'Serious consequences,' U.S. warns, after Venezuela moves on GuaidoThe Saigon Times Daily Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido gestures as he attends a session of the Venezuela's National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela January 29, 2019 – PHOTO: REUTERS CARACAS (REUTERS) - Venezuela’s government struck back at self-declared interim president Juan Guaido on Tuesday, seeking a travel ban and freeze on his bank accounts that prompted a warning from Washington of “consequences” after imposing oil sanctions. The sweeping U.S. sanctions on oil firm PDVSA, announced on Monday, means the state-run company may not be able to fulfill contracts with North American buyers, the government of President Nicolas Maduro said. Aimed at driving Maduro from power, the sanctions were the strongest measures yet against the 56-year-old former union leader, who has overseen economic collapse and an exodus of millions of Venezuelans in … [Read more...] about ‘Serious consequences,’ U.S. warns, after Venezuela moves on Guaido
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Pacific trade pact almost upon it, Vietnam’s privatization remains sluggish
The privatization process was behind schedule "though the government has ordered SOEs to speed up the process and threatened them with penalties," Dang Quyet Tien, head of the Finance Ministry’s corporate finance department recently said. He blamed the extremely sluggish pace on the tortuous process of determining the extent of lands owned by state firms to make their valuation. "However, many companies have already undergone several transitions in the past, followed by changes in papers, seals, and asset certificates, and sorting through them is a complicated task." In December 2016 the government had set a target of reducing the number of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from 583 to 103 by 2020. By the end of last year there were still more than 500 after only 11 were privatized against the target of 64, according to the Ministry of Finance. With the number of state firms remaining high, Vietnam could have a hard time fulfilling its obligations under the of the Comprehensive and … [Read more...] about Pacific trade pact almost upon it, Vietnam’s privatization remains sluggish
Việt Nam: it’s time to make regulations strong and effective
Viet Nam News Võ Trí Thành* Việt Nam has made great efforts in fine-tuning its regulatory system and reaped certain successes in recent years. This is, however, not yet finished but now is the right time to speed up this reform to make regulations strong and effective. Since 1986, Việt Nam has issued a number of laws to regulate economic activities in line with market-oriented reforms. In 1996, the National Assembly introduced the first Law on Legal Normative Documents (also known as the Law on Laws). This law specifies the authority of different bodies in promulgating different types of regulations, including laws, ordinances, decisions and circulars. Việt Nam also embarked on simplifying administrative procedures. This direction of work was initiated in the 1990s but only materialised during the 2000s, especially since 2007. Reducing barriers for local firms to do business is acknowledged as a core priority to support the business community and … [Read more...] about Việt Nam: it’s time to make regulations strong and effective
China’s ZTE apologizes after paying ‘disastrous price’ in U.S. sanction case
China's ZTE apologizes after paying 'disastrous price' in U.S. sanction case <p align="left" class="SGTOSummary"> HONG KONG/SHENZHEN (REUTERS) - The chairman of ZTE Corp apologized to staff and customers last week after the Chinese technology firm agreed to pay a US$1 billion fine to the United States to end a supplier ban that has crippled its business.</p> <p> The deal allows China’s second-largest telecoms equipment firm to restart operations, reaffirm supplier relationships and rebuild trust with global clients, as it works to move on from an episode which it said threatened its very existence.</p> <p> But industry experts estimate it would take at least a month for ZTE to ship phones again after the ban is lifted, while employees fear job cuts, wage reductions and a potential loss of customers, as the firm is set to reshuffle senior management.</p> <p> The company agreed on Thursday to pay the fine and overhaul its leadership to … [Read more...] about China’s ZTE apologizes after paying ‘disastrous price’ in U.S. sanction case
Vietnam’s stock market loses all of its 2018 gains
Vietnam’s stock market fell by 2.23 percent on Friday to close at more than 963 points, meaning it has lost every gain it has made so far this year. The benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) hit 984.24 on the last trading day of 2017, the highest ever since 2007, before reaching 1,000 points in early January. Investors are beginning to question if Vietnam’s stock market can replicate the 48 percent growth registered last year after it lost 12 percent in April, which was also its worst monthly performance so far this year, according to a Wednesday report by South China Morning Post. Bloomberg said in a Thursday report that American research firm MSCI may have good reason when keeping Vietnam in frontier market territory. The newspaper said that large moves by a few companies can swing the broader market big-time and currently five big companies are contributing to more than 40 percent of HOSE, namely real estate conglomerate Vingroup and its residential … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s stock market loses all of its 2018 gains