Vietna

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartanto said on September 7 that the government had earmarked 3.8 trillion IDR (256.8 million USD) for the down payment for purchasing COVID-19 vaccines. At an online press conference, he said the government plans to spend 37 trillion IDR (2.51 billion USD) next year for a multi-year vaccine development programme. The government is eyeing several potential vaccines that are currently under development. The first is the Merah Putih vaccine, which is being developed by the Research and Technology Ministry and the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology. The second is the vaccine being developed by state pharmaceutical holding company PT Bio Farma in cooperation with Sinovac Biotech of China. The third vaccine is the one being developed by United Arab Emirates' Group 42 (G42) Healthcare. According to Airlangga, Indonesia plans to procure 290 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine next year and 30 million doses of … [Read more...] about Indonesia to set aside over 2.7 billion USD for COVID-19 vaccine procurement

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam’s foreign exchange reserve has hit a new record high of 92 billion USD, a significant expansion from 84 billion USD which Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Le Minh Hung revealed in April. At a recent Government meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the country’s forex reserve was expected to hit 100 billion USD by the end of this year, five times higher than the level recorded at the beginning of his term. Statistics of the General Department of Customs showed that August saw a trade surplus of 2.5 billion USD and a surplus of 10.93 billion USD in the January-August period, providing a plentiful supply of foreign currencies which enabled the central bank to purchase foreign currencies from the beginning of this year. Financial expert Nguyen Tri Hieu said that high reserves would be an important buffer to help the economy withstand external shocks, which would contribute to stabilising the macroeconomy, strengthening foreign … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s forex reserve sets new record

“It is estimated that 47 newborns die every day in Vietnam. Most are from preventable causes. Simple interventions such as skilled birth attendance, early essential newborn care, early initiation of breastfeeding, and kangaroo-mother care for premature and low-weight babies can save lives of women and their infants," UNICEF said. … [Read more...] about Vietnam sees increasing survival rate of premature infants

Asked if Vuihoc would become the national digital transformation platform, Vuihoc’s CEO Dang Ngoc Lam said: “Vuihoc will firmly go step by step, but how far it can go will depend on many factors. Ambitions exist, but one needs to be practical and stand on his own feet."  … [Read more...] about Over 100,000 people learn online with ‘Make in Vietnam’ platform

Feed-in tariffs (FIT) for solar power were considered too high, and though they fell quickly as technology improved from 9.35 US cents per kilowatt-hour in 2017 to 7.09 cents last year for plants on land, they remain quite high compared with other countries. … [Read more...] about VN energy sector a magnet for foreign investors