the millennial generation and Generation Z. These are extraordinary achievements, Siregar said.

 

He emphasised that the achievements were very positive, especially when the closing of trading on December 30, in other countries, such as the European states, were unfavorable, according to the report of one of the international financial media.

 

The stock markets in Europe fell significantly due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, high inflation, and tight monetary policies.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency