Short cutting in gamefowl

Thu Duc City, four districts to have water supply cut for pipeline repair

April 14, 2021 by english.thesaigontimes.vn

Thu Duc City, four districts to have water supply cut for pipeline repair

The Saigon Times

Two workers are seen inside the Thu Duc 3 Water Plant – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) will cut the water supply in some areas of Thu Duc City and four districts in HCMC between Saturday evening and Sunday evening to repair the D1500 Binh Thai-Binh Loi water pipeline.

According to Sawaco general director Tran Quang Minh, the maintenance will take place on the section of Sawaco’s water supply network located some 200 meters from Nguyen Van Ba Street in Truong Tho Ward, Thu Duc City. The maintenance will force the Thu Duc 3 Water Plant to stop pumping water into the network.

From 9 p.m. on Saturday, April 17, until 9 p.m. the following day, Sawaco will cut the water supply in the wards of Hiep Binh Chanh, Hiep Binh Phuoc, Linh Dong, Linh Tay, Tam Binh, Tam Phu and Binh Chieu in Thu Duc City and the wards 11, 12, 13 and 28 in Binh Thanh District. Thanh Loc Ward in District 12, Ward 1 in Go Vap District and Ward 2 in Tan Binh District will also be affected by the water supply cut.

The water supply cut will affect dozens of thousands of households in these areas. Minh said households in some areas may experience low-pressure water shortly after the water supply is resumed.

Built at a cost of more than VND1.27 trillion, the Thu Duc 3 Water Plant is capable of treating 300,000 cubic meters of water from the Dong Nai River a day to provide clean water for the city.

This is the second time in one month that Sawaco has had to cut the water supply in some areas of HCMC to repair the D1500 Binh Thai-Binh Loi water pipeline.

Vietnam’s solid macro-economic base enables c.bank to further cut policy rates

May 13, 2020 by hanoitimes.vn

Lower policy rates would enable commercial banks to cut interest rates in a more sustainable way, which in turn contribute significantly to economic recovery, said a central bank official.

Vietnam’s solid macro-economic base has created room for the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the country’s central bank, to maneuver its monetary policy and further cut the benchmark interest rates, according to Pham Thanh Ha, head of the SBV’s Monetary Policy Department.

Pham Thanh Ha, head of the SBV’s Monetary Policy Department. Source: SBV.

The SBV’s decision to adjust the policy rates is based on the actual situation of the global financial markets, where major central banks have eased their respective monetary polices and help economies avoid recession, Ha told the SBV’s portal on May 13.

“The SBV has taken into consideration macro-economic factors and inflationary pressure before making proceeding to lower interest rates,” said Ha.

He went on to say that the monetary and foreign exchange markets remain stable while inflation continues to stay under control.

The SBV is committed to ensuring liquidity for credit institutions, which serve as a key channel in providing capital for the economy, he said, adding lower policy rates would help commercial banks cut interest rates in a more sustainable way, which in turn contribute significantly to economic recovery.

In the coming time, the SBV would continue to closely monitor the macro-economic conditions, especially the global financial market to ensure proper and flexible management of the monetary policy, Ha stressed.

After cutting the policy rates by 50 – 100 basis points in March, the SBV on May 12 further slashed the rates by 50 basis points. Accordingly, the refinancing interest rate is down from 5% per annum to 4.5%, rediscount rate from 3.5% to 3%, overnight interest rate from 6% to 5.5% and interest rate via open market operation (OMO) from 3.5% to 3%.

The SBV also lowered the interest rate cap to 4.25% annually from 4.75% for deposits with maturities of one month to less than six months.

Meanwhile, the SBV ordered banks to lower the maximum lending rate for short-term loans to 5% from 5.5%, with the aim of helping companies operating in the fields of agriculture, high-tech industries and exports, among others. Similarly, that rate at people’s credit funds and micro finance services is down from 6.5% to 6%.

The deposit rate for maturities of over six months is subject to each credit institution’s decision on the basis of supply – demand.

MoIT cuts export growth target to 4-5 percent

March 25, 2021 by ven.vn

Positive signals

Agency of Foreign Trade Deputy Director Tran Thanh Hai said that from January 1 to February 15, 2021, Vietnam exported goods worth US$38 billion, up 36 percent from the same period last year, while the country’s import value increased 25 percent over the same period last year.

Textile, garment and footwear exports fell up to 10 percent in 2020 but experienced a growth in the first two months of this year. Textile and garment exports, for example, reached an estimated US$2.6 billion, up 3.3 percent from the same period last year.

Le Tien Truong, Board Chair of the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (VINATEX) said 2021 will still be a difficult and uncertain year with lower prices and simple goods replacing fashion goods, likely leading to production exceeding demand and new production demands. However, the textile and garment industry sets a target of reaching export revenue of US$39 billion in 2021.

The demand for other commodities, including telephones, machinery, spare parts, and electronic components has increased, resulting in a high growth of these goods exports. The production of those goods has been limited in many countries as a consequence of the pandemic, providing Vietnam with an opportunity to increase exports.

Farm produce exports from January 1 to February 15 increased five percent over the same period last year, Hai said.

Appropriate target

Despite the positive signals at the start of 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Trade set a 4-5 percent export growth target, lower than the target of recent years, such as 7% for 2020. The target reassessment stems not only from the pandemic but also due to uncertainty in the international business environment. For example, according to World Bank figures, while exports grew 16.7% in 2017, they slumped to 6.7% in 2019.

Growing protectionism over the past decade has profoundly affected international trade including Vietnam’s foreign trade. Just as the pandemic was not foreseen, all development scenarios need to be prepared for such unforeseen factors as natural disasters, epidemics and conflicts. Vietnam is increasing its participation in international economic communities and is increasingly opening itself up to foreign markets. The ministry’s lower growth target is therefore appropriate, taking all these factors into account, Hai explained.

The pandemic’s impact will linger for at least a few more years, and the market is not expected to resume its pre-pandemic level of activity in the short term. However, businesses should continue to use tools that proved relatively effective in 2020.

“Vietnam signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with many countries and it is time for Vietnamese enterprises to prepare to take advantage of opportunities offered by these agreements,” Hai said. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is simplifying administrative procedures to increase business comfort, Hai added.

Deputy Director of the Agency of Foreign Trade Tran Thanh Hai said that from January 1 to February 15, 2021, Vietnam exported goods worth US$38 billion, up 36 percent from the same period last year, while the country’s import value increased 25 percent over the same period last year.

Phuong Lan

Adopting green lifestyles through short getaways

March 27, 2021 by en.vietnamplus.vn

Apart from enjoying the tranquil atmosphere of Hoi An ancient town, visitors can also enjoy fun activities such as growing vegetables, riding buffaloes, and rowing coracles, among others.

Local tourism service providers have also taken a step forward in promoting environmental protection by collecting bio-waste from restaurants and hotels to make compost. Many have invested in technology to save energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Forty local tourism companies have undertaken to apply the circular economic model, which aims at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. Local green community tourism models, with no plastic use, have also been developed.

Green tourism is not just a cash cow but also brings sustainable benefits to local residents. Indeed, many farmers in Hoi An have earned handsome profits from providing agro-tourism services.

Green tourism not only benefits tourists by providing exotic experiences, it also inspires them in environmental protection and green lifestyle s./.

VNA

Interest rates stabilized to stimulate credit demand

March 24, 2021 by sggpnews.org.vn

Some commercial banks increase their savings interest rates to compete with other investment channels. (Photo: SGGP)

After a long period of cutting interest rates, from the beginning of March this year, some commercial banks, such as Techcombank, VPBank, and ACB, have started to raise deposit interest rates. However, in the market, the number of commercial banks reducing deposit interest rates is more, such as KienlongBank, PGBank, GPBank, and OCB. These lenders cut their deposit interest rates by 0.05-0.3 percentage points.

Many banking experts said that this conflicting interest rate change is only local. Some banks raise interest rates to increase the attractiveness of the deposit channel because other investment channels, such as stocks, bonds, and real estate, are fairly attractive. As for banks that reduce interest rates, they possibly had increased interest rates earlier to mobilize money for the capital needs during the Tet holiday, and now lower their interest rates due to low credit demand while liquidity remains abundant.

The fact that interest rates fluctuate in a small range is a very normal phenomenon and cannot be the basis for setting up a higher interest rate level. Mr. Nguyen Hoang Minh, Deputy Head of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Ho Chi Minh City Branch, said that although some commercial banks had increased deposit interest rates, it was not the general trend of the market. The mobilizing interest rate level in the first two months of this year is still the same as that at the end of last year.

On the other hand, it must be admitted that although the number of banks raising deposit interest rates is small and currently has not put great pressure on the lending interest rate level in general. However, this will cause a certain pressure on the possibility of lowering the lending interest rates of other banks. Moreover, according to many experts, at present, the lending interest rates cannot be reduced following the savings interest rate because bad debts of banks are on the brink of increasing because they have to restructure and keep the debt group for customers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Profits are higher, but banks also have to set aside provisions. Therefore, the lending interest rates currently cannot be reduced in tandem with the deposit rates.

Many incentive packages

Besides cutting input interest rates to lower lending rates, commercial banks have entered the race to attract cheap capital from demand deposits. The interest rate of demand deposits is much lower than that of time deposits, only around 0.2 percent per annum. If the ratio of demand deposits is higher, it will help banks to increase their net interest margins and have more conditions to compete in terms of lending interest rates in the market.

To attract demand deposits, commercial banks have added more services and utilities to serve demand deposit customers. In the market, there are some commercial banks with the CASA ratio exceeding 45 percent, like Techcombank. Some other banks also have a high CASA ratio, including MBBank with 39 percent and Vietcombank with 30 percent. Many other commercial banks are trying to achieve increasing CASA ratio levels to reduce capital costs.

From the perspective of State management, SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong has asked commercial banks to build business plans in the direction of reducing profit targets in 2021 so as to reduce lending interest rates, especially for old loans, medium, and long-term loans. In HCMC, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Minh said that city-based commercial banks were trying to reduce lending interest rates to support enterprises. From the beginning of the year until now, the lending interest rate level has decreased by about 0.3-1 percentage point compared to the end of last year, depending on borrowers. Many banks have been implementing many solutions to boost capital flows to the market.

According to reports of securities companies, it is forecasted that at the end of the first quarter of this year, the credit of many banks grows quite positively. One of the measures evaluated to have positively supported credit growth is that besides proactively structuring loans to customers, banks have focused on stimulating credit demand by lowering lending interest rates or launching preferential credit packages. Specifically, Vietcombank simultaneously reduced lending rates for all existing loans and new loans of customers within three months.

According to the lender’s calculation, the total outstanding loan that receives interest rate reduction is about VND350 trillion, so the profit that it shares with customers is about VND200 billion. BIDV has also deployed a short-term preferential credit package with a scale of up to VND10 trillion to support small and medium-sized import-export enterprises to overcome difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. For individual customers with demand to buy houses, cars, and consumer loans, BIDV launched a medium and long-term loan package with a scale of up to VND50 trillion, with preferential interest rates only from 7 percent per annum. HDBank is implementing a preferential credit package of up to VND5 trillion for small and medium-sized enterprises, with interest rates from 6.2 percent per annum.

According to many experts, the liquidity in March is forecasted to remain abundant, thanks to excellent deposit mobilization. Meanwhile, the central bank still maintains the orientation of cautiously loosening the interbank interest rates. These factors will facilitate banks to reduce lending rates for enterprises and people.

By Nhung Nguyen – Translated by Bao Nghi

Race for digital transformation: now or never

April 16, 2021 by vietnamnet.vn

The rules of the game in the future will be “quick fish eats slow fish”. Even “giants,” without timely performing digital transformation, may lose ground to “rookies” that are young and agile in the 4.0 technological revolution.

“With the current working method, it is very difficult for our company to effectively control the performance of sales staff,” said Jung In Jeong, sales director of Miwon Vietnam. When employees quit, they take a large number of customers with them, which greatly affects the company. Miwon has had to seek a

Vo Quang Nhan, from R.E.P Biotechnology Co., Ltd., said that after two years of applying management technology, the company has had a significant change. The customer conversion rate has increased by 20%, while the problem-solving time is now only 1-2 hours. The number of points of sale doubles every day. Market staff realized that the new way of working helped them to better control their daily work and boost sales.

Thanks to digital transformation, many businesses have overcome difficulties caused by Covid-19. Fabbi, a rookie in the technology inudstry, generated US$4 million in revenue in 2020 by taking advantage of the epidemic to provide digital transformation solutions to major partners in Japan.

Digital trends

Cuộc đua chuyển đổi: Không bắt đầu ngay, sẽ rắc rối về sau

Digital transformation is an inevitable trend.

Similarly, MobiWork successfully developed the MobiWorks DMS distribution management solution, fully meeting the needs of monitoring, automation and sales activities. This is a solution to digitize the entire business process in the distribution system, helping businesses have a more intuitive and accurate view of the market, customers and their competitors.

According to a survey by Vietnam Expo, despite the impact of the pandemic, the demand for trade is still increasing. Therefore, the fair Organizing Committee has implemented new forms of trade while calling on organizations and businesses to promote domestic trade and export.

Chairman of the Vietnam Software and Information Technology Services Association (VINASA) Truong Gia Binh, said that digital transformation is a global trend, a vital issue for countries, organizations and enterprises. The world is witnessing a strong “transformation” in labor productivity and user experiences with many new business models that have been formed.

The digital transformation trend is thriving but is not easy to realize because understanding the digital economy is a big challenge.

A survey by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the readiness to apply 4.0 technology in production and business activities in 2018 showed that 61% of enterprises “stood out” in the trend, 21% had initial preparations and 16 out of 17 fields under surveys had a low level of readiness in the digital transformation process.

According to a survey by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) with 400 Vietnamese enterprises in 2020, the four main barriers in digital transformation include: Lack of information about digital technology (30.4%); lack of internal manpower to apply digital technology (32.3%), fear of leaking personal and corporate data (33.9%); lack of digital technology infrastructure (38.9%), and high cost of digital technology application (55.6%).

Le Viet Canh, CEO of Fabbi, said that many domestic companies have just heard about digital transformation and do not know how to implement this process.

Taking advantage of opportunities in digital transformation

“Many businesses still think that they do not need digital transformation and all issues can be handled on paper or Excel files. However, they need to consider the future development direction and future scale. Without determining digital transformation early, they will be in trouble later,” Canh warned.

Like Japanese businesses, Canh said, Vietnamese will face some difficulties when digital transformation starts, but they will see long-term effects, and this will result in stronger motivation. Therefore, these businesses need support of tech companies that specialize in digital transformation.

According to the White Book on Vietnamese Businesses 2020, small and medium sized enterprises account for 98% of the total number of corporates in the country. They have many advantages in digital transformation thanks to their flexibility and fast change. It is important for them to understand how large enterprises operate, their business models, and transformation processes, and apply them flexibly and creatively.

Hoang The Anh, business director of Mobiwork, said that in the current digital transformation trend, local businesses can cooperate with partners in the tech field to take a short cut, to buy effective solutions to save money and time.

Digital transformation will be very convenient because there is a lot of good technology, good infrastructure, good human resources. Technologies, tools, and human resource programming languages are the same, but business leaders decide on the success of digital transformation. Digital solutions must meet business and management needs of specific businesses. Business leaders will decide appropriate technology packages and methods of technology application.

Besides, participating in trade promotion activities will also help businesses have opportunities to seek partners and find suitable solutions. With the theme “Accompanying businesses in the digital era”, Vietnam Expo expects to bring resonance to the National Digital Transformation Program, creating a forum to connect the business community, and enable their approach to digital transformation solutions to increase competitiveness in production and business.

Bao Anh