Day: February 7, 2023

Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani on February said she believes the strong pace of recovery in 2022 will become a solid foundation for the country’s economy in 2023.

In a statement, the minister said that the government is optimistic that economic growth in 2023 will still be strong despite the prospect of a global economic slowdown. The very strong pace of recovery in 2022 will become a solid foundation for the national economy to face short-term challenges while continuing the medium- and long-term development agenda.

She noted the structural reform agenda to accelerate economic transformation will continue to be maintained in order to strengthen the structure and drive the performance of the national economy.

Revenue and expenditure budget for 2023 is prepared to solve critical issues such as inflation control, stability, improvement of the people’s welfare, and stronger investment improvements.

The latest economic indicators also continue to show an expansive trend, including Indonesia’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) that increased significantly in January 2023. Meanwhile, economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 increased by 5.01% over the same period in 2021./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s total State budget collection in January is estimated at 183.7 trillion VND (7.78 billion USD), equal to 11.3% of the yearly estimate and down 0.5% year-on-year, announced the Ministry of Finance on February 7.

Specifically, the domestic revenue is estimated at 160.4 trillion VND, up 3.1% y-o-y, and that from crude oil at 5.3 trillion VND, up 67.7% y-o-y.

Meanwhile, import-export activities contributed about 28 trillion VND to the State budget, equivalent to only 65% of that in the same period last year.

On the other hand, total State budget expenditure in the month was estimated at 114.9 trillion VND, equaling 5.5% of the yearly estimate.

For the development investment expenditure alone, the total planned investment capital from the State budget for 2023 is 756.1 trillion VND./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

HMS Spey, the British Royal Navy’s offshore patrol vessel, anchored at Ho Chi Minh City’s port on February 7, beginning a five-day friendship visit to the city on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Iain Frew, the new UK Ambassador to Vietnam, said that the visit will help deepen the already close relationship between the two countries. He added that the two countries share common concerns, including maritime security, and sustainable development.

British naval patrol vessel pays friendly visit to HCM City hinh anh 2

The vessel begins a five-day friendship visit to HCM Cityy on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (Photo: VNA)

During their stay in the city, the vessel’s 46 officers and crewmembers will pay a courtesy visit to the leaders of the municipal People’s Committee and the Military Region 7 High Command; and visit the Naval Region 2.

They will also participate in sport and cultural exchanges with officers and soldiers of the Naval Region 2, and tour several historical and cultural relic sites in Ho Chi Minh City./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the People’s Committee of Ninh Binh province organised a ceremony to launch an afforestation campaign in Kim Son district on February 7.

The event formed part of the Mangrove Restoration and Sustainable Management Project in the Red River Delta funded by the Government of the Republic of Korea (RoK) through the Korea Forest Service (the KFS Project).

In his remarks, MARD Deputy Minister Nguyen Quoc Tri thanked the KFS for its support in the implementation of the project, contributing to promoting the role of coastal forests in the two target localities of Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh in protecting the environment and biodiversity, and reducing emissions.

The project has also generated income for local residents, and helped to mitigate natural disasters and respond to climate change and sea level rise, the official added.

The implementation has manifested the Korean Government’s responsibility for climate change response, he emphasised.

KFS Deputy Minister Sang-seop Lim said the project is significant to the forestry and fishery sector of both nations, noting that it would become an outstanding forestry project between Vietnam and the RoK.

Based on the success, the Korean side would plan to expand its engagement in other fields like forest transformation and deforestation prevention, he said.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Song Tung said the project area holds potential for aquaculture and eco-tourism, and called on the investor and relevant units to coordinate with departments, agencies and localities, as well as cooperatives, households and individuals to roll out livelihood models for locals.

RoK-funded mangrove restoration project launched in Ninh Binh hinh anh 2

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Song Tung speaks at the event. (Photo: VNA)

The five-year project has total funding of 4.39 million USD, with 3.79 million USD coming from the RoK’s non-refundable aid. It targets 250 hectares of new mangrove forests in Kim Son, Ninh Binh, and at the Xuan Thuy National Park in Nam Dinh province./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The southernmost province of Ca Mau will spend over 74 billion VND (over 3.13 million USD) from the local budget on a project to sustainably provide clean water to rural residents.

The project, which is expected to benefit 63,000 people, aims to better local residents’ health, improve the environment, and reduce diseases caused by water sources.

The project will also help improve the management and operation effectiveness of water supply systems in order to ensure sustainability and efficiency of the clean water supply service.

According to the provincial People’s Committee, the project, invested by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, will be implemented in 2023 – 2025 in the districts of Tran Van Thoi, Cai Nuoc, Dam Doi, Phu Tan, Thoi Binh, Nam Can, and Ngoc Hien, and Ca Mau city.

The fresh water for daily life and production of people in Ca Mau depends on rainwater and water from wells. This situation, together with increasingly severe climate change, is the cause behind the fresh water shortage in the dry season and the flooding in the rainy season.

People in many rural areas are struggling with the shortage of fresh water for daily life because they cannot drill wells.

Statistics show that the number of households in Ca Mau using water from concentrated water supply works remains limited, only about 41,000.

According to the Centre for Clean Water and Rural Sanitation of Ca Mau, as many as 244 concentrated water supply works have been built in the locality but most of them have yet to meet the actual demand.

Ca Mau targets to provide clean water for 65% of rural households, and have 50% of those having access to clean water from concentrated water supply works by 2030./

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will pay an official visit to Thailand on February 9-10 to promote trade cooperation between the two countries.

He is expected to have a meeting with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on February 9 to discuss ways to expand trade and investment and infrastructure connectivity in the Thai-Malaysian border area, particularly the five southern provinces of Thailand and the four northern provinces of Malaysia.

The two countries hope that the reduction of barriers will help realise the goal of lifting two-way trade to 30 billion USD by 2025.

The leaders will discuss cooperation in new fields such as digital economy, green technology, and potential industries such as rubber and Halal food. They will also exchange views on regional and international issues to jointly address new challenges and stimulate post-COVID-19 economic recovery.

This is Anwar’s first official visit to Thailand after becoming the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia in November last year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Investment management firm VinaCapital said it expects Vietnam’s economy and stock market to “normalise” this year after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an economist’s note titled “Looking ahead at 2023”, Chief Economist Michael Kokalari said the economy is returning to its long-term growth trajectory now that the post-COVID re-opening boom has finished.

He said Vietnam’s GDP growth to slow from 8% last year to 6% this year, weighed down by the slowing demand for “Made in Vietnam” products from consumers in the US and the EU, but supported by the continued resumption of foreign tourist arrivals in Vietnam, especially in light of China’s recent re-opening, and supported by a surge in the Government’s infrastructure spending.

Vietnam’s government aims to increase infrastructure spending from 4%/GDP in 2022 to 7%/GDP in 2023, which would help support the country’s long-term economic growth, Kokalari added.

This new infrastructure is needed to help ensure that FDI inflows continue to flow into Vietnam for years to come, according to the economist.

Regarding domestic consumption, he said, the growth of Vietnam’s middle-class is driving reliable growth in the demand for products and services those consumers desire, which benefits consumer discretionary companies.

The value of the Vietnam dong depreciated by 3% in 2022 as compared with 7% average depreciation for Vietnam’s regional emerging market (EM) peers last year, and VinaCapital expected the VND to appreciate by 2-3% in 2023.

“Vietnam’s CPI inflation rate averaged 3% in 2022 versus much higher inflation in most other DM/EM countries in the world, but we expect that figure to tick up to 4% in 2023, largely because China’s re-opening is likely to put some upward pressure on food and energy prices in Vietnam,” according to the economist.

Finally, the consensus expectation is that the VN-Index will increase by over 20% this year, which would imply a normalisation of the stock market’s valuation.

Vietnam’s economy to “normalise” this year: VinaCapital hinh anh 2

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Global inflation pressures are now abating, which means that the aggressive central bank rate hikes that depressed both developed and emerging market stock markets last year will likely end soon.

VinaCapital expected the Government to take steps to ease the liquidity issues currently impacting Vietnam’s corporate bond market, which would result in a resumption of Vietnamese companies’ ability to refinance their maturing debts.

“In our view, instilling confidence back into the Vietnamese stock market will be a drawn-out process, but the market’s attractive valuation and solid earnings growth prospects probably explain why foreign investors purchased 1.1 billion USD worth of Vietnamese stocks in the last two months of 2022. They were also net buyers of Vietnam’s stock market for full-year 2022, the first time since 2019,” according to the note.

For investment themes and sectors, VinaCapital’s research team continued to favour the domestic consumption, infrastructure and FDI investment themes in 2023 (unchanged from year’s “Looking Ahead at 2022” report) and added lower interest rate beneficiaries and consolidation as two new themes for this year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency