Business Insight

Nguyen Quy Duong Nguyen Quy Duong, deputy director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Plant Protection Department, speaks with Hai quan (Customs) newspaper about China’s import policies and the need to improve the quality of Vietnamese fruits to meet stricter standards China has tightened import standards for Vietnamese fruits since late last year, making it difficult for firms to access the market. What is your opinion of this move? China has been easing its import policies for a long time so that poor provinces like Yunnan and Guangxi can promote their economies via local import and export activities. Now, China is starting to tighten management of these activities, especially of non-quota exports. In China's domestic market, farmers used to use chemical fertilisers and pesticides widely, but things have changed a lot. China now cares about the quality of agricultural products and the strict enforcement of food safety requirements. Thus, the … [Read more...] about Viet Nam must be more active in exporting fruit

Tran Duy Dong Tran Duy Dong, director general of the Department for Local and Regional Economy under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, speaks to Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade) newspaper about the development of eco-industrial parks in Viet Nam. What are the major impacts of the “Implementation of Eco-Industrial Park Initiative for Sustainable Industrial Zones in Viet Nam" in the course of national socio-economic development? With assistance from UNIDO, the Ministry of Planning and Investment launched the project in 2014 with the objective of speeding up the process to transfer, implement and multiply technology and measures to reduce dangerous waste, greenhouse emissions and substances which may cause water pollution in industrial parks nationwide. Over the past five years, the project has been implemented at 72 enterprises in industrial parks in the northern province of Ninh Binh, Can Tho in the Mekong Delta and Da Nang in central Viet Nam. During that time, these … [Read more...] about Requirements versus benefits in eco-industrial parks

Paul George Nguyen, CEO of Aviva Vietnam Hoat dong cty: Aviva Vietnam is partnering with the Vietnam Red Cross in different CSR initiatives Despite being a recent entrant in the Vietnamese life insurance market, Aviva’s origins can be traced back to over 320 years ago and it now operates in 14 markets with more than 33 million customers across the globe. Viet Nam News reporter Thu Ngan spoke to Paul George Nguyen, Aviva Vietnam’s CEO, to find out about the market outlook and the company’s plans for growth. The General Statistics Department has reported double digit growth for the insurance industry in the first quarter of this year. How did your company fare? The insurance market was positive in the first months of 2019. Revenues from premium in the first quarter of this year increased by 17 per cent compared to the same quarter last year, with life insurance premiums growing by 23 per cent, which are promising indicators of a good year ahead for the Vietnamese … [Read more...] about Aviva spells out clear plans for growth in Vietnam market

Nguyen Quoc Hung, director of the SBV’s Credit Department The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has recently made public a draft circular on safety limits for banks and called for public comment on the proposed changes. The circular would tighten regulations on lending, especially in the high-end real estate segment. Nguyen Quoc Hung, director of the SBV’s Credit Department, talked with the media about the issue during a meeting last week Some are concerned about the draft that will replace Circular 36/2014/TT-NHNN, saying it could have adverse impacts on the real estate market. What do you think? The draft circular amends a number of regulations related the capital safety ratio in the operation of domestic and foreign banks in Viet Nam. The revision includes a reduction of the ratio of short-term capital for medium- and long-term loans. Under the three-phase roadmap lasting until 2022, the maximum ratio of short-term funds used for medium- and long-term loans will be reduced … [Read more...] about New SBV regulation to help realty market grow sustainably

Jonathan Cornish The Vietnamese central bank has a number of policies, including tightening credit growth, designed to improve the health of the country’s banking system. Jonathan Cornish, Head of Asia-Pacific Financial Institutions at Fitch Ratings, talks with Viet Nam News reporter Nguyen Thu Ha about the policies and outlook of the country’s banking system in 2019 and in the next few years. The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) set a credit growth target of 14 per cent for credit institutions in 2019, much lower than the 18 per cent average rate of the previous years. In the context that many central banks in the region are loosening their monetary policy to support economic growth amidst the global slowdown, what do you think of the move? We would view a moderation in loan growth, if sustained, positively, especially in the context that system leverage – as indicated by total bank credit/GDP of 134 per cent at the end of 2018 – is already very high, and … [Read more...] about The impact of credit policies on Viet Nam’s banking outlook