Inflationary risks

Authorities in Lai Chau and Son La Provinces, northern Vietnam are seeking the prime minister's approval for the construction of airports there. In a document sent to PM Pham Minh Chinh, the Lai Chau People’s Committee mentioned its plan to build Lai Chau Airport, which is designed to cover 167 hectares and have the capacity of 500,000 passengers per year, in Tan Uyen Town during the 2022-30 period. The administration stressed that the project plays an important role in promoting the province's socio-economic development as well as contributes to ensuring national defense and security in border areas. The province has carried out necessary land use planning and site clearance to attract the interest of investors in the project. Some investors are mulling over implementing the project under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. PPP involves a contract between a public sector authority and a private party, in which the private party provides a public service or project … [Read more...] about Northern Vietnamese provinces seek approval for construction of airports

VABA asks relevant authorities to study and adjust the domestic ceiling price bracket for airlines to promote the recovery of the industry. — Photo a family.vn The president of the Viet Nam Aviation Business Association (VABA) has proposed to adjust the ceiling fare for domestic airlines to promote the industry's recovery. At a national conference between the Prime Minister and businesses last week, VABA's chairman Pham Viet Dung said: "Viet Nam's aviation market is growing rapidly on the recovery trend but not evenly in all segments." The domestic market has fully recovered compared to before the pandemic. In contrast, the international market has recovered very slowly, said Dung, mentioning domestic passenger transport increased by 12 per cent compared to 2019, global freight increased, but household goods decreased. However, revenue was disproportionate due to increased fuel prices and some input prices, airlines still suffered losses, and liquidity did not improve much, … [Read more...] about VABA proposal raising domestic airfare ceiling

Vaccination must be prioritized amid complicated developments of diseases. (Photo: SGGP) According to the monitoring results of the HCMC Center for Disease Control, the city has more than 7,000 high-risk points for dengue fever. From the beginning of 2022 to now, the whole city has implemented 328 sanctioning decisions according to Decree No.117/2020/ND-CP for places that let generate lots of mosquito larvae and mosquitoes capable of causing dengue fever. The sanctioning has been drastically implemented by local authorities in July and the first half of August. Specifically, 199 places in July and 74 places in August were sanctioned. Regarding the Covid-19 vaccination for children, vaccination results have been more positive after the peak month was launched. After ten days of implementation, more than 13,000 doses are injected per day, on average, twice as much as before. However, the vaccination rate among children in the city is still lower than the national average. Besides … [Read more...] about Vaccination must be top priority as many diseases develop complicatedly

Economists and analysts said they believe Chinese authorities are keen to support the sluggish economy by allowing a widening policy divergence with other major economies that are raising interest rates aggressively. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said it was lowering the rate on 400 billion yuan ($59.33 billion) of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans to some financial institutions by 10 basis points (bps) to 2.75%, from 2.85%. In a poll of 32 market watchers last week, all respondents had forecast the MLF rate would be left unchanged and 29 had predicted there would be a partial rollover. "The rate cut surprises us," said Xing Zhaopeng, senior China strategist at ANZ. "It should be a response to the weak credit data on Friday. The government remains cautious about growth and will not let go." New bank lending in China tumbled more than expected in July while broad credit growth slowed, as fresh Covid flare-ups, worries about jobs and a deepening property … [Read more...] about China unexpectedly cuts 2 key rates, withdraws cash from banking system

The proliferation of pageants in the country has become a recent topic of discussion/debate. People say that the sheer number of competitions has caused a drop in both the quality of the candidates and entertainment value. Comparisons have even been made to Thi No, a literary character famous for being the polar opposite of beauty in Nam Cao's "Chi Pheo." Over the years, I have come to believe firmly that today’s beauty contests, not just in Vietnam, are inherently flawed. While the concept of beauty pageants has existed for millennia in both the East and the West (known through the Greek myth "Judgment of Paris"), modern beauty pageants as we know them only truly began in America during the early 20th century. The first beauty pageant of the modern times was the Miss America Pageant in 1921. Besides the touted appreciation of female beauty, pageants were a major tourist attraction, enticing people to go to resorts and entertainment centers in America's beach cities at the time. … [Read more...] about Facing up to some ugly truths about beauty contests

Heavy rains continue in northern region , Thanh Hoa on August 12 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The northern region and the central province of Thanh Hoa continue suffering heavy downpours on August 12 due to impact of a tropical depression, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. Sporadic heavy showers and thunderstorms are forecast to hit Hanoi, and there is a possibility of tornadoes, lightning and strong winds during thunderstorms. Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Downpours on August 11 evening and August 12 morning have flooded many streets in the capital. There is also a high risk of flash floods and landslides in mountainous provinces and flooding in low-lying areas./. VNA … [Read more...] about Heavy rains continue in northern region, Thanh Hoa on August 12