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... 

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has grown strongly in the first quarter after a long period of decline in both FDI pledges and disbursements. So far in the first quarter, Vietnam has lured 191 new FDI projects with total registered capital of over US$2.9 billion, up 2.2% year-on-year. However, 71 projects have raised capital by a combined US$3.1 billion, 3.7 times higher than the same period last year. In... 

The World Bank on Wednesday approved the first Economic Management and Competitiveness Credit worth US$250 million for Vietnam to help the country with economic management reforms for higher productivity and competitiveness. The global lender’s board of directors in a press release said the concessional financing is to support reforms in seven policy areas to step up reforms in the country. The seven... 

Enterprises still find it difficult to access bank loans due to sky-high lending rates and low confidence of lenders in them, heard a meeting between the HCMC authorities and businessmen on Tuesday. Tran Viet Anh, vice chairman of the HCMC Rubber and Plastics Association, said plastics firms had won many orders for export until June. However, plastics producers are facing a material shortage, and... 

The bad debt ratio of the banking system may fall to 4-5% under Vietnam’s accounting standards by the end of this year, said Le Xuan Nghia, former vice chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Commission. He forecast economic growth would be around 5.5% and inflation 7-8% this year. In addition, the exchange rate may rise 2-3% and short-term deposit rate may go down 1%, the expert said. He... 

The number of European enterprises having a positive outlook on their current business in Vietnam has risen from 26% in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 40% in the first quarter of 2013 but it is still low, says a recent report of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham). The survey of the first quarter EuroCham Business Climate Index shows that business confidence and outlook among EU...