February 15 birthstone

Addressing an online meeting with representatives from 63 provinces and cities, and their health sectors on accelerating COVID-19 prevention and vaccination efforts, Long warned that Vietnam is in danger of experiencing another outbreak.

He stressed that controlling the pandemic this year will be very difficult for all countries, not just Vietnam.

Vietnam has gone 21 straight days with no new cases of domestic transmission, he said, while also noting that the situation remains complex in the world and the region. The country is still organising commercial flights to bring Vietnamese citizens home, he added.

The Ministry of Health – the standing agency of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control – will continue to strengthen its direction as well as inspection and supervision of high-risk areas.

He underlined the urgent need to prevent illegal travel in border areas and to strictly tackle violations.

Regarding vaccinations, Long said the ministry has made efforts to negotiate with suppliers around the world to purchase larger volumes as soon as possible.

In addition to more than 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that were imported into Vietnam at the end of February, 811,200 more doses of AstraZeneca, sponsored by the COVAX Facility through UNICEF, have also arrived in the country.

Forty-nine out of Vietnam’s 63 cities and provinces nationwide have been provided with vaccines from the second batch, he said.

The ministry has directed localities to promptly map out plans and speed up vaccinations, towards completing the task by May 5.

So far, 75,000 people have received COVID-19 vaccinations, Long said, and affirmed that Vietnam will continue using the AstraZenecca vaccine in the time to come.

At the meeting, a representative of the World Health Organisation praised Vietnam’s efforts and affirmed that the benefits vaccines offer far outweigh the risks.

Also on April 16, the last COVID-19 patient in northern Hai Duong province, which was Vietnam’s largest hotspot during the third wave of outbreaks, was discharged from hospital.

Source: VNA

SOEs must complete the sale of shares within four months, photo Le Toan

State-owned lender Agribank has been stuck for years with divestment efforts because its real estate assets could not be approved by the Ministry of Finance due to their large size and complex procedures.

“At the end of last year, the Ministry of Finance also made a comprehensive assessment on the equitisation goal of state-owned enterprises. Specifically, only about 28 per cent of enterprises were equitised, which means that nearly three-quarters did not meet the plan. The main issue is that many large corporations’ land use rights remain unclear, as can be seen in the cases of VNPT and Agribank,” explained Chu Manh Hung, deputy head of the Equitisation Department at Agribank.

“Since the equitisation plan during 2016-2020 has not been completed yet, Agribank will continue carrying out this task for the 2021-2025 period,” he added. “However, there are still major roadblocks hampering the process, associated with determining the value of land and affiliated enterprises.”

While Agribank has been constantly pushing the equitisation process, the complex valuation procedures have been a major obstacle slowing down progress. The bank also has to cope with the myriad challenges arising from its large number of affiliated enterprises, multi-level authorisations required, as well as delayed approval of land use schemes.

Agribank has a total of around 294 real estate properties with a total area of 2.6 million square metres, with diverse origins and incomplete legal documents. While these assets can help the bank’s equitisation value reach record levels and enhance its efficiency, they have also delayed divestment for years.

“Agribank currently has more than 100 land plots with unclear legal status. We hope to receive support from relevant units and agencies to quickly equitise this large volume of assets,” Hung told VIR.

Despite its ongoing equitisation, Agribank jumped 17 spots to rank 173rd in the recently-announced Brand Finance Banking 500 list for 2021, which featured the most valuable and strongest banking brands in the world.

As of December 31, Agribank’s total assets reached nearly VND1.57 quadrillion ($68.26 billion), with its capital exceeding VND1.45 quadrillion ($63 billion). According to Brand Finance, as governments scramble to stimulate economic growth in the face of the ongoing global health crisis, and profits and interest rates taking a hit, nearly two-thirds of the world’s 500 most valuable banking brands have recorded brand value losses.

As per Decree No.01/2014/ND-CP released in 2014 on foreign investors’ purchase of shares of Vietnamese credit institutions, a foreign strategic investor shall not hold more than 20 per cent of the charter capital of a Vietnamese credit institution. Foreign investors shall not hold more than 30 per cent of the charter capital of a Vietnamese commercial bank.

Besides Agribank, other local lenders have been enjoying the attentions of foreign partners looking to increase their footprint in Vietnam.

In 2019, a strategic co-operation between Vietnamese bank BIDV and South Korean KEB Hana Bank turned the former into the lender with the largest market capitalisation in Vietnam with around $1.73 billion. KEB Hana invested capital in exchange for a 15 per cent stake in BIDV, while BIDV received long-term technical assistance from the South Korean lender and its parent company, Hana Financial Group. The tie-up also quenched the bank’s thirst for capital as BIDV announced it has now satisfied Basel II requirements.

Elsewhere, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC in 2019 purchased over 94 million new shares and now owns a 2.55 per cent stake in Vietcombank. Mizuho, one of the largest Japanese financial services providers purchased an additional 16.6 million new shares to maintain its existing 15 per cent stake in the bank.

“The equity investment by GIC and Mizuho increases Vietcombank’s charter capital and creates a solid capital buffer for the bank to meet capital requirements under Basel II Accord as well as maintain its leading position in the Vietnamese banking sector,” a GIC representative stated.

Last year, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group reduced its stake in VietinBank by 1.5 per cent, following an earlier divestment.

The IFC and equity subsidiary IFC Capitalization Fund also reduced their combined ownership in VietinBank from almost 6.49 to 4.99 per cent last year, leaving more room for other foreigners.

Besides the IFC, Japanese financial institution Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ holds 19.73 per cent in the state-run bank. However, VietinBank has not signalled any new potential partnerships since IFC pulled out.

On the other hand, under Vietnamese regulations, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) must complete the sale of shares within four months of having their equitisation plans approved. This time limit may not be enough for overseas investors to conduct due diligence and negotiate representations and warranties, special rights, and other conditions for share acquisitions with the authority representing state capital in the SOE, according to ASCV Legal.

Roughly 20-30 per cent of the COVID-related shift to digital globally is expected to be permanent, according to a fresh report from Mastercard

Put another way: in 2020, e-commerce made up roughly $1 out of every $5 spent on retail, up from about $1 out of every $7 spent in 2019.

As COVID-19 kept consumers around the world at home, nearly everything from groceries to gardening supplies was purchased online.

For retailers, restaurants, and other businesses large and small, being able to sell online provided a much-needed lifeline as in-person consumer spending was disrupted.

Roughly 20-30 per cent of the COVID-19-related shift to digital globally is expected to be permanent, according to Mastercard’s Recovery Insights: Commerce E-volution.

The report draws on anonymised and aggregated sales activity in the Mastercard network and proprietary analysis by the Mastercard Economics Institute. The analysis dives into what this means by country and by sector, for goods and services, and within countries and across borders.

“While consumers were stuck at home, their dollars travelled far and wide thanks to e-commerce,” says Bricklin Dwyer, Mastercard chief economist and head of the Mastercard Economics Institute. “This has significant implications, with the countries and companies that have prioritised digital continuing to reap the benefits. Our analysis shows that even the smallest businesses see gains when they shift to digital.”

The fresh report uncovers several key overarching trends as follows:

Early digital adopters go into overdrive: Economies that were more digital before the crisis – such as the UK and US – saw larger gains in the domestic shift to digital that look more permanent than the countries that had a smaller share of e-commerce before the crisis, such as Argentina and Mexico. The Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe were the strongest regions in driving e-commerce adoption.

Grocery and discount store digital gains look sticky: Essential retail sectors, which had the smallest digital share before the crisis, saw some of the biggest gains as consumers adapted. With new consumer habits forming and given the low pre-COVID-19 user base, Mastercard anticipates 70-80 per cent of the grocery e-commerce surge to stick around for good.

International e-commerce rose 25-30 per cent during the pandemic: International e-commerce got a boost both in sales volume and the number of different countries where shoppers placed orders. With infinitely more choices at their fingertips, consumer spending on international e-commerce grew around 25-30 per cent year over year from March 2020 through February 2021.

Consumers increase their e-commerce footprints, buying from up to 30 per cent more online retailers: Reflecting expanded consumer choice, the report shows that consumers worldwide are making purchases at a greater number of websites and online marketplaces than before. Residents in countries like Italy and Saudi Arabia are buying from 33 per cent more online stores, on average, followed closely by Russia and the UK.

Shift to electronic payments accelerated in the US: Even in store, COVID-19 accelerated the transition to digital – with more consumers moving from plunking down cash to touch-free payments. According to the company’s analysis of payment forms at brick-and-mortar retail stores and restaurants, non-cash payments jumped by an additional 2.5 percentage points beyond the ongoing trend. This led to an acceleration of the shift from cash to electronic payments by a full year.

Mastercard launched Recovery Insights report last year to help businesses and governments better manage the health, safety, and economic risks presented by COVID-19. The initiative draws on Mastercard’s analytics and experimentation platforms, its longstanding consulting practice and unique data-driven insights to deliver relevant and timely tools, innovation and research.

The government closed borders and canceled all international flights in March last year, allowing in only certain categories of people including foreign diplomats and specialists and with stringent conditions.

The government has set a GDP growth target of 6.5 percent for 2021.