Despacito reaches 4 billion

Small investors oppose expanding trading lot Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE)’s proposal to raise the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares is receiving mixed opinions from market experts and investors. The proposal was initiated by newly-appointed General Director of HOSE Le Hai Tra as a solution to reduce system overloads which have troubled traders recently. A 1,000 minimum trading lot will limit the participation of small investors, while the stock market is moving towards fairness and equality, said a budding investor. “My friends and I, when joining the stock market, only have a few tens to several hundreds of millions of dong, raising the minimum trading lot to 1,000 shares will directly affect our investment capacity,” said individual investor Diep. “With expensive stocks, we may have to spend hundreds of millions of dong to buy the minimum 1,000 shares,” she said. According to Diep, the stock market has never had such a chance for growth. New cash flow into … [Read more...] about VIETNAM BUSINESS NEWS MARCH 8

Vietnam begins COVID-19 vaccination on March 8 Vietnam launches its COVID-19 inoculation drive on March 8 morning, administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to medical workers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and northern Hai Duong province – the country’s biggest pandemic hotspot at present. The vaccination is conducted at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, the HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases and two medical centres in Hai Duong. As many as 100 staff members of the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases are expected to receive the shots in the morning of March 8. The hospital is allocated 450 doses among the first batch of 117,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine the country has received. In Hai Duong, 50 medical workers at Hai Duong city’s medical centre, and 30 others at Kim Thanh district’s medical centre will be the first in the province to be injected. The Ministry of Health has allocated the vaccine to 13 localities, along with the Ministry of National … [Read more...] about VIETNAM NEWS HEADLINES MARCH 8

As 2020 is coming to end, how do you evaluate the development of businesses that received recognition during the Vietnam Value Programme? Vu Ba Phu, director general of the Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade After 17 years of running the programme with seven times choosing national brands, we have witnessed the continuous growth of many domestic enterprises. At the first selection in 2008, we saw only 30 chosen companies with their products. By 2018, this number had grown to 97, and this year we have recorded 124 enterprises and their brands. However, the growth of the business community has not only happened in the number of participating businesses, but also export turnover, sales, and their contribution to the state budget, as well as their efforts in social responsibility and job creation. For example, firms recognised as national brands in 2018 reached a revenue of about VND907 trillion ($39.4 billion), with their export turnover … [Read more...] about Initiative’s success helped by quick response to pandemic

Social blockade and isolation measures have seriously affected the economic and business activities of society and enterprises. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the pandemic has caused 81 million workers across the Asia-Pacific region to lose their jobs, women and young people are "suffering" the most. The number of jobs in Asia-Pacific fell 4.2% compared to the pre-COVID 19 period. Due to the lower working hours, the average income of workers fell 9.9% in the first quarter of 2020, equivalent to a 3.4% decline in regional GDP. South Asia witnessed the highest rate of job loss, with nearly 50 million people, followed by East Asia (16 million people), Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, 14 million and 500,000, respectively. In Europe, many countries have seen record increases in unemployment. In the UK, in the three months to October 2020, the number of unemployed workers also increased to 370,000, with the unemployment rate increasing to 4.9%. … [Read more...] about An effective remedy

Domestic revenue stood at 246.65 trillion VND, equivalent to 21.8 percent of the estimate and marking a year-on-year rise of 2.8 percent. After conducting 3,400 inspections and checking 16,500 corporate tax filings, tax agencies proposed 3.4 trillion VND in fines be imposed, including 780 billion VND for the State budget. Some 345 billion VND has been collected, together with 5.1 trillion VND in tax debts. State budget expenditure reached 207.3 trillion VND in the first two months, or 12.3 percent of the estimate and down 6 percent year-on-year. Of this, 23.49 trillion VND was for development, or 4.9 percent of the estimate and down 32.4 percent. According to the ministry, debt interest payments fell 14.3 percent to 21.88 trillion VND while regular expenditure was up 1.2 percent year-on-year to 161.8 trillion VND. Some 12,760 tonnes of rice from the national reserve were provided for residents in disaster-hit areas. Up to 27 trillion VND worth of Government bonds were issued. … [Read more...] about State budget revenue up in first two months