Fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution

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

On Hon Tre island, Kien Hai district, Kien Giang province (Photo: VNA) hập mô tả cho ảnh Kien Giang (VNA) - The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang aims to have all of its 116 communes fulfil the criteria in the national target programme on building new-style rural areas in the 2021-25 period, with funding estimated at some 17.4 trillion VND (751.47 million USD). In 2021 alone, nine communes strive to win recognition, while the districts of Vinh Thuan and Kien Luong as well as Ha Tien city are to accomplish the task of building new-style rural areas. Local authorities also strive to fulfil targets on the rate of households with access to clean water of 99 percent and health insurance coverage of over 90 percent, and the reduction of the multidimensional poverty household rate of 1 percent while creating 35,000 jobs. The province will bolster the transfer and application of modern technologies in agricultural production and consider models for large-scale agricultural … [Read more...] about Kien Giang sets aside over 750 million USD for building new-style rural areas