The economy will continue to be as bleak this year as in 2012, said Sanjay Kalra, resident representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Vietnam. Speaking at a seminar on financial and budgetary issues held by the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly (NA) in Hanoi last Saturday, Kalra remarked the economy was barely growing and domestic demand was shrinking. The economic... 

Thanks to the Government’s registration fee reduction policy plus efforts of auto manufacturers in sales policies, the auto market has continuously grown since the Tet holiday, with a slight rise compared to previous months. Toyota Vietnam, the leading auto assembling firm in Vietnam, said the firm sold over 2,770 cars last month, rising by 350 units from March and by up to 1,136 units year-on-year. Similarly,... 

Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank’s vice president for East Asia and Pacific, highly praised Vietnam for its efforts to repay debts to the global lender. Vietnam’s ability to fulfill its debt obligations to the World Bank (WB) is always guaranteed and the country is always serious about debt repayment. “Vietnam has a spotless debt repayment record,” said Trotsenburg at a press briefing on... 

The rising number of exhausted businesses will hinder the economy from recovering its growth next year, said the National Financial Supervisory Committee. In the first four months of 2013, about 16,600 firms were disbanded or became inactive, up 16.9% year-on-year, the committee said in a report. Restrictions on credit access and unpleasant production and business situation made a lot of enterprises... 

While the nation’s foreign direct investment (FDI) has markedly picked up this year, HCMC, which was among the top localities with high FDI attraction in previous years, has seen a sharp decline in FDI inflow. A recent report of the city’s Department of Planning and Investment shows that both fresh and additional investment capital in the city only reached US$348 million in January-April, shrinking... 

While keeping complaining about the small scale of the Vietnamese market and the changeable policies, foreign automobile manufacturers still have been flocking to Vietnam. Betting on the future Analysts have forecast that about 100,000 cars would be sold in 2013, a modest figure for more than 10 big automobile manufacturers in Vietnam. However, the manufacturers believe that Vietnam’s market would... 

Debates over the permissible advertising costs have become heated again when law makers contributed opinions for the amended Law on Corporate Income Tax at a seminar held in Hanoi last Thursday. Speaking at the seminar held by Nghien Cuu Lap Phap magazine, the Young Entrepreneurs Association and University of Economics and Law, lawyer Truong Thanh Duc said that all caps on advertising costs should... 

* Terra Motors to soon debut in Vietnam HCMC – Auto firms are racing to launch new cars or give their customers more supports to increase their market shares. Although the registration fee for cars under 10 seats has been reduced from 20% to between 10% and 15% and that for used car slashed from 10-12% to 2%, the market has not seen any positive change. Several automakers said they did not really... 

Vietnam may benefit the most from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) among the countries joining the talks over this agreement, said Professor Peter A. Petri from the U.S.-based Brandeis University. Between the date of signing and 2025, Vietnam may earn US$26.2 billion every year, or 7.7% of the country’s GDP, from trade with the current TPP negotiating partners, even higher than US$23.9 billion... 

A credit growth slowdown and stagnant production have posed challenges for the economy in the first quarter, economic administrators said at a meeting held in Hanoi on Tuesday by the Ministry of Planning and Investment. Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment, said the city recorded credit growth of a mere 0.26% over late 2012, while bad debt stood at 5.9%. The...