Viet Nam has revised up its estimate of the country’s 2008 trade deficit to $17.5 billion from $17 billion it reported last week due to higher imports, the government statistics office said on Wednesday. Imports in 2008 were estimated to have jumped 28.3% from 2007 to $80.42 billion, instead of $79.92 billion previously reported, the [...]

Viet Nam received 4.25 million international visitors in 2008, an increase of 0.6%, the General Statistics Office said Wednesday. Among the visitors, the number of tourists rose 1% to 2.63 million while that for business travelers increased 25.4% to 844,000, the GSO said. China is the largest source of international visitors to Viet Nam this [...]

Climate changes, natural calamities, epidemics, brutal competition, the global financial crisis and economic regression will hurt the Vietnamese agriculture sector in 2009, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat, at a meeting on Monday. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s report, Vietnam hit a record of food output in [...]

The ceremony to announce top 500 Vietnamese companies in 2008 and the VNR500 forum ‘Big enterprises and the economic prospects in Viet Nnam in 2009’ are expected to take place on Friday January 2, 2009. This important event will be co-organised by Viet Nam Net newspaper and Vietnam Report, at the National Convention Centre. The [...]

Viet Nam signed up 27.55 million new telephone subscribers in 2008, up 18% from 2007, the government’s General Statistics Office said Wednesday. The number of new mobile phone subscribers more than doubled to 18.59 million, the GSO said. The country signed up 1.48 million new internet subscribers in the year, up 27.8% on year, it [...]

Since 2006, Vietnam’s footwear industry has been facing a lot of anti-dumping lawsuits, from the lawsuit in Europe, to the threatened lawsuit raised in Mexico. Most recently, Argentina has asked the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) to provide information about the production costs of the product items exported to the country. Brazil has also [...]

South Korea’s won climbed to a 10- week high after the nation reported a second monthly current- account surplus, helping support Asia’s worst-performing currency of 2008. Taiwan’s dollar also gained. The won has risen 17% in December, set for its biggest monthly gain in a decade, on speculation the central bank bought the currency to [...]

Aiming to grab market share and gain a favorable position before the opening up of the retail market on January 1st, 2009, a series of supermarkets and modern department store chains are racing to open stores before their competitors. On December 28th, the HCMC Union of Trading Co-Operatives (Saigon Co.Op) opened the Pham Van Hai [...]

Viet Nam, the world’s second largest rice exporter, plans to maintain its rice planting area of 7.5 million ha to produce 39 million tonnes of paddy in 2009. The output will ensure the implementation of food security goal as well as stable rice exports. According to the Statistics General Department in 2008, Viet Nam exported [...]

Viet Nam is now the largest foreign investor in Laos , according to a recent survey conducted by the Overseas Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. The department’s statistics showed that in the first 11 months of this year, Vietnamese businesses invested in 52 projects with a total registered capital of 450 [...]

The agriculture and rural development sector should make full use of land funds to expand the types of production, increase productivity and improve product quality while supporting farmers in selling staples. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the proposal at a conference in Hanoi on December 29 to draw up the sector’s plans for 2009. [...]

Vietnam’s central bank said on Monday it had licensed South Korea’s Shinhan Bank and Malaysia’s Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLBB.KL) to open 100-percent foreign-owned banks in the country. Under the licence, Shinhan Bank, a unit of Shinhan Financial Group (055550.KS), will open Shinhan Vietnam Bank with a capital base of 1.67 trillion dong, or nearly [...]

The State Bank of Viet Nam said Monday it has licensed the establishment of the Viet Nam Chemical Finance Joint Stock Co. The company, based in Hanoi, will have a registered capital of VND300 billion ($17.6 million), the central bank said. The company, whose operating license is valid for 50 years, can mobilize capital, including [...]

The price of rubber exports to China through the Mong Cai border-gate has gone up again after a big fall for many consecutive months, according to the management board of this border-gate in northern Quang Ninh province. The price of rubber has increased by 500 Chinese Yuan per tonne to 7,800 Yuan per tonne, prompting [...]

From the Xmas Day to date, the prices of gold and US dollar have surged continuously. Meanwhile, the deposit rates have fallen. Therefore, many investors are now choosing to invest between gold and US dollar. After the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)’s adjustment of the dong/US dollar forex rate on December 25, the listed [...]