finance & business news 24 October 2017

FINANCE ...... 1 VN textile industry needs to spin a new yarn 26 Reference exchange rate goes up by 4 VND 1 Vietnam is gold mine for international express delivery firms 27 VN's central bank to keep currency stable: Official 1 Rural market becoming more attractive to manufacturers 28 Lending grows 12.16pct in nine months 2 HCM City: Private sector needs most labourers 29 New order set in banks' profitability 2017 2 Tien Giang works to support enterprises 29 Multiple flaws found in bank acquisitions and infrastructure BIZ NEWS...... 30 projects 3 Business Briefs 24 October, 2017 30 Nearly 87pct of ATM cards are used to withdraw money: VBCA 4 Shares slide on profit-taking selling 30 Vietcombank posts 31pct profit rise 5 Market corrects downwards as blue chips lose steam 31 TPBank reports 9-month profit at 711b dong 7 SOE divestment seen obstructing cash flow into equities 31 Short of medium and long-term capital, VietinBank offers VFM funds report solid results 32 bonds worth 4.2 trillion dong 7 TAC to reach 2017 target for pre-tax profits 33 Saigonbank attains 230b dong pre-tax profit in Jan-Sep 8 Tien Phong Plastic plans to lift foreign ownership cap 33 After investing in Tasco and FPT Retail, VinaCapital pours HCM City says will trace pork origin more stringently 34 USD 11m into OCB 8 Nam Dinh, Thai Binh develop disease-free pig production Sun Life Vietnam opens 5 more business offices 9 for export 34 Vietnam forecasts GDP growth of at least 6.5 pct in 2018, Concern over quality threatens export of Vietnamese pork 34 says 2017 target in sight 9 VIETRADE supporting brands in entering Korea 35 PM: All socioeconomic targets within reach 10 Association enhances Vietnam-Japan economic links 36 Cabinet sets 6.5-6.7pct GDP growth rate for 2018 10 LCD tax loophole found, with big losses 37 2018 economic targets undergo NA inspection 11 ITST proposes monorail lines to airport in HCM City 37 GDP growth must rely on internal strength: economists 12 HCM City to set up $189 million science, technology park 38 For the UNDP, Vietnam a model of growth 13 Global IT firms should found VN legal entities: VTC 38 Divestment and equitisation hardly reach target 15 Nearly VND5bn of smuggled goods destroyed in Lang Son 39 National Assembly gathers to weigh focal laws 16 PV Oil ready to roll out E5 bio-fuel nationwide 39 Vietnam reports over $1 billion in trade surplus 17 Operator to sell 5-6pct of Vietnam's sole refinery 40 Big EU demand for small shrimps 18 Vietnam's airport ground services firm honoured by Korean Air 41 Vietnam seeks to export pork 18 Inspection finds grave mismanagement at ACV 41 Vietnam doubles efforts to improve business environment 19 HAAN begins work on new wood processing factory 42 Tourism makes up low proportion of GDP 19 Ground broken for 16 million USD candy factory in Nghe An 42 PM calls for better cooperation among Apec members 20 Float glass plant opens in Ninh Binh 43 Storm brewing over special tax regime proposal 21 CapitaLand ranks 68th among top 100 in Forbes' Top Shifting burden 22 Regarded Companies 43 Electronic tax collection, customs clearance piloted 24 Nghi Son economic zone to welcome ecological resort 43 HCM City sees science and tech as driving forces for growth 24 Fusion Maia Da Nang selected as top-20 hotel-spas in world 44 Vietnam needs logistics development strategy 25 More efforts need to be made to lure foreign funds for start-ups 25 FINANCE FINANCE Reference exchange 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA rate goes up by 4 VND The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) set its reference VND/USD exchange rate at 22,469 VND/USD on October 24, up by 4 VND from the previous day. With the current +/- 3 percent VND/USD trading band, the ceiling exchange rate is 23,143 VND per USD and the floor rate is 21,795 VND per USD. Vietcombank listed its buying and selling rates at 22,685 VND and 22,755 VND, per USD, both up 5 VND from October 23. Meanwhile BIDV raised its rates by 10 VND to 22,690 VND (buying) and 22,760 VND (selling), per USD. https://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-goes-up-by-4-vnd/119959.vnp

Intellasia Tel: +844 2213 2244 No. 21, lane 173/63/17, Ngoc Ha Ward, Ba Dinh Dist, Hanoi Fax: +844 3759 2034 © All Rights Reserved Email: [email protected] Websites: www.Intellasia.Net www.TriTueAChau.com Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

VN's central bank to 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS keep currency stable: Record-high foreign reserves will enable Vietnam's central bank to keep the dong, the Official local currency, stable for the rest of the year, Bloomberg quoted a central bank official as saying. With reserve levels at $45 billion, "we are confident we will be able to maintain the dong's value," in 2017, Nguyen Thi Hong, deputy governor of State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), said on the sidelines of a meeting in Hoi An last Saturday. "Such a high level of foreign reserves will allow us to step in to stabilise the money market when needed," she added. According to Bloomberg, the dong has been one of the most stable currencies in Asia this year. An increase in remittances from Vietnamese living abroad has helped boost foreign re- serves this year, which allows the central bank to continue focusing on policies to sup- port economic growth, Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy head of SBV in HCM City, said in an interview last month. The central bank will ensure lenders have enough liquidity "so that they can lend at lower interest rates," Hong said. "By helping banks with more cash availability, we will be able to bring down lending interest rates at banks without having to cut our policy rates," she added. Vietnam was one of only a handful of Asian nations, whose central bank eased mone- tary policy this year, unexpectedly cutting benchmark interest rate for the first time in FINANCE three years in July. Prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Monday morning that Vietnam is expected to meet the GDP growth target of 6.7 per cent this year. If it can reach the target, it will be the fastest pace since 2007. The economy grew 6.41 per cent in the nine months through September. http://bizhub.vn/banking/vns-central-bank-to-keep-currency-stable- official_289661.html

Lending grows 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS 12.16pct in nine Credit growth of the entire banking system in the last 10 days of September rose 1.14 months per cent, pushing the total increase in the first nine months of this year to 12.16 per cent, the latest report from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) showed. Loans to the agricultural and rural areas increased by 17.6 per cent year-on-year, the industrial sector was up 17.75 per cent, construction was up 19 per cent, and trade and services was up 18.1 per cent. Outstanding loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises by the end of August ac- counted for 21 per cent of the total outstanding loans, up 7.5 per cent compared with the period till December 31 last year. The high credit growth has helped boost GDP in the first nine months to 6.41 per cent, much higher than the 5.99 per cent increase in the first nine months of 2016. SBV also reported that in the first nine months of 2017, over 300 meetings and dia- logues between banks and enterprises were organised to assist enterprises in getting access to bank loans. Accordingly, banks committed to lend to firms nearly VND570 trillion (US$25.11 billion), of which more than VND550 trillion was disbursed for cor- porate customers. In addition, banks also provided other forms of support, such as reducing lending rates for firms' old loans totalling nearly VND20 trillion. To support the economic growth, the government has also requested SBV to continue the monetary policy in the direction of lowering lending rates, at the same time raising outstanding credit to 21-22 per cent in 2017, based on credit quality and macro stabili- ty. Together with the extension approval, SBV also instructed commercial banks to con- duct scrutiny to ensure bank capital went to effective sectors, avoiding non-perform- ing loans. SBV noted that it is ready to supply capital to the economy; however, the terms of lend- ing will remain strict, in accordance with legal regulations and procedures.

New order set in 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMY banks' profitability Last week, many commercial banks have announced basic business results in the first 2017 nine months of 2017, initially setting new records and new orders in the system. With many announced results, so far, the year 2017 can be seen as the best year for the

Intellasia 24 October 2017 2 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

banking system's profitability since 2012. In the previous year, the Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) and Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) led the system in terms of absolute figure. This year, Vietinbank has not announced specifically updated figures so far while Vi- etcombank is expected to take the first position in profits with significant gap com- pared to the second position. In 2016, Vietcombank attained record profits, so the growth rate so far has become even and has no longer been as unexpected as some banks that grow from low to high. Specifically, in the first nine months of 2017, the pre-tax profit before putting for risk provision of Vietcombank reached 12.186 trillion dong, up 14.1 percent year-on-year. The after-tax profit after putting for risk provision touched 7.687 trillion dong, up 24.4 percent year-on-year, completing 80.9 percent of the 2017 plan. By acquiring the entire bad debt sold to the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) in 2016 along with the risk provision fund of 10.390 trillion dong, equal to 136.4 percent of the total outstanding bad debt, as well as the recent estimate of some FINANCE Vietcombank leaders, the bank's pre-tax profit this year at 10 trillion dong is within reach. This is also the new record of Vietnamese commercial banks. Meanwhile, in the group of joint stock commercial banks, Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPBank) has been showing a breakthrough in three recent years, which has not had a counterweight partner in the same group. In the first nine months of this year, VPBank's consolidated pre-tax profits reached 5.635 trillion dong, up 79 percent year-on-year and fulfilling 78 percent of the full-year target. With this rate, it is expected that VPBank will be the first private joint stock bank to have the absolute figure of profits equal to some state-owned banks (despite equitisa- tion, the State still holds dominant ownership rate). Accordingly, the bank is expected to continue being the member having the highest profitability compared to all remain- ing banks. With lower capital scale and total assets, the "new order" of banks' profitability index in 2017 has started to show unexpected growth at Hochiminh City Development Com- mercial Joint Stock Bank (HDBank). Specifically, after nine months, HDBank's profits had unexpected growth with 279%, exceeding the full-year target; the consolidated pre-tax profit in January-September touched 1.912 trillion dong, of which HDBank's separate profit was 1.713 trillion dong. Even, HDBank also expects that the full-year consolidated profits will reach about 2.4 trillion dong. With the aforementioned results, it is likely that at the end of this year, Vietnam stock market will have a new appeal from the banking sector after VPBank and LienViet- PostBank have gradually offered stocks for sale to the market. Also at LienVietPostBank, the full-year profit target has almost been achieved after nine months, with about 1.450 trillion dong. The year 2017 is also expected to be the year that the bank's profit will make a strong breakthrough after nine years appearing in the market, especially after two consecutive years of investing in the plan to open a series of new branches to cover the entire country and invest in technology. Currently, Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB) has not announced yet but it is expected that this is also the member that has strong breakthrough in profits in this year, with the possi- bility of completing the full-year target two months ahead of schedule, as per the study of Vneconomy. However, it is still not known when SHB will officially launch consumer finance com- pany though Q3 has passed compared to the plan set at this year' annual shareholders' meeting. Besides updated figures, plans and implementation progress, the common point in the profit picture of commercial banks in 2017 is that many members are improving clearly profitability indicators in the context that the Net Interest Margin in general does not change a lot (only ranging at 2.7-2.8 percent in recent years). This partly reflects better asset quality in 2017.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 3 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

Multiple flaws found 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES in bank acquisitions The State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) has detected a slew of flaws in the process of and infrastructure the central bank's acquiring debt-laden commercial banks at zero dong and the Minis- projects try of Transport's implementing public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects. SAV has sent a report on the implementation of Resolution 63/2013/QH13 of the Na- tional Assembly on enhancing crime control in 2017 to the National Assembly Stand- ing Committee and deputies before the country's legislature starts a month-long session today. Three banks bought by the State Bank of Vietnam at zero dong are Vi- etnam Construction Bank, Ocean Commercial Bank (Ocean Bank) and Global Petrole- um Bank (GP Bank). After two years of their acquisitions, these banks have continued incurring huge losses. As for the traffic infrastructure projects implemented in the PPP format, SAV proposed cutting toll collection time by 62 years and eight months, equivalent to more than

FINANCE VND22.2 trillion (US$0.98 billion). Six out of 52 toll stations were found to collect fees before the roads were completed by 14 years and six months. There were 31 out of 87 toll stations misplaced as they are not 70 kilometers apart between the two nearest stations. In a related development, SAV proposed increasing collections by trillions of dong from enterprises regarding equitisation and land use. After four enterprises were inspected, SAV suggested collecting an additional VND491.5 billion increasing State holdings at enterprises by VND6.4 trillion and revis- ing up corporate value by VND7.2 trillion. In particular, the value of Power Generation Corporation 3 was adjusted up by an ex- tra VND1.5 trillion, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co Ltd by an additional VND4.6 trillion, Thanh Le general ImportExport Trading Corporation by a further VND72.8 billion, and Binh Duong Production Import-Export Corporation by VND211 billion more. SAV also proposed imposing fines of a combined VND4.3 trillion on violations in land management and use in urban development projects in Hanoi, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Lao Cai. The auditing agency also pointed out some shortcomings including arbi- trary approval and change of land use planning, inappropriate land use, lower-than- allowed land rent, and project transfers not in line with the 2013 Land Law. Reviews of 108 audit reports in the year to late last month had found misstated financ- es amounting to nearly VND23 trillion. Therefore, State budget revenue increased by VND11 trillion, and expenditures fell by VND6.8 trillion. In addition, SAV proposed amending, supplementing, withdrawing and replacing 40 legal documents including two decrees, five circulars, 13 decisions and 20 other docu- ments to prevent losses and wastefulness.

Nearly 87pct of ATM 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| LAO DONG cards are used to As per the data of the Payment Department under the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), as withdraw money: of the end of Q2/2017, about 121 million bank cards were issued. With the population VBCA of about 95 million people, on average, each person owns 1.3 cards. "I think it is wasteful! Currently, banks are racing to open cards, the focus is on quan- tity but not quality", said Dr Bui Quang Tin Department of Business Administration Hochiminh City Banking University. Quynh (Cau Giay, Hanoi) hooked in her wallet five credit cards of five different banks. In spite of owning many bank cards, she mainly uses one debit card and one visa card with overdraft feature when shopping. The reason for keeping all the five cards in the wallet, according to Quynh, is to experience the service of banks and take advantage of discounts and promotions of each different type of cards when shopping. Thien (Ba Dinh, Hanoi) complained that although he has as many as three credit cards, apart from the monthly payment of electricity and internet, he just waited until having salary to withdraw the money. Thien said the current usage of cards is not convenient because small shops usually do not have POS. Once he wanted to drink beer but the

Intellasia 24 October 2017 4 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

shop did not have card scanning machine so Thien had to go a long way to find an ATM to withdraw cash to pay. One of the reasons for the massive opening of credit cards is because bankers race to meet KPI target so they try to persuade customers to open cards. A finance and bank- ing expert told Lao Dong newspaper that "I have five credit cards but I only use 1-2 of them. The reason is because my students ask me to open the card to help them meet the target". "The pressure to accomplish the card issuance target is so heavy that I have to mobilise all my relatives to open cards. After receiving the hard card, I immediately cut the cor- ners to cancel because my relatives have no demand for using cards". A finance and banking expert said "The massive opening of bank cards but not using them is a waste of resources and money. It is impressive if you just hear about the new- ly opened cards, but how many of them are used frequently is worth mentioning". There is a paradox that many credit cards have been opened but in fact the non-cash payment is still modest compared to the potential of Vietnam market. As per Vietnam FINANCE Bank Card Association, nearly 87 percent of transactions via ATMs are cash withdraw- al transactions. The fact that the annual cash withdrawal via ATMs still increases over the years (from 60 billion dong in 2012 to 106 billion dong in 2016) shows that the peo- ple's habit of using cash is still very popular. As reported by the State Bank, as of July 2017, the ratio of cash payment to total means of payment was 11.35%. The govern- ment expects that the figure will be less than 10 percent by 2020. Answering the press, Dr Le Xuan Nghia said Vietnam is the country with the lowest amount of non-cash payment in Southeast Asia. Why do Vietnamese people prefer us- ing cash to card payment? As per a specialist, the culture of using cash of the people is so deep, so it takes time to gradually change the culture of using cash. For some cor- rupt officials, taking bribes in cash will be safer than receiving bank transfers. For some subjects such as implicit trade, black society, drugs, prostitution, etc., using cash will make it easier for the money laundering and tax evasion. Dr Bui Quang Tin added there reasons why the people still hesitate using credit cards. First, currently the usage of cards to make payment for transactions is charged. Al- though the card scanning fee must be paid by agents, in fact, customers are forced to pay an additional of 1.5-3 percent if they want to make payment by credit cards. To avoid being inspected, retailers push the card scanning fee to the selling price so it is very difficult for banks to control. Second, the cash withdrawal via ATMs is not always convenient. Finding ATMs to withdraw cash in rural areas is rather difficult, and retail stores do not have POS. Meanwhile, in large cities, that ATMs report errors or run out of money is quite pop- ular. This creates the impression that customers cannot use cards despite having mon- ey. Third, after a series of money losses in account, many customers are worried out the safety and confidentiality. Currently, many banks have quite out-dated and rudimen- tary technology. Although banks have warned customers not to visit fake websites to avoid hackers attacking their accounts, many customers have visited strange sites and had their credit card information stolen by bad guys. The promotion of non-cash payment is the right guideline of the government. From 2016 to 2020, the government targets that 100 percent of supermarkets, shopping cen- tres and modern distribution units have card-accepting equipment and allow consum- ers to make non-cash payment. 70 percent of suppliers of electricity, water telecommunication, and media services accept bill payments of individuals and households through the non-cash payment. 50 percent of individuals and households in large cities use non-cash payment means in consumption and procurement. To change the people's habit of using cash, according to experts, there needs to encour- age the stronger development of e-wallet products, using QR code in payment, and payment procedures needs much improvement in policy. Banks should shake hands with Fintech companies to complete products and accelerate non-cash payment.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 5 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

Vietcombank posts 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS 31pct profit rise The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) has re- ported VND2.68 trillion (US$119 million) as its pre-tax profit for the third quarter, marking a yearly increase of 31 per cent. That helped the largest market-capitalisation bank record a total pre-tax profit of VND7.9 trillion in the nine-month period, an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year's figure. The bank has now met 86 per cent of the target it set for 2017. The strong increase in Vietcombank's pre-tax profit was attributed to the healthy growth rates of financial services (24 per cent), core business activities (9 per cent) and other activities (29 per cent). The bank was able to keep its provision for credit losses stable at VND4.5 trillion, near- ly unchanged compared to the same period of last year. After the first three quarters, Vietcombank had total assets of VND898.5 trillion, mobi- lised capital of VND688 trillion and a lending amount of VND536 trillion.

FINANCE These figures increased by between 14 per cent and 16 per cent on an annual basis. The ratio of bad debts during the nine-month period was 1.15 per cent, down from 1.51 per cent made at the end of last year, thanks to the decline of loans that are classified as sub-standard debts and potentially-irrecoverable debts. Credit institution's loans are divided into five categories of debt in accordance with regulations issued by the State Bank of Vietnam in 2013. In addition to the two types mentioned above, the other three are standard debts, at- tention-needed debts and doubtful debts. Shares of Vietcombank, listed on the HCM Stock Exchange under code VCB, fell 2.2 per cent to close Monday at VND39,900 per share. The bank's share price has gained a total of 8.7 per cent in the last month. Reduced cross-ownership in financial units Vietcombank plans to sell its entire stakes in the HCM City-based Saigon Bank for In- dustry and Trade (Saigonbank) and Vietnam Cement Finance Company (CFC) on No- vember 20. The bank obtained approval of the State Securities Commission for its share sales in the two financial units on Friday. The divestment plan was approved by the bank's management board in late August. Vietcombank will auction entire 13.2 million shares or 4.3 per cent of total capital in Saigonbank at the starting price of 12,550 per share. It also plans to sell all of its 6.6 million shares, equal to 10.91 per cent stake in CFC, at the starting price of VND11,549 per share. The deals are expected to generate roughly VND242 billion for Vietcombank and help it comply with the SBV's circular 36 on regulations for the operation of finance-credit institutions in Vietnam. According to the combined nine-month financial report of Saigonbank, the southern financial institution posted a pre-tax profit of VND231 billion, a yearly increase of 25 per cent and equal to 85 per cent of its 2017 targeted number. However, Saigonbank had a higher non-performing loan ratio, which increased to 2.75 per cent from 2.63 per cent at the end of 2016, nearly hitting the limit of 3 per cent set by the SBV. For 2017, Saigonbank plans to record VND270 billion in pre-tax profit an annual rise of 55 per cent and a 5 per cent dividend payout rate for shareholders. CFC has not released its nine-month financial report. According to the company's au- dited six-month financial report, CFC posted VND5 billion in pre-tax profit down 50 per cent from last year's number. Besides CFC and Saigonbank, Vietcombank also wants to offload its entire 5.07 per cent ownership in Orient Commercial Bank (OCB). Vietcombank is also holding stakes in two other financial units, which are Vietnam Ex- port and Import Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Eximbank) (8.19 per cent) and Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MBBank) (7.16 per cent). At its annual general shareholder meeting held in April 2017, Vietcombank's manage-

Intellasia 24 October 2017 6 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

ment board proposed shareholders approve its plan to divest from Eximbank with the hope of receiving VND700 billion. The management board also proposed to keep its ownership in MBBank unchanged as the military-owned bank has been operating efficiently and making instant yearly dividend payouts. http://bizhub.vn/banking/vietcombank-posts-31-profit-rise_289665.html

TPBank reports 9- 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| TRI THUC TRE month profit at 711b Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) has announced its financial state- dong ment in Q3/2017. Accordingly, as of the end of Q3/2017, the bank's total assets hit 114 trillion dong, up 8.5 percent from the beginning of the year. Loans to customers reached 56.7 trillion dong, up 21.6%. Customers' deposits touched nearly 59 trillion dong, up seven percent.

FINANCE In Q3, the bank's net interest income hit 900 billion dong, up 63 percent year-on-year. Some other business activities attained positive results. Ending Q3, TPBank earned 323 billion dong pre-tax profits, doubling the same period. Cumulatively, in January-September, the bank recorded 806 billion dong pre-tax prof- its, 2.2 times higher than the same period last year, exceeding the profit plan of 780 bil- lion dong set for the whole year 2017. The after-tax profit remained at 711 billion dong. The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio was 0.9%. TPBank said the bank settled the bonds of Vietnam Ship Building Industry Corporation following the government's guiding documents and directions. Part of the bonds were swapped for bonds of the Debt and Asset Trading Company (DATC) with 10-year term and fixed interest rate of 8.9%/annum. The other part is put for risk provision within five years and uses provi- sioning fund to handle annual credit risks. In terms of personnel, in October 2017, TPBank announced the decision to reappoint Nguyen Hung CEO of TPBank in five years of restructuring to the position of TPBank CEO for the next five-year term.

Short of medium and 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| BIZLIVE long-term capital, The Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade of Vietnam (VietinBank code VietinBank offers CTG) has been approved by the State Securities Commission (SSC) to sell 420,000 bonds worth 4.2 bonds to the public. Accordingly, VietinBank will offer bonds in two phases. In the trillion dong first phase, 200,000 bonds will be issued in October and November 2017 and in the sec- ond phase, 220,000 bonds will be issued in November 2017. The tenor of the bonds is 10 years, and selling price is equal to par value of 10 million dong per bond. The total offer value under par value is 4.2 trillion dong. This is a non-convertible corporate bond and is not secured by assets. The bond yield is paid annually, which equals to the reference interest rate plus 1.2 percent per an- num. In which, reference interest rate is the average level of 12-month deposit rates of four commercial banks including VietinBank, BIDV, Vietcombank, and Agribank. In the first phase, 200,000 offered bonds will be distributed within 90 days since the bank's registration for bond sale takes effect. If the buying volume is not as expect, the remaining will be left to the second phase. In the second phase, 220,000 bonds will be distributed within 90 days since the SSC is- sues official document upon receipt of VietinBank's Notice of bond issuance of the sec- ond phase. In the first phase, the amount of capital expected to be mobilised is two trillion dong, which will be used to supplement VietinBank's working capital and enhance its finan- cial capacity. The minimum registered amount is 10 bonds. The time to register the buying will be from October 25th to November 13rd. 2017. VietinBank's Board of directors clearly stated that the capital grossed from the bond issuance will be used for medium and long-term lending in dong in 2017. Accordingly, the two trillion dong of the successful bond issuance in the first phase will be distrib- uted to lending to the fields of electricity (500 billion dong) and production and busi-

Intellasia 24 October 2017 7 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

ness (1.5 trillion dong), specifically 773 billion dong for loans in steel area, 210 billion dong for loans in coffee area, 171 billion dong for loans in construction materials area, and 100 billion dong for loans in food area, etc. The 2.2 trillion dong successfully issued in the second phase will be for lending to transportation sector (1.047 trillion dong), steel loans (572 billion dong), water loans (370 billion dong), and cement loans (100 billion dong), etc. At the same time, the cap- ital from the secondary bond issuance will also be used to replace the short-term funds that have been financed for projects in the fields approved by the State Bank of Viet- nam at the 2017 bond issuance plan of VietinBank.

Saigonbank attains 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| BIZLIVE 230b dong pre-tax Under the consolidated financial statement in Q3/2017 of Saigon Commercial Joint profit in Jan-Sep Stock Bank (SaigonBank), as of the end of September 30, 2017, the bank's total assets reached 20.2 trillion dong, up 6.3 percent from the beginning of the year.

FINANCE Loans to customers touched nearly 13.4 trillion dong, up 7.2%. Customers' deposit hit 14.4 trillion dong, up two percent. In the first nine months of this year, Saigonbank's net interest income reached 506 bil- lion dong, up 8.3 percent year-on-year. Other business operations had better results than the same period last year. Operating cost swelled 6.4%, and the risk provisioning cost decreased 14%. In Q3/2017 alone, Saigonbank achieved the pre-tax profit of about 71 billion dong. Cumulatively, in January-September 2017, Saigonbank attained 230 billion dong pre- tax profit, up 25%. The after-tax profit was 183 billion dong, up 24 percent year-on- year. The bank's total bad debt as of the end of September 2017 was 368 billion dong, ac- counting for 2.74 percent of the total outstanding loans. In the last nine months, the average income of each staff was nine million dong per month, equal to 2016. The total number of employees was 1,483 people, down 10 em- ployees.

After investing in 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| BIZLIVE Tasco and FPT Retail, The Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF) of VinaCapital has invested about 11 million VinaCapital pours USD into Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) to own nearly 5 percent stake of USD 11m into OCB the bank. VOF said that this investment will help OCB diversify its services to targeted customer segments, including wealthy individual clients and small and medium en- terprises. Previously, in August, VOF made two investments worth 11 million USD each into Tasco Joint Stock Company (stock code: HUT) and FPT Digital Retail Joint Stock Company (FPT Retail). Explaining the investment in OCB, Andy Ho, CEO of VOF cum Investment director of VinaCapital shared that the bank has high credit growth rate and profit number, and a strong management team. "In addition to negotiating at an attractive price, we have achieved a number of commitments to protect minority roles and commitments on op- erational efficiency, which make this transaction much more attractive", said Andy Ho. VOF did not provide details about the purchase price of shares or the total number of shares purchased. On the Over-the-counter (OTC) market, there recently has no infor- mation on OCB shares' selling offers but mainly buying deals with prices around 11,500-13,500 dong per share. OCB expects to list its shares on the Hochiminh Stock Ex- change (HOSE) before the end of 2019. Established in 1996, OCB currently ranks the 17th out of 34 domestic banks in terms of total assets. OCB recorded a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23 percent in the past four years, and expects to reach a profit growth of about 100 percent and 30 percent in 2017 and 2018. In late June 2017, OCB was approved by SBV to raise charter capital from four trillion dong to 4.195 trillion dong by issuing bonus shares to existing shareholders from the undistributed profit in 2016. SBV has also approved OCB's plan to increase charter capital by 805 billion dong via private placement.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 8 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

According to data of StoxPlus, BNP Paribas (France) is currently holding 17.8 percent stake of OCB, while Ben Thanh Corporation owns 7.2%, Vietcombank owns 4.5 per- cent and the bank's Chair owns 3.6 percent of the bank's stake. VOF's investment in OCB is made in the context when VOF and some other funds have continuously withdrawn from real estate sector, especially from projects with slow progress. As of September 30th 2017, VOF has eight real estate investment in its port- folio, accounting for less than 5 percent of the Net Asset Value (NAV). As per VOF, in the 2016-2017 financial year, the fund made 220 million USD of new investments in private companies, listed companies, bargain trading and bonds, namely the investment in Vietjet Air (VJC), Coteccons (CTD), Tasco (HUT), Viglacera, banks, and FPT Retail.

Sun Life Vietnam 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| DTCK opens 5 more business Sun Life Vietnam has simultaneously launched five sales and customer service offices

FINANCE offices in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Ca Mau, Kien Giang and Dak Lak. These offices are built under new model with modern and state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. Sun Life's new business and customer service offices are not only the venue for trans- action but also for events, seminars, financial advisory services and after-sale services. Larry Madge, CEO of Sun Life Vietnam said in the near future, Sun Life Vietnam will continue investing in expanding new business and customer service offices in provinc- es and cities nationwide in order to enhance the best customers' experience while help- ing the people achieve lifetime financial security with a variety of protection and savings products. Since the beginning of this year, Sun Life Vietnam has put into operation two business and customer service centers in HCM City, Da Nang and 14 business and customer service offices in major provinces and cities nationwide.

Vietnam forecasts 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS GDP growth of at least The government's latest forecast is more optimistic than the World Bank's projection. 6.5 pct in 2018, says Vietnam expects economic growth of 6.5-6.7 percent next year, and thinks that the tar- 2017 target in sight get of 6.7 percent set for this year is within reach, prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Monday. The country plans to keep inflation steady at 4 percent in 2018, the same expansion projected for 2017, Phuc told the legislative National Assembly at the start of its second session of the year. After growing 6.2 percent in 2016, Vietnam's economy has been expanding faster this year, with growth quickening to 6.41 percent in the first nine months, according to government data. The country has targeted export revenue growth of 7-8 percent and a trade deficit of below 3 percent next year. To meet the 2018 goals, Phuc said local authorities should cut interest rates, ensure credit is available for enterprises and strengthen the management of the gold and for- eign currency markets. They should also carry out tightened fiscal policies, intensify the fight against tax fraud, cut budget overspending and accelerate administrative reforms, he added. In addition to strengthening economic growth, the government should take measures to control inflation and improve the investment environment, chair of the National As- sembly's Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh said at the session. The World Bank projects Vietnam's real GDP growth will accelerate slightly to 6.3 per- cent this year, boosted by buoyant domestic demand, rebounding agricultural produc- tion and strong export-oriented manufacturing. Over the medium term, growth is going to stabilise at around 6.4 percent in 2018-2019, the bank said in an October report, which also raised growth forecasts for China, Ma- laysia and Thailand. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/vietnam-forecasts-gdp-growth-of-at-least-6-5- percent-in-2018-says-2017-target-in-sight-3659768.html

Intellasia 24 October 2017 9 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

PM: All 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES socioeconomic targets PM tells NA that Vietnam is likely to fulfill all 13 socioeconomic targets set for 2017. within reach Reporting to the 14th National Assembly's fourth session, on the current socioeconom- ic situation, which opened in Hanoi on October 23, prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that Vietnam is likely to fulfill all 13 socioeconomic targets set for 2017 based on economic performance in the first nine months of the year. He was quoted by the Vietnam News Agency as saying that of the targets, five are ex- pected to exceed plans, including the trade deficit, which is forecast to stand at only 1.5 per cent compared to the expected 3.5 per cent. Total development investment is likely to reach 33.42 per cent of GDP, against a target of 31.5 per cent. Export growth is set to hit 14.4 per cent, double the targeted 6-7 per cent. The total number of hospital beds around the country is to increase to 25.7 per 10,000 people against a goal of 25.5, while health insurance coverage is expected to reach 83 per cent while the target was 82.2 per cent.

FINANCE The prime minister reported that the CPI rose 3.79 per cent in the first nine months and will be around 4 per cent for the year as a whole, with basic inflation standing at about 1.6 per cent. GDP growth in the first nine months was 6.41 per cent, with the annual figure to come in at about 6.7 per cent. The poverty rate, as calculated by a multidimen- sional approach, fell 1-1.5 per cent to 6.7-7.2 per cent. These are great successes for the country, he said, especially in the context of it trans- forming its growth model towards reducing the exploitation of natural resources and strengthening the processing industry, high technology agriculture, and services and tourism. He also sketched out goals for 2018, including GDP growth of 6.5-6.7 per cent and a CPI of about 4 per cent. Total export revenue is to expand 7-8 per cent, while the trade deficit is to be below 3 per cent. Development investment from society is to stand at around 33-34 per cent of GDP. The prime minister also set targets of curbing the poverty rate by 1-1.3 per cent on av- erage and 4 per cent in poor areas, and keeping unemployment in urban areas at below 4 per cent. The percentage of trained workers is to reach 58-60 per cent of the workforce. Social insurance card holders are expected to hit 85.2 per cent of the population. The country will also strive to have 88 per cent of industrial parks and export process- ing zones having concentrated wastewater treatment systems, with forest coverage to be 41.6 per cent. In order to reach the targets, he also outlined five major solutions, including strength- ening macroeconomic stability, ensuring balance in the economy, and speeding up business and production as well as economic growth. He also pointed to the need to restructure the economy in a consistent, comprehensive, and practical manner, along with making active responses to climate change and nat- ural disasters, environmental protection, and natural resources management. He also highlighted the necessity of building an effective and disciplined administra- tive system and drastically fighting corruption. http://vneconomictimes.com/article/vietnam-today/pm-all-socioeconomic-targets- within-reach

Cabinet sets 6.5-6.7pct 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS GDP growth rate for PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced that the government targets to attain a 6.5-6.7 per- 2018 cent GDP growth pace in 2018 based on impressive achievements made in 2017. PM Phuc made the announcement while delivering a report on socio-economic devel- opment plan for 2018 at the ongoing 4th session of the 14th National Assembly on Oc- tober 23 in Hanoi. The PM said that in 2018, the government will spare no effort to maintain the growth pace of 2017; accelerate investment in key transport projectss; resolve shortcomings and infringements in BOT and BT projects.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 10 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

Maintaining growth pace PM Phuc noticed that in 2018, the global and regional situations were forecast to take place in a complicated and unexpected manner. The world economy grows unevenly in 2017; coupled with risks and rising protection trend. In addition, the fourth indus- trial revolution has been generating both opportunities and challenges for Vietnam. The government targets to strive for a 6.5-6.7 percent GDP growth rate in 2018; contin- ues to stabilise the macro-economy; restructure the economy; transform the growth modal; improve competitiveness; encourage business start-up; develop businesses; and promote growth. Key economic norms for 2018 - GDP growth rate: 6.5-6.7% - Average CPI growth pace: about 4% - Total export turnover: up 7-8% - Ratio of total exports of goods to total imports of goods: under 3% - Total social development investment capital: about 33-34 percent of GDP FINANCE http://dtinews.vn/en/news/017004/53434/cabinet-sets-6-5-6-7--gdp-growth-rate-for- 2018.html

2018 economic targets 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIR undergo NA The government has submitted a plan on socio-economic development for 2018 to the inspection National Assembly for discussion and approval, with an expected growth rate of 6.5- 6.7 per cent, buoyed by a surging manufacturing and processing sector and a strong inflow of foreign investment. Under a report on the plan compiled by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), to ensure a growth rate of 6.5-6.7 per cent for next year, the government has set on-year targets for some key sectors in the economy, including agro-forestry-fishery (up 3.07-3.19 per cent), industry and construction (up 7.17-7.59 per cent), and services (up 7.3-7.39 per cent). Of the industrial sector's growth, the manufacturing and processing sector, which cre- ates 80 per cent of Vietnam's industrial growth, is expected to rise 12.15-12.7 per cent on-year. The export growth target is set at 7-8 per cent. Registered foreign investment is expected to be $27.5-28.5 billion, while disbursements are projected to hit around $21 billion higher than the forecast $18 billion for this year. "These targets are thoroughly weighed, based on the resolution of the 12th National Party Congress [organised in January 2016], the five-year Socio-Economic Develop- ment Plan for 2016-2020 already adopted by the National Assembly, estimations of achievements of 2017's socio-economic development, domestic and international situ- ations, and disadvantages and difficulties for 2018," said MPI minister Nguyen Chi Dung. Spain-based FocusEconomics, which provides in-depth economic analysis globally, wrote last week in a report that Vietnam's economy is expected to expand 6.5 per cent in 2018 which is up 0.1 per cent from last month's forecast and 6.5 per cent in 2019. Fo- cusEconomics estimated that industrial output will grow by 7.6 per cent in 2018, and 7.4 per cent in 2019. "The economy is projected to continue along this robust growth trajectory for the re- mainder of the year and into 2018, buoyed by resilient performance in exports as new factories funded by foreign investment open, and a flourishing influx of foreign direct investment (FDI), fuelled by more attractive investment opportunities," read the re- port. "Stellar growth in the manufacturing sector, a strong service sector, and a boost in pri- vate consumption buoyed by a rapid rise in private-sector credit, propelled the fastest economic expansion in over nine years," the report said. Also highly commending Vietnam's economic prospects, HSBC forecasts that the country will grow 6.4 per cent next year, thanks to strong increases in manufacturing and FDI.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 11 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

"FDI jumped sharply in this year's third quarter and should continue to trickle in to- ward the end of the year. FDI (newly registered capital) is up 30 per cent year-to-date year-on-year as of the third quarter to reach $14.5 billion," said HSBC economist Noe- lan Arbis. "As a comparison, new FDI in 2016 totalled just over $15 billion, which sug- gests that this year's numbers should easily surpass last year's." In another case, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has predicted that Vietnam's economy will grow 6.5 per cent next year, also crediting a jump in FDI and manufac- turing. "Continued buoyancy in FDI inflows should add impetus to growth in the coming months, as should the recent easing of monetary and credit conditions," said an ADB report on Vietnam's economic prospects released last month. "Other economic indica- tors also point to strong growth next year. The manufacturing Purchasing managers' Index continues its rising trend. New orders have risen continuously since December 2015 to signal improving business conditions for manufacturers." However, the government admitted that achieving a 6.5-6.7 per cent economic growth FINANCE for next year, which might be the same as this year, is a difficult mission. This comes in light of new potential challenges the economy could face next year, such as import tax reductions due to international and regional commitments and decreases in the ex- ploitation of minerals, coal, crude oil, and gas. For example, the government will likely reduce the exploitation of crude oil by two million barrels against 2017. "All of these challenges will have a big impact on our goals for 2018," minister Dung said. http://www.vir.com.vn/2018-economic-targets-undergo-na-inspection.html

GDP growth must rely 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET on internal strength: How much do internal resources contribute to the country's GDP? Economists have economists raised the question after the General Statistical Office (GSO) announced a record-high GDP growth rate of 7.46 percent in the third quarter of the year. GSO said the major driving force behind the high growth rate were the development of processing, manufacturing industry, export and domestic consumption (12.8 per- cent, while Samsung reported the growth rate of 45 percent); improvement in agricul- ture production and fisheries; and a sharp increase in exports (+19 percent), especially from foreign invested enterprises. Le Cao Doan, a renowned economist, noted that domestic production did not make a big contribution to GDP. Vietnam's exports increased by 8.6 percent in 2016, higher than the 8.1 percent growth rate in 2015. And the exports continued rising with $200 billion worth of earnings in the first eight months of 2017, an increase of 13 percent compared with the same period last year. The highest number of exports were not from Vietnamese enterprises, as foreign in- vested enterprises were the major exporters. Reports all show that foreign invested enterprises export more than import, while Vi- etnamese firms import more than export. Vietnam's export turnover exceeded the $100 billion threshold in 2012 ($114.5 billion). However, Vietnamese enterprises' export turnover was $50 billion in 2016. Their ex- ports increased by 4.8 percent only in the same year, much lower than the average growth rate of 8.6 percent and the foreign invested enterprises' rate of 10.2 percent. Doan said that Vietnam needs to face facts that the high jump in the GDP growth rate in the third quarter relied on exports of the foreign invested economic sector, and that internal strength has not improved. Truong Thanh Duc from the Vietnam International Arbitration centre said that it was not good news that Vietnam gained a high growth rate thanks to the foreign-invested sector. "This shows the dominance of the foreign invested sector over the domestic economic sector," he said.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 12 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

Duc emphasized that though the proportion of the foreign invested sector's exports has increased rapidly from 57 percent in 2005 to 67 percent in 2013, its contribution in terms of added value to GDP has increased inconsiderably from 15.2 in 2005 to 18.07 percent in 2015. Regarding the quality of growth, Doan pointed out that while the GDP grew sharply in the third quarter, the 9-month inflation rate was very low at 1.45 percent. He said that the figure should be seen as an indicator of a downward trend. In princi- ple, when Vietnam wants a high GDP growth rate, it has to accept a certain high infla- tion rate. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/188425/gdp-growth-must-rely-on-inter- nal-strength--economists.html

For the UNDP, 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIR Vietnam a model of Since the inception of the Doi moi era in 1986, Vietnam has racked up some impressive

FINANCE growth achievements in socio-economic development. Kamal Malhotra, UN resident co-ordi- nator and the UNDP's resident representative in Vietnam, writes about the UNDP's as- sessment of Vietnam's economic reforms and their prospects in boosting cooperation with the country. Since Doi moi in 1986, Vietnam has achieved a significant transformation of its eco- nomic structure. As part of this process, it successfully integrated with the global econ- omy, adopting a socialist-oriented market economy with state-owned enterprises. Also as part of this process, Vietnam has been trying to move from resource based and low skilled labour intensive production to medium and high technology production as a result of its economic restructuring. Progress on this front has been very limited, however, because of a number of supply side constraints such as the quality and skills of its human capital, the state of infrastructure and many enabling environment policy constraints. While strong political commitment and the full support of economic and social stakeholders have significantly contributed to this reform process, political re- forms to enable economic and social reforms have been gradual and need to be accel- erated to enable the next necessary phase of economic and social transformation. This will not be possible without bolder political reforms to create a more enabling environ- ment. More specifically, in the first phase of reforms, land reform provided for recognition by the state of private land use rights, the foreign investment law accelerated foreign direct investments, the company law acknowledged the recognition of private owner- ship, and the law on enterprises and the common law on investment created incentives for investors. After establishing the legal framework to carry out these structural reforms, the roles of state and the market were more effectively and efficiently balanced and defined. In this period, Vietnam also joined Asean, became a member of the World Trade Organ- isation (WTO), and signed the now stalled Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement as well as bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that strengthened the trade liberalisation process and its integration with global markets. In the period 1986-2008, GDP per capita increased more than fivefold increase since 1986 and reached $2,100 as a result of an average annual growth rate of 6.7 per cent which represented the third highest in the region(1), while poverty declined from 58 per cent in 1993 to around 7 per cent in 2015(2). As of 2010, Vietnam was elevated from low income country to lower middle income country status as a result. However, in more recent years, economic growth has slowed and needs fresh sources of momentum. The acceleration of appropriate domestic po- litical reforms will also be essential to ensure more rapid and sustainable economic growth and to allow Vietnam to adapt to the fast changing global economic landscape. While the Vietnamese economy has successfully integrated with global markets, this success has been largely fuelled by a combination of exports in low skilled labour in- tensive, natural resource and foreign direct investment (FDI) based sectors(3). Howev- er, even though FDI based exports contribute the lion's share in total exports, they are

Intellasia 24 October 2017 13 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

based on limited backward linkages in the domestic economy. This situation strongly signals that Vietnam cannot continue to carry out its existing growth model if it wishes to enhance the future prospects of the country. A new growth model needs to be constructed that will focus especially on quality issues. More specifically, higher technological value-added, productive and dynamically competitive sectors need to be key ingredients of a new growth model. The govern- ment needs to take the necessary steps to strengthen these key qualitative dimensions of the domestic economy. There are also challenges which the Vietnamese economy faces arising from shifts in the global technological frontier and the rise of automation which should be seriously considered. In that respect, necessary actions should be taken to increase human re- source skills and the technological base. Only then will it be possible to increase the value-added share of Vietnamese companies in global value-chains. Vietnam's growth performance started to decelerate after the global economic crisis. After Doi moi, the welfare of society increased but with some distortions. As a result, FINANCE while the Vietnamese economy has converged to the middle-income country grouping and the percentage of poor people has fallen to single digit levels, there are a signifi- cant number around 70 per cent of the population) whose income levels are very close to the poverty line. As a result, Vietnam needs to urgently carry out structural reforms to further transform its economic structure through more productive and higher value added competitive sectors to create decent jobs so as to support its "missing middle" population and avoid the middle income trap in the future. Institutional reforms in the fields of public administration, public investment, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are among those which will need to be accelerated to address existing distortions in the economy. There have also been significant changes in the fundamentals of the global economy after the global economic crisis and Vietnam needs to adapt herself to this changed en- vironment proactively. As a result, legal frameworks need to be introduced that will empower the role of an independent and robust private sector in the economy to create a productive and competitive market structure. In this context, the role of state needs to change to focus on establishing and providing an effective regulatory and supervisory framework with greater emphasis on trans- parency. These measures, taken together, will lead to more robust, inclusive and sus- tainable economic growth. UNDP will continue to support the reform process. The existing reform agenda is ex- amined and a number of policy recommendations were made in UNDP's last National Human Development Report (NHDR) for Vietnam. To follow through on these recommendations, a recently initiated study will analyse, the productivity and competitiveness structure of Vietnam's economy by examining backward and forward linkages in value chains. By doing so, the weakest and the strongest components of different sectors and their value-added capacity will be determined and necessary policies designed and imple- mented to increase their productivity and strengthen their competitive power. Through another UNDP study, more appropriate and integrated economic models will be developed for the Vietnamese economy in order to strengthen the intellectual capacity of the relevant ministries and the national statistical institute. Through this study, national modelling and statistical capacity will be strengthened and policy op- tions, based on more rigour and analysis, should underpin the government's future policy decisions. Through yet another UN programme, implementation of the Sustainable Develop- ment Goals (SDGs) will be supported and reported through the Voluntary National Review (VNR) which will be presented at the UN's High Level Political Forum on the SDGs in July 2018 in New York and through Vietnam's national 2018 SDG report. The UN will continue to play a key support role at various levels in Vietnam's VNR prep- aration process. The SDGs can be an appropriate platform for Vietnam to show her vi- sionary

Intellasia 24 October 2017 14 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

perspective through strategically-designed and well-implemented structural policies which serve to fulfil the 2030 Agenda. Vietnam's recent experience has been remarkable for its simultaneous achievements of a dramatic reduction of poverty, sustained high economic growth rates and high levels of exports which together have contributed to its economic and social transformation from an impoverished, war-devastated country to a modern and dynamic society in just a generation. However, this transformation can only be sustained and taken to the next level if there is a consistent and simultaneous implementation of higher value- added productivity, appropriate institutional strengthening and governance policies. The UN will be pleased to continue to play a key role in this process. We are celebrat- ing the 40th Anniversary of Vietnam joining the UN in 2017 and it is clear that the UN has played a very special, indeed unique role in contributing to Vietnam's successful trajectory over the last 40 years. I expect our engagement with the government of Vietnam to continue to strengthen during its development journey over the coming decades. FINANCE http://www.vir.com.vn/for-the-undp-vietnam-a-model-of-growth.html

Divestment and 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| NGUOI LAO DONG equitisation hardly Up to now, 34 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have completed divestment and equiti- reach target sation tasks. The remaining 10 SOEs are large-scale SOEs operating in multi industries with complicated financial situation which needs the participation of many big inves- tors with financial potential and good investment and governance capacity. According to the plan, the Vietnam Dairy Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), Saigon Al- cohol Beer and Beverages Corporation (Sabeco), and Hanoi Alcohol Beer and Beverag- es Corporation (Habeco) must complete divestment by the end of this year. However, so far, only Vinamilk has announced detailed plan to sell 3.33 percent of its charter cap- ital which is represented by the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC). Chair of SCIC's Board of Members Nguyen Duc Chi said that the work related to the second sale of capital in Vinamilk was completed. There will be three sessions intro- ducing opportunities to invest in SCIC shares at Vinamilk (roadshows) held in Singa- pore, Hong Kong and Hochiminh city international financial centers. In particular, the roadshows in Singapore have attracted 24 investors, while 11 investors in Hong Kong are interested and have registered to participate. Most of them are new investors and belong to big financial investment funds such as Blackrock, Wellington Mana, JP Mor- gan Assets Management, and Allianz Global Investors, etc. Specifically, on October 18th, SCIC and Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) joint held roadshow in Hochiminh city with the participation of Vinamilk's general director Mai Thi Kieu Lien. Regarding the roadmap to sell shares, SCIC announced information about the Regula- tion on the sale of shares at the latest on October 21st. The starting price will be an- nounced and Registration and deposits of investors will be received from November 1st. The competitive offer is scheduled to be held on HOSE on November 10th. "According to our assessment, of the major enterprises having plans to divest in the fourth quarter, Vinamilk was the first one to finalise the schedule. Hopefully the public sale of 3.3 percent Vinamilk's shares will achieve good results", said SCIC's Chair of Member Board. Contrary to Vinamilk, the information on Sabeco's and Habeco's divestment has not been released. To speed up the progress, Ministry of Finance (MOF) has proposed the prime minister to instruct Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) to complete the sale of capital in these two units and transfer the capital to the Fund to support the restruc- turing and development of enterprises prior to December 1st 2017. In the case when the MOIT has not completed the disclosure of the state capital with- drawal announcement in Sabeco and Habeco before September 30th 2017, the agency must transfer the right to represent ownership in Sabeco and Habeco to SCIC in order to ensure faster capital divestment, because SCIC is specialises in capital divestment. However, according to Dang Quyet Tien, director of Corporate Finance Agency (MOF), the MOIT has so far not submitted the plan to sell capital in these two SOEs.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 15 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

Tien said that there are three groups of measures to accelerate the equitisation process and divestment in SOEs, including completion of institutions, implementation, and promotion of propaganda. In particular, the group of institutional measures have been ready as the obstacles and barriers were resolved by Resolution 84 on equitisation in oil and gas enterprises with capital scale of up to 20 trillion dong, etc. The prime min- ister has assigned the working group of the government as well as of the MOF to go inspect and urge the implementation of tasks. Regarding the implementation measures, since the Vietnam's stock market is small, if the large supply is poured at the same time, the demand can hardly be met. Thus, the foreign investment flows from Japan, and Korea, etc. should be called. Concerning the issue of propaganda, the progress of equitisation must be published and regularly updated on the websites of the government and MOF to have the basis for inspection and acceleration.

24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIR

FINANCE National Assembly gathers to weigh focal The fourth session of the 14th National Assembly has kicked off this morning, with laws major measures on the agenda to promote the country's further growth. At the opening ceremony, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan stated that during this 26-day session, the legislature will consider and ratify six bills and 10 resolutions, and review nine bills (see box for details). "These laws and resolutions are very important and they have drawn great attention from the public," Ngan said. "They are also important for implementing regulations on the market economy, boosting the economic restructuring, and improving the national business environment." During the session, the National Assembly will also review, debate and give opinions on a number of reports regarding the socioeconomic situation of 2017, the objectives of socioeconomic development for 2018, and the allocation of the 2017 national budget. "The domestic economy has been witnessing quite positive developments in a multi- tude of areas, with the investment and business climate significantly improved, and the continued assurance of improving living conditions, as well as the country's rising position and prestige in the global arena," stated prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. He reported to the National Assembly that the economy grew by 6.41 per cent in this year's first nine months, higher than the 5.99 per cent in last year's corresponding pe- riod. "It is expected that the economy will grow by 6.7 per cent this year, reaching the Na- tional Assembly's target set earlier," Phuc affirmed. In this year's first nine months, 17 out of the economy's 21 key sectors, excluding the mineral sector, witnessed increases. For example, the nine-month industrial index for production (IIP) ascended 7.9 per cent year-on-year, higher than the 7.1 per cent rise in the corresponding period last year. IIP in September reached 13.2 per cent year-on-year. The processing and manufacturing sector, which contribute to 80 per cent of the indus- trial sector's growth, expanded 12.8 per cent, higher than the 11.7 per cent in the same period last year, "also the highest ascension of this sector over the past many years, contributing to 9 per cent of the economy's nine-month growth," according to the gen- eral Statics Office (GSO). "Enterprises' production and confidence are on the rise," Phuc said. According to a recently released GSO survey on manufacturing and processing firms in Vietnam, 41.5 per cent of respondents reported that their third-quarter business was better than previous quarters. 52.6 per cent expected better business in the last quarter, and 54.2 per cent forecasted that their production will increase. In this year's first nine months, Vietnam saw nearly 94,000 newly-established enterprises registered at more than $41 billion, up 15.4 per cent in the number of enterprises and 43.5 per cent in capital year-on-year. The economy's total newly-registered and newly-added capital was $97.5 billion. In addition, about 21,100 enterprises resumed operations in this year's first three quarters.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 16 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

Laws for adoption: Law on Forest Protection and Development (amended) Law on Aquaculture (amended) Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Credit Or- ganisations Law on Planning Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Overseas Representative Missions of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Law on Public Debt Management (amended) Laws for discussion: Law on National Defence (amended) Law on Cyber Security Law on Measuring and Mapping Law on Protecting State Secret Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Sports and FINANCE Physical Training Law on Competition Law on Denunciation (amended) Law on Preventing and Fighting Corruption (amended) Law on Special Administrative-Economic Zones Resolutions for adoption: Resolution on 2018 socioeconomic development plan Resolution on 2018 national budget estimate Resolution on 2018 central budget allocation Resolution on a project on land withdrawal, site clearance compensation, support and resettlement of Long Thanh International Airport Resolution on constructing a number of expressway sections of the North-South route in the east Resolution on implementing the Law on Planning Resolution on interpellation and response Resolution on supervising obedience of policies and law on reforming the state appa- ratus Resolution on mechanisms and policies for the development of HCM City Resolution on supervising the implementation of policies and law on state apparatus reform http://www.vir.com.vn/national-assembly-gathers-to-weigh-focal-laws.html

Vietnam reports over 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES $1 billion in trade Vietnam had a trade surplus of $707 million in the first half of this month, taking the surplus total in the year to mid-October to $1.09 billion, according to data of the general De- partment of Vietnam Customs. According to a trade sector performance report in the first 15 days of this month, Viet- nam's exports totalled $8.95 billion and its imports reached $8.24 billion. From January to October 15, the country made $163.25 billion in export revenue and spent $162.16 billion on imports, up 20.2 percent and 21.7 percent year-on-year respectively. According to the customs, Vietnam struggled with the trade deficit on a monthly basis in the first half of this year, leading to a trade gap of nearly $2.78 billion. However, the situation changed for the better as the country's trade made a turna- round in July with a surplus of $266 million. But a month later, a trade deficit returned with $842 million. Last month the trade sector made a remarkable turnaround with a trade surplus of $330 million. The customs said domestic enterprises were responsible for the trade deficit as foreign- invested firms brought a high trade surplus.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 17 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

Big EU demand for 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS small shrimps Shrimp exports to the European Union (EU) increased constantly in August and Sep- tember, making it the biggest consumer of the Vietnamese product, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Vasep). Vasep has reported that shrimp exports to the market in June and July came to a stand- still due to supply shortage and price hikes, while EU businesses reduced their shrimp imports. However, since August, exports to the EU have been restored with increased supply from domestic businesses. The country's shrimp export revenue hit $2.5 billion in the first nine months, up 21.9 per cent against the same period last year. Exports to the EU grew 32 per cent in this period. Vasep said that to boost exports to the market, businesses should pay more attention to labels and the quality of products to build brand names and expand markets. They should make proper plans to improve their competitiveness against other exporters,

FINANCE such as India. The EU tends to increase its shrimp imports in the remaining months of the year to serve cultural and food festivals, offering a chance for domestic businesses to spur ex- ports. Trn Vn Phm, director of the Soc Trng Seafood Joint Stock Company, said an important factor was to provide clean raw materials to the export shrimp processing industry. This means that Vit Nam's shrimp industry must invest more in technology and the equipment for processing. To form a large-scale production system, each enterprise must have a large area with synchronous investment at all stages, and then reduce the production costs to improve the quality of products for higher profits. Ma Huy, deputy director of Ca Mau Agricultural Extension Centre, said the growth of shrimp exports to Europe promoted domestic shrimp consumption at high prices. The price was VN220,000 per kilogram (30 units of shrimp) and VN190,000 per kilogram (40 units). Shrimp exporters like to buy shrimp that have 70 to 100 units per kilogram to meet the demands of European consumers. http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/416097/big-eu-demand-for-small- shrimps.html#TwxHXqhZSLuLf8fl.97

Vietnam seeks to 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES export pork Local pig farmers and processors are working on plans including building disease-free areas to export pork next year. On the sidelines of a forum held in Hanoi on October 20 to find ways to promote Viet- nam's pork export, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam said Vietnam has the potential to export livestock. The country has signed 12 free trade agreements (FTAs) which will facilitate the export of processed, frozen and fresh pork products. Vietnam is restructuring the livestock sector to increase the value and quality of prod- ucts and cut prices by applying new technology and ensuring food safety and hygiene. Tam underlined the need to develop areas free from diseases such as foot and mouth disease. Gabor Fluit, general director of De Heus Group Asia which participates in pork supply chains in Vietnam and provides consulting services for local pig farmers and pork processing firms, said the government and pork exporters should upgrade farming in- frastructure and build disease-free areas. South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Russia and China might be key importers of pork from Vietnam. Although Vietnam earns high export turnover from farm produce, at $30 billion a year, and more than a dozen agricultural products have annual export revenue of billions of US dollars. But the export of livestock products remains insignificant. According to the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam has eight slaughterhouses supplying frozen pork for ex-

Intellasia 24 October 2017 18 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

port to Hong Kong and two providing pork for Malaysia with a total volume of 20,000 tonnes per year. These slaughterhouses are of small scale and meet requirements of Hong Kong and Malaysia only. Products made from pork in Vietnam have been shipped to the US, Australia, Hong Kong and Macau. The Department of Animal Health is supporting East Sea Trade Developed Investment Corporation, Dabaco Group and CJ Cau Tre Food JSC to export livestock products to Japan, South Korea and Russia. Vu Trong Nghia, director of East Sea Trade Developed Investment Corporation, said his company has invested in two safe pig farms in the northern province of Nam Dinh and cooperated with the high-quality livestock breeding centre at Vietnam National University of Agriculture to apply advanced technology in production. Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development called on farmers and agencies to develop disease-free areas in Thai Binh and Nam Dinh provinces but the projects have since been stalled as they need huge capital. The corporation would FINANCE build a disease-free area 15 to 20 kilometers from its factory, said Nghia. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56697/Vietnam-seeks-to-export-pork.html

Vietnam doubles 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA efforts to improve Vietnam's business environment and competitiveness have been improved signifi- business environment cantly over the past three years thanks to a range of solutions, according to the Minis- try of Planning and Investment (MoPI). The country's efforts have been reflected through the World Bank's ease of doing busi- ness rankings in 2016, in which Vietnam climbed to the 82nd position from the 91st last year. This is the first time the country has made a big stride in the rankings since 2008. Vietnam also claimed the 47th position among 127 economies surveyed in the 2017 glo- bal innovative index (GII) report, the highest ranking to date, up 12 places from last year's report, according to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The World Economic Forum (WEF)'s Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 re- leased in September also ranked Vietnam 55th overall, up five places from 2016. However, the MoPI said that the quality of regulations on business conditions re- mained low, showing a lack of a management system based on risk assessment. Besides, the supervision system of regulations on business conditions has proven inef- fective, the ministry said, pointing to inadequate acknowledgement of reforms of li- cences and business conditions. The ministry, therefore, proposed abolishing about 3,000 unnecessary, irrational, inef- fective business conditions and revamping State management over production and business activities on the basis of principles and practices set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The ministry has called on the prime minister to request ministers and Chairpersons of municipal and provincial People's Committees to closely supervise the implemen- tation of Resolution No. 19 on tasks and solutions to improve the business environ- ment and national competitiveness. The ministries should promptly review and propose reducing investment and busi- ness conditions in the State management area and report to the PM before December 2017, the MoPI said. At the same time, the MoPI will partner with the government's Office and relevant ministries to organise more dialogues with enterprises to clear up their concerns and petitions in a timely manner. https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-doubles-efforts-to-improve-business-environ- ment/119912.vnp

Tourism makes up low 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA proportion of GDP While in many countries tourism contributes remarkably to the economy, it makes up less than seven percent of Vietnam's GDP. The figure is modest compared to the coun- try's potential.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 19 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

Vietnam is home to eight world natural heritage sites and 11 intangible cultural herit- age sites recognised by UNESCO, a vivid manifestation of a beautiful and diversified culture country. The country also boasts more than 3,000km of coastline and thousands of islands and islets together with pristine beaches. However, the tourism sector's contribution to the GDP is below seven percent. What are the reasons behind this? According to Nguyen Anh Duong, economic expert at the Central Institute for Eco- nomic Management, the first reason is infrastructure, including supporting services which fail to meet tourists' demand. "As a result, visitors to Vietnam enjoy sightseeing but not during a long stay", he said, adding that some travel organisations do not apply the same service prices for foreign tourists and domestic ones, which gives a bad impression to foreign visitors. Service quality, product prices are also issues of visitors' concern when they visit Viet- nam. FINANCE Nguyen Linh, Executive manager from A Travelmate Company suggested traffic signs be in both Vietnamese and English. Added to this, visas should be granted at border gates to simplify administrative pro- cedures and save tourists and travel agents' time, he said. The tourism sector plays an important role in boosting other economic sectors, such as transport, entertainment, trade and several supporting services, such as communica- tions and banking. "To carry out the Politburo's resolution to turn tourism into an economic spearhead, we have proposed strengthening the development of infrastructure, including road, aviation, railway, and sea links," said Pham Phuong Thao, deputy head of Travel De- partment under the Vietnam Administration of Tourism. The tourism sector is aiming to make breakthroughs. The sector needs to follow the market's demand and adapt to socio-economic and political changes at home and abroad. https://en.vietnamplus.vn/tourism-makes-up-low-proportion-of-gdp/119911.vnp

PM calls for better 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES cooperation among Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) economies should strengthen cooperation Apec members and policy coordination, and roll out workable solutions to their problems, prime min- ister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was quoted by local media as saying on October 21. In his remarks at the 24th Apec Finance ministers' Meeting, the most important event of the Apec Finance ministers Process, which wrapped up in the ancient city of Hoi An in Quang Nam Province on October 21, he said Apec economies are facing a slew of difficulties and challenges. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in some member economies has remained low, he noted, adding that according to Asian Development Bank forecasts, regional trade growth has slowed due to increasing protectionism, non-tariff barriers, difficulties in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and impacts of climate change. The PM said the region has some hotspots which may threaten peace, security and sta- bility. In the past years, he said, Apec finance ministers have worked together towards their goals of fostering economic connectivity, promoting innovative and inclusive growth, and improving the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises. He spoke highly of the four priorities in the Apec Year 2017, which include long-term investment in infrastructure, tax avoidance through base erosion and profit shifting, disaster risk financing and insurance, and financial inclusion. Vietnam has made great strides in its economic restructuring in the last three decades, he said. Having been an underdeveloped economy, the Southeast Asian nation has be- come a middle-income economy since 2010. He added the country's GDP growth stood at 6.21 percent last year, and the figure is expected to rise to 6.7 percent this year. Meanwhile, its inflation may be kept at below

Intellasia 24 October 2017 20 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

5%, budget deficit below 4%, and public debt below 65 percent of GDP by end-2017. Export revenue is expected to exceed $200 billion this year, a year-on-year rise of 15%, and disbursement of foreign direct investment is estimated at over $15 billion, up 18%, he said. The Vietnamese stock market had surpassed 800 points as of end-September, a record high since 2008, and stock market capitalisation had reached 93 percent of GDP, he said, and the nation aims for average annual GDP growth of 6.5-7 percent in the 2016- 2020 period. The 24th Apec Finance ministers' Meeting and relevant events attracted around 300 domestic and international delegates, including finance ministers, leaders of the cen- tral banks of the 21 Apec economies and representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Or- ganisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Apec finance ministers also issued a joint statement, stating their views on a wide range of issues. FINANCE http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56692/PM-calls-for-better-cooperation-among-Apec- members.html

Storm brewing over 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS special tax regime A special high tax proposed by some provinces and cities is being questioned by econ- proposal omists due to its controversial impacts on Vietnam's tax policies. In a meeting with prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in September, leaders of HCM City said that they would make further requests for specific financial policies, includ- ing surcharge and control-incurred expenses, which are not regulated under the law on fees and charges. Following this, Hanoi and Hai Phong City asked the government to allow them to im- pose special tax mechanisms. "These requests are necessary and reasonable. Hanoi has its own Law of Capital, but the final decision has to be made by the National Assembly," said Hoang Anh Tuan, deputy finance minister. The Law of Capital is the legal mechanism used to address Hanoi-based issues. Tuan said other countries had allowed their major cities to adopt special tax policies. Because of the better infrastructures, city residents were required to pay higher income tax, while some big companies were forced to contribute three to five per cent of their revenue into the local budget. Vu Hoang Quyen, senior economist of the World Bank (WB), recommended the Viet- nam government permit economic centres to impose the surcharge policy, especially on personal income tax, enterprise income tax and excise tax. "However, the government should carefully apply the change, aiming to help provinc- es get more motivations and achieve high growth," added Quyen. Do Quoc Binh, head of Hanoi Taxi Association, on the other hand, said the tax increase should be reasonable. "We cannot say that because business environment in big cities is more favourable, companies should pay higher tax," Binh said. Economist Ngo Tri Long is concerned that the change will create exclusive rights for some provinces and cities, causing inequalities in the national economy. He said the special tax should specify what the extra money should be used on, such as traffic con- gestion or pollution. "I wonder whether residents and companies in big cities really have better services or is the shortfall due to overspending leading to budget deficits? Moreover, according to Long, the government has endowed big cities by providing generous investments or State budget ratios. Furthermore, Truong Ba Tuan, vice head of the National Institute for Finance, said the government should not allow provinces to make surcharges since it would arouse a race for priority lobbying. "Some countries adopting a special tax regime, including Canada. However, the gov-

Intellasia 24 October 2017 21 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

ernment should apply any change cautiously in Vietnam," Tuan said. According to the WB report, only 13 of 63 provinces of Vietnam submit a portion of their charges to the State budget, the others still receive government financial support. Therefore, the country should create conditions for provinces to control the fees and charges in their localities to increase motivation and competitiveness. http://bizhub.vn/news/storm-brewing-over-special-tax-regime-proposal_289659.html

Shifting burden 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES On a Sunday morning at Thai Ha market in Hanoi, Pham Thu Huong, a 28-year-old office worker picking up some food for her family, wondered what she could cut from her everyday spending if the government ratifies value added tax (VAT) increases. "I'm very concerned, as the increase would definitely affect our family's monthly ex- penditure," she said. "Our monthly income is just over $700, from which we have to pay regular living costs

FINANCE like electricity, water, internet, school fees and gasoline, which account for more than half of our total income." If the VAT rate is indeed raised from 10 to 12 per cent, Huong will have to fork out an additional $10-15 each month. "It's not a huge amount but it adds up over a year and is significant for every house- hold, especially given that low-income earners are the majority in the country," Nguy- en Tri Hieu, an economist, said. Tightening belts Nguyen Van Huynh, a technical worker with a garment company at the Tan Binh In- dustrial Zone in HCM City, agrees with Hieu. Both the rich and the poor must pay for basic necessities like electricity, water, milk for children, gasoline, and clothes, which would all be subject to the VAT hike. Workers and the poor already have a tough time, and now must pay more. "For rich people, a 2 per cent increase in VAT is nothing, but for poor people, the extra tax would cost a couple of meals for a family," he said. Many other low-income earners also expressed their opposition to any VAT increases. A World Bank report in 2015 found that Vietnam was still among lower middle-in- come countries despite GDP per capita increasing $57 compared to 2014. And according to the general Department of Taxation, Vietnamese people earning less than VND10 million ($440) per month account for 70 per cent of those paying personal income tax. Among the debate, some local authorities have explained that VAT on many types of essential goods will not rise and so not affect living standards, and "will not lessen na- tional consumption," said Nguyen Thi Cuc, Chairwoman of the Tax Consultants' As- sociation. "This draft law is aimed at restructuring State budget revenue in the context of the country's direct tax resources becoming lower," she said. Theoretically, all types of indirect taxes are regressive, so the level of impact will be de- pendent upon the types of goods and services people buy or use, according to Pham Dinh Thi, director of MoF's Tax Policy Department. "Vietnam as well as other countries has regulated that certain groups of goods and services are subject to no or low VAT tax rates, in order to diminish regression in indi- rect taxes," he said. He added that a General Statistical Office report in 2014 on living standards revealed the lowest income group spent up to 59.6 per cent of their income on food and medical and educational services, while the highest income group spent 39.6 per cent. However, what concerns Huong and Vietnamese consumers is that when VAT rates increase, every single item will rise in price. VAT targets end-users and the impact would be widespread because goods used to produce essential commodities will also increase in price, according to Hieu. Moreover low-income earners would have to spend a greater proportion of their in- come on essentials, raising their tax burden compared to earnings. "A VAT hike would

Intellasia 24 October 2017 22 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

make low-income earners more vulnerable," he said. Economist Le Dang Doanh, former President of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said that raising the VAT rate would certainly make commodity prices higher, and local people would have to curb their consumption and reconsider daily spending. Figures from MoF, he said, are not persuasive, as tax policies generally accompany other measures such as social welfare, infrastructure, and education and should be cal- culated on people's income levels, not on comparisons with other countries. Side effects The VAT hike is said to not only effect low-income earners but would also significantly affect the macroeconomy through severe impacts on national consumption. Many economists say that raising taxes is a bad sign for the economy, is it reveals a growing budget deficit. The government needs to bolster budget revenue, which will cause interest rates, pro- duction costs for businesses, commodity prices, and people's spending to rise accord- FINANCE ingly and leave a mark on economic growth. Meanwhile, a representative from MoF insisted that increasing the VAT rate would have little impact on low-income households. According to estimates by the ministry, the VAT hike may push up the consumer price index (CPI) by 0.06-0.39 per cent, while it grew just 1.23 per cent in August compared to December last year and 3.35 per cent year-on-year, with core inflation in August ris- ing 1.31 per cent year-on-year. Nevertheless, a recent report from Viet Dragon Securities pointed out that there would be no significant impact on inflation, but due to the lack transparency in calculation methods it remains suspicious about the level of effect. At present, many Vietnamese economists are concerned about the impact of a VAT hike on household spending needs, income distribution, and implicit economic activities. "According to Euromonitor, although Vietnam has good economic growth, it is fore- cast that the majority of Vietnamese consumers will still be on low incomes until 2030," the report noted. "Therefore, the VAT increase could make consumption weaken." A raft of economic experts also said that based on actual observations, a VAT increase would raise the size of Vietnam's informal economy, which accounted for an average of 15.1 per cent of GDP between 1991 and 2015. If it develops strongly once more, GDP growth will be hit. Compared to other developing countries in the region, Dr Huynh The Du from the Ful- bright Economics Teaching Programme said, the tax burden in Vietnam is heavy and budget spending is huge. Budget revenue versus GDP in the 2006-2012 period was 22.6 per cent, compared to Thailand's 16.31 per cent, Malaysia's 14.79 per cent, and Indonesia's 12 per cent, while being lower than Japan's. Budget expenditure versus GDP in 2016, Du went on, was 28.3 per cent; higher than regional countries. "This shows that a heavy tax burden has impacted significantly on people, businesses, and the competitiveness of the economy," he said. "For enterprises with low competitiveness, the tax increase will add to their problems." Le Xuan Nghia, director of the Institute for Business Development Studies, said that any increase to VAT would push up prices and reduce the competitiveness of enter- prises. "Many countries around the world have limited indirect taxes, some at 10 per cent, some with 5 per cent," he said. "Raising the VAT would hit the poor." He added that it is important to improve the country's business investment environ- ment so that enterprises can expand production. From there, it would be possible to grow budget revenue without raising taxes. At the same time, expenditure must be curbed. "If both of these were done in parallel, the State budget would increase without higher taxes," he said. Although there would be adverse effects on the economy, according to some experts, the increase in VAT could provide medium-term benefits in reducing the budget def- icit. In 2016, VAT contributed 24.5 per cent to State budget revenue.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 23 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

If the new tax policy was to be introduced in 2019, more than $3.08 billion (VND70 tril- lion) in additional revenue would flow into the State budget. "This is a huge number compared to the size of the budget deficit target in the 2016- 2018 period," the Viet Dragon report noted. Assessments of the impact from a VAT increase on the macroeconomy have many as- pects to consider, according to Viet Dragon, as increasing VAT can lead to higher in- flation, falling aggregate demand, and acceleration income inequality. Increasing VAT rates is seen as part of fiscal tightening policies, so policy makers need to come up with additional policies to see the change passed by the National Assembly next year. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/188835/shifting-burden.html

Electronic tax 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA collection, customs The general Department of Vietnam Customs will pilot the electronic tax collection

FINANCE clearance piloted and customs clearance 24/7 with five banks. The agreement was signed in Hanoi from October 23 with the Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), the Vietnam Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank), the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Military Commercial Bank (MB Bank), and the Vietnam Technological and Commercial Bank (Techcombank). Deputy director general of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Duong Thai said the project is part of efforts to reform administrative procedures by cutting tax payment and cus- toms clearance time to the average level of Asean-4 countries as requested by the gov- ernment. It is a key project of the general Department of Vietnam Customs this year to support businesses in tax payment via the Customs e-Payment Portal at https://epayment.cus- toms.gov.vn/epaymentportal/login round the clock. https://en.vietnamplus.vn/electronic-tax-collection-customs-clearance-piloted/ 119937.vnp

HCM City sees science 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES and tech as driving Science and technology will be driving forces for HCM City to obtain high yet sustain- forces for growth able growth, said the city's government leader. Speaking at the 21st Annual Conference of Asian Science Park Association (ASPA 21) held in HCM City on October 20, Nguyen Thanh Phong, chair of the HCM City Peo- ple's Committee, said science and technology would contribute to ensuring the high quality of growth. The city wants to create breakthroughs in science and technology, he noted. The city already has Quang Trung Software City (QTSC), Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) and Agricultural Hi-Tech Park (AHTP), he said, adding the city, the country's largest economic centre, is developing a 200-hectare science park in District 9 which will cost a total of VND4.3 trillion (US$189.31 million). The park will develop green and space technologies, information technology and renewable energy, Phong added. The city has so far attracted 130 hi-tech projects worth $6.8 billion and the added value of hi-tech products reaches 28 percent on average. By 2020, the sector is expected to contribute 10 percent to the city's gross regional domestic product. The city has asked scientists, economists and international organisations for help to ob- tain its targets. City vice chair Tran Vinh Tuyen said at the conference that the city would establish more science parks, large tech corporations and research centers; improve infrastruc- ture and the investment environment; develop human resources; and promote inter- national integration in technological and economic terms. Japanese experts and scientists said science parks in Japan are responsible for provid- ing technological services and supporting startups. They can also attract investment in scientific research, and application of biotechnology in production and people's life. Duck Ryul Hong, president of Daegu University in South Korea, highlighted the role

Intellasia 24 October 2017 24 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

of science parks in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, saying they should be invested to increase the quality and added value of local products, connect enterprises, universi- ties and research institutes, and encourage investment funds to support startups. Yeong Junaq Wang, director of Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park in Taiwan, said science parks could help bolster innovation. Representatives of Asian science parks agreed that such parks could attract leading tech groups and experts, put scientific studies into play, increase localisation, and en- courage international cooperation and technology transfer. ASPA 21, themed "Science Parks in Empowering Growth Quality and Competitive- ness of National Economy," took place in HCM City from October 19 to 21 with around 400 delegates, 90 of them from Japan, South Korea, Iran, Bhutan, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, attending. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56694/HCM City-sees-science-and-tech-as-driving- forces-for-growth.html FINANCE Vietnam needs 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES logistics development Vietnam should have a strategy for the logistics sector to enable it to achieve higher strategy growth, heard a conference in HCM City last week. Speaking at the conference on "Development of Infrastructure, Information System and Information Technology Application in Logistics," Vietnam Trade Information centre (VTIC) deputy director Dinh Thi Bao Linh said Vietnam's logistics sector has been rudderless. In the prime minister's Decision 200/QD-TTg on an action plan for improving the com- petitiveness of the logistics industry until 2025, Vietnam is envisaged becoming a lo- gistics centre of the region, but neither revenue target nor strategy has been adopted, Linh said. According to Linh, in addition to developing domestic trade, the government should allow other countries like Cambodia, Thailand, China and Laos to transship their goods via Vietnam ports to make the most of their logistics services. Vietnam has the potential for logistics development as its air, maritime and rail trans- portation systems are able to provide good logistics services. Trade liberalisation has helped Vietnam expand trade ties with China, South Korea, Ja- pan and Southeast Asia, among others. "Trade between Vietnam and Asean countries has shot up by seven times since Viet- nam became an Asean member in 1995. Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are importing more machines, oil and gas, iron and steel, and fertilisers from Vietnam," she said. The emergence of border economic zones and coastal industrial zones has boosted goods flow between Vietnam and other countries. "Higher cargo transportation and storage demand is the key factor for logistics to grow," she noted. Linh suggested the government make the business environment more favourable by providing technical and financial assistance for logistics firms, investing more in logis- tics infrastructure, and develop high-quality human resources for the sector. Nguyen Thanh Han, general director of Genuine Partner Group, said the government should offer more incentives for local logistics companies, especially startups, so that they can compete with foreign rivals. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56699/Vietnam-needs-logistics-development-strate- gy.html

More efforts need to 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA be made to lure In the context of rapid growth of the startup movement among young entrepreneurs, foreign funds for start- start-ups' activities have expanded and have shown huge potential. Hence, more and ups more foreign investors have paid attention to startups. However, to lure more foreign investment, the startup community and Vietnamese policymakers need to make great- er efforts. Founded one and a half years ago, this business provides co-working spaces. After

Intellasia 24 October 2017 25 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

achieving some success, the company is looking for foreign investment funds. "If we want to expand our business internationally, we will have to look for foreign in- vestors because it is very difficult to transfer inshore capital, it's very complicated and involves a lot of procedures", said Do Hoai Nam, co-founder of the Up Co-working Space. Nguyen Manh Dung, Head Representative of CyberAgent Ventures in Asean said many foreign investment funds are interested in and wanting to invest into startups in new economic sectors in Vietnam, however successfully mobilising foreign capital de- pends on startups themselves. However, it's not always easy to lure foreign investment as Vietnam faces competitors from other countries. Experts in the field have also acknowledged that to take advantage of long-term capi- tal to develop and expand, Vietnamese startups should make greater efforts to im- prove their capacity. Negotiating skills and support from policymakers are also needed. FINANCE On the other hand, besides foreign funds, startups should also look for capital from the community to attract capital and expand business, while the State should introduce more supporting policies to encourage dormant capital sources towards startups. https://en.vietnamplus.vn/more-efforts-need-to-be-made-to-lure-foreign-funds-for- startups/119910.vnp

VN textile industry 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS needs to spin a new Continued dependence on raw and auxiliary materials imports will constrain Vietnam yarn textiles and garment industry from taking real advantage of the various Free Trade Agreements signed by the country, industry insiders say. It will also blunt the industry's competitive edge further, they add. According to a 2016 report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), by the end of last year, 99 per cent of cotton used in the textile industry, reaching 1.03 million tonnes worth about $1.7 billion, was imported, a year-on-year increase of two per cent in quantity and 2.5 per cent in value. Thread import turnover in 2016 also went up 8.8 per cent in volume and 5.9 per cent in value to 861,00 tonnes and $1.6 billion respectively. Import of whole fabric last year increased by 3.2 per cent over 2015 to reach $10.5 billion. Feeble at home Currently, Vietnam is only able to supply 0.3 per cent of domestic cotton demand and 40 per cent of thread demand, so the rest is imported chiefly from the US, China and Taiwan. Paradoxically, more than 70 per cent of the national thread output of 1.4 million tonnes is exported, while the Vietnamese garment industry imports nearly 0.1 million metric tonnes of high-grade fibre from China, Korea and Taiwan per year. Each year, Vietnam earns tens of billions of dollars from textile and garment exports, but businesses make modest profits of less than $2 billion because the garment indus- try spends more than half of its earnings on importing raw materials, according to the MoIT. Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the MoIT's Import-Export Department, said in an announcement on the MoIT's online portal, that the textile industry's dependence on imported instead of locally produced raw and auxiliary materials has significantly lim- ited its competitiveness and added-value component. Domestic textile firms produce nearly 2.8 billion metres of fabric each year, meeting 30 per cent of total demand, so Vietnam still has to import up to 6.1 billion metres of fabric annually, even from countries not participating in the same major FTAS like the Trans- Pacific Partnership, the EU-Vietnam FTA, or the Vietnam Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. Regarding accessories, production facilities for sewing thread, cotton sheets, buttons, zippers, or packaging labels can be found in Vietnam, but they barely meet domestic market demand, so these have to be imported in large quantities too.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 26 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

According to a 2016 report of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (VITAS), the industry finds itself in the lowest value-added segment in the supply chain, having 70 per cent of exported products under outsourcing for foreign firms, 20 per cent as do- mestic production and direct sales without intermediaries, 2.9 per cent as self-de- signed and self-manufactured products, and just one per cent made and distributed under original brands. Tied in knots Nguyen Van Tuan, Chair of the Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association (VCOSA), said during the 2016 Vietnam Textile Summit in HCM City, that the textile industry is "knotted" in the middle, i.e. highly productive in terms of making yarn and final prod- ucts, but stunted in the production of fabric and other materials. With the industry's annual growth rate at about 8 per cent, by 2025, the amount of fab- ric needed will double to 18 billion metres, meaning without further investment in do- mestic production, Vietnam will have to import 15 billion metres, said Tuan. He also said that with 7.5 million spindles, the industry's annual output is approxi- FINANCE mately 1.3 million tonnes of thread; of which more than 800 thousand tonnes are re- served for export, mainly to two major markets China and Turkey. Beleaguered sector Worse still, many countries have intensified their use of trade remedies against Viet- nam. According to the MoIT, from 2007 onwards, Vietnam's yarn and thread exports have faced seven lawsuits five anti-dumping, one anti-subsidy and one safeguard measurefrom Turkey, the EU, India and Brazil. Therefore, around 80 per cent of Vietnamese yarn is exported to China, since its cotton prices are still relatively high. However, this cannot be seen as a stable market. Once China decides to use the 11 million tonnes of cotton in storage, Vietnam's yarn market share in the country will shrink considerably, according to a VCOSA analysis. Supporting industries Some insiders have said that the nation's textiles and garments sector can still increase productivity and localisation rate through the development of supporting industries. VITAS Chair Vu Duc Giang told the Vietnam News Agency a few months ago the FTAs are a driving force for growth, but the textile and garment industry must be pre- pared for it. Giang suggested that domestic businesses invest in the dyeing process, carry out a sol- id human resource training strategy as the 4.0 Industrial Revolution gets closer, and focus heavily on building an integrated value chain between domestic producers. Hoang Ve Dung, Vinatex's deputy general director, said at a meeting in August 2017 between Vinatex and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, that administrative agencies should coordinate with textile associations to push for appropriate policies on the pur- chase and production processes, covering both raw materials and finished products. According to the MoIT, total textile and garment exports in the first six months of 2017 reached $14.58 billion, up 11.3 per cent over the same period in 2016, despite difficul- ties. However, industry insiders have said that the turnover of the first 6 months is not sus- tainable. http://bizhub.vn/news/vn-textile-industry-needs-to-spin-a-new-yarn_289667.html

Vietnam is gold mine 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET for international As Vietnamese favour foreign-made products and are willing to pay more for prod- express delivery firms ucts they like, international express delivery firms see Vietnam as a fertile land for their business. A GDC (General Department of Customs) report shows that import/export turnover in the first eight months of the year reached $270.91 billion, an increase of 20.9 percent over the same period last year. After Vietnam joined WTO and fully opened its market, foreign express delivery firms flocked to the country. These include DHL from Germany, TNT from the Netherlands, FedEx and UPS from the US.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 27 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

The firms all follow a two-step strategy. At first, they cooperate with Vietnamese com- panies to set up joint ventures. With strong financial capability and international brands, they can easily conquer the market. Later, they quit the joint venture model and became 100 percent foreign invested en- terprises. TNT, for example, joined the Vietnamese market by teaming up with Viettrans to set up a joint venture. Meanwhile, DHL set up a joint venture with VNPT in which it held 51 percent of capital. As the firms had good business performances, FedEx and UPS, the two giants, also headed for Vietnam. UPS terminated the joint venture model and established UPS Vi- etnam, a 100 percent foreign owned company. The big players have poured big money into Vietnam and investments have been in- creasing rapidly. Experts believed at the time that the presence of international delivery firms in Viet- nam will not be a threat to domestic service providers, because the firms would focus FINANCE on international services, which was not the advantage of Vietnamese enterprises. Vi- etnamese enterprises mostly targeted the domestic market. However, the recent moves by foreign delivery firms show they are taking strong ac- tion to conquer the domestic market. Several days ago, UPS announced it would increase services in 10 provinces/cities in the central and southern regions. The cut-off time has been extended by three hours. Meanwhile, the time for shipping imports/exports to and from Asia has been short- ened from two to one day, while time for the shipping for goods to and from Europe has been cut from three to two days. A senior executive of UPS Vietnam said delivery service providers have been put un- der increasing pressure. They need to provide products and services in larger quanti- ties, with higher quality, and they need to deliver more quickly and offer lower service fees. With the shortening of shipping times and extending the cut-off time, clients will have more time for production, while UPS Vietnam can deal with more orders. http://english.vov.vn/economy/vietnam-is-gold-mine-for-intl-express-delivery-firms- 360860.vov

Rural market 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET becoming more Rural areas, where 70 percent of the population lives and where the average income attractive to per capita has been increasing rapidly, is a market with great potential. manufacturers A report by Nielsen shows that the market growth rate in rural areas in the first quarter of 2017 reached 12.4 percent, making up 51 percent of total revenue of fast-moving consumer goods, while the growth rate was just 6.5 percent for urban areas. BSA (Business Study and Assistance Centre) pointed out that the rural market has high potential with high purchasing power. All the Vietnamese goods Market Days organ- ised by the centre have been successful. The 11 market days organised in the first six months of 2016 attracted 135,000 visitors. In July 2016 April 2017, BSA joined forces with local authorities and organised 70 trade fairs in rural areas, including 50 in the south and 20 in the north. The sales at all the trade fairs were far beyond BSA's and businesses' expectations. More rural consumers want modern goods. A survey by Kantar Worldpanel in late 2016 shows that the average income of one 4- member household in rural areas is around VND7 million, while the figure is VND16 million in urban areas. However, the average spending for every shopping trip in rural areas is VND60,000, equal to 60 percent of urbanites. Kantar Worldpanel's report released in May 2017 show that the rural market grew by 31 percent over the same period last year. Rural residents made 138 shopping trips a year while urban residents made 158. Both urban and rural consumers now like convenience when buying goods and they tend to seek goods from different channels in order to have the best prices.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 28 / 44 Vietnam finance & business 24 October 2017

Tan Quang Minh Company with the Bidrico brand has been cited by BSA as a typical success story in the rural market. While sales in rural areas only account for 20-25 per- cent of total sales to other businesses, the proportion is 70 percent for Bidrico. In 2010, the total sales of Bidrico were VND589 billion, of which VND380 billion was from rural areas. After reaping fruit in the rural market, Bidrico began conquering the urban market. Nguyen Dang Hien, CEO of Tan Quang Minh, said the competition in the rural market is not as stiff as it is in urban market, while the selling prices of Bidrico products fit con- sumer products. He also noted that while urban consumers regularly change the products they use, ru- ral consumers are more loyal. My Hao, a cosmetics brand, has been selling well in the rural market which brings 80 percent of its total revenue, according to Luong Van Vinh, its CEO. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/188352/rural-market-becoming-more-at- tractive-to-manufacturers.html FINANCE

HCM City: Private 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA sector needs most The demand for human resources in HCM City is forecast to rise 2-3 percent annually labourers to reach 4.61 million labourers by 2020 and 5.34 million labourers by 2025, according to a report from the HCM Centre for Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Mar- ket Information. Private enterprises, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, which play a ma- jor role in economic growth, have the highest demand. They are expected to require 1.87 million jobs this year or 66.9 percent of the city's total employment, the report showed. Private companies are expected to generate 2.06 million jobs by 2020 and 2.4 million jobs by 2025. Foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises will need 776,000 labourers this year, ac- counting for 27.2 percent of the total employment, and 926,000 labourers by 2020 and 1.22 million by 2025. FDI enterprises play an important role in technology transfer and generate financial re- sources for infrastructure development. Employment demand in state-owned enterprises is expected to decline due to restruc- turing of state-owned enterprises and equitisation, from 196,000 labourers or 6.9 per- cent of the total demand this year to 183,000 by 2020 and 135,000 by 2025. While the service sector accounts for 67 percent of total recruitment demand, the in- dustry and construction sectors represent 31 percent and the agricultural sector 2 per- cent of demand. The labour market will require more highly skilled workers because of country's mem- bership in the Asean Economic Community (AEC) and signing of free trade agree- ments, as well as possible membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In the 2017-2020 period, more than 300,000 people are expected to look for employ- ment in the city each year. There will be around 270,000 jobs available in the city each year in the same period, in- cluding 130,000 new jobs. https://en.vietnamplus.vn/hcm-city-private-sector-needs-most-labourers/119902.vnp

Tien Giang works to 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA support enterprises The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang will actively provide legal support and dis- seminate legal regulations related to the investment law, business climate and labour in order to help local firms promote production and business in the remaining months of the year. According to Nguyen Thanh Liem, deputy head of the provincial Industrial Zones Management Board, the province will speed up administrative reforms and promptly remove difficulties facing businesses in investment attraction and production expan- sion.

Intellasia 24 October 2017 29 / 44 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam taking selling Shares slide on profit- October, 2017 Business Briefs24 BUSINESS Intellasia a netprofit of VND6.7 billionfromitsre percent toVND8.9billion inthequarter. over to percent rose 3.2 revenue profit. Its inthethir billion to VND1.48 year-on-year Company (HNBP)sa Binh ThermalPower * Ninh NTP. at nearly 24%, shares, or Co ame plastic Industries(Saraburi) Ltd, a10.1perc Plastic (NTP) tosecure Company Co * Japan'sSekisuiChemical toincrease ing and (KDH) its Company Investment holding to8.38%. Limited ha * VietnamVentures shareissue. additional the for record date the as October 30 chosen has SHA withshareholders a 2016 dividend receiving * SonHaSaigonCompany(SHA)hasregistered City. Zone in HaiPhong Economic Hai complexofVingroup torcycle manufacturing An Casino. CTDhas just held agroundbrea Island, VinhomesMetropolis, theth Diamond tracts intheperiod included the second phase of Ho TramStrip, thesecond phase of underpinnedwhich anend-September back contthe firm'snewlysigned management ofCotecconsConstructi * The year. this within two stages thedebt in sell VietinBankwill million. trillion of10-year unsecured inconvertible * fromtheSt VietinBank hasgotapproval 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| https://en.vietnamplus.vn/tien-giang-w Tan Huong and SoaiRapOiland Gas Services. Tien Giang iscurrentlyhome tofour indust far. strongest growthso the year and export revenue stoodatover1.5billionUSD, bi VND (1.8 over 41.8trillion From theoutsetofyear, valu production capital of nearly 3.7 billion USD and created jobs for more than 82,000 labourers. (IZs) zones industrial Local export and food processingfor domest The locality also haspriority policies for All 10 listed banks on the twoexchanges lost tical industries. Losers spanned from the finance and energy ex City HCM on the liquidity and value ket mar- of terms in stocks largest 30 top the of 24 as drag main the were stocks Large-cap the in unchanged two markets. remaining The overall marketcondition wasnegative wi points. Thenorthern marketlost 1.55pe index On the Exchange,the Stock Hanoi HNX-Index gave up1.76per cent toend at 106.24 points. The southern cent at820.04 market the HCMStockEx The benchmarkIndex on VN pressure. selling under strong profit-taking steeply declined which on thetwonationalstock Sharesdown edged 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS shares to raise his ownership from 5.9 percent to10.9%. 5.9 from ownership raise his to shares * VoVanThang,chair ofThuong PhuCo and 5.5percentyear-on-year respectively racts amounted to VND21.3 tr to VND21.3 racts amounted have lured 91 investment registered projects 91investment total with have lured llion USD), ayear-on-year increase of17percent. Their Ltd has acquired over nineLtd hasacquired s bought3.8million shares ofKhang Dien House Trad- ic consumptionand export, he said. orks-to-support-enterprises/119930.vnp companies investing in seafoodprocessingfor ffee Company (CTP), has bought 500,000 CTP 500,000 has bought (CTP), ffee Company venue ofVND476 In the January-September period, BPearned mber ofSCGGroup, mber sold over 21 million , said Viet CapitalSecurities Company. VND156 billion but its gross profit sank 54.8 sank itsgrossprofit billion but VND156 ate SecuritiesCommiss index decreased 0.25per cent on Friday. bonds. The debt hasaface value ofVNDlO d quarter of this year due to lower gross on Company (CTD) said the total value of value total the said (CTD) on Company change tumbled and just and change tumbled five advanced. just rial zones, namely My Tho, Long Giang, zones, namelyMyTho,LongGiang, rial king ceremony of the Vinfast carand mo- log ofVND25.6 trillion. The majorcon- to the steelmaking, retail and pharmaceu- and retail steelmaking, to the e ofbusinesses based inthe IZs reached hiking 26percentfromthe sametimelast value, of which the Big Four (the four (thefour Four theBig ofwhich value, 12 new shares for every 100 shares held. shares for every100 newshares 12 ent stake. Earlier thismonth,The Nawa- covering 332 hectares at the Dinh VuCat atthe DinhVuCat covering hectares 332 exchanges on Monday, ird phase of GainLuckyFactoryandHoi ird phase r centinthelastthreesessions last week. th 347 th 347 241 stocks falling, rising 123 and changeclosed Mondaydown 0.82 per to issue2.4 millionmore sharestopay id itsnet profit dropped 82.7percent million shares ofTien Phong illion inIanuary-September, billion, down 73.4 percent ion toissue VND4.2 24 October 2017 30 /44 24 October2017 led by large caps BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam into equities obstructing cash flow seen SOE divestment chips lose steam downwards asblue Market corrects Intellasia A total of 118.4 million shares worth almost worth million shares of118.4 total A growth, were under profit-taking selling pressure. long rally over thepast one month, particul Market analystspred and Group(MSN). Pharmaceutical Masan (DHG) (CTG), Petrolimex (PLX), PV Gas (GAS) and Vinamilk (VNM), as well as HauGiang On the defensive side, the stocks impactin up 1.6andper cent; Vietcombank (VCB), up1.1cent. per The three were brewer Sabeco(SAB), up2.6per cent; FLCFaros Construction (ROS), val- market by ue andliquidityon theHCMStock Exchangetumbled and onlythree advanced. stocks largest 30 top the of 25 as many As downturn. the led chips Blue onthe two markets. stocks by286-123 Market breadthwas negative On the HanoiStock Exchange, the HNX-Index On the Exchange,the Stock Indexwasdown0.37per HCM points. VN cent at 823.78 large caps lost steam andweighed down themarkets. th onthe negativezoneShares closedin 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS http://bizhub.vn/markets per 8.6 and volume in cent per 16.7 cent invaluecompared tolast week's up markets, two the in traded being million) ($229 Liquiditywith improved atotal mi of264 ing reporting season hasgoneone-third ofthe way. BVS analysts said, predictingthemarketwill The marketislosingmoment ashareon (US$6.65) to nearly Monday. VND151,000 climbed percentinnearlyonemonth, 42.7 tinue to rise 6.7percent, lifting its rallying FLC FarosConstructionCorp(ROS)con- the fewgainersshares of onMonday,Among BVS's analysts wrote inanote. companie many sharesafterthese sold out "Investors prefer strategy of pressure. selling profit-taking rising by According toBaoVietSecurities Company(B an (MWG) Group Word Mobile (MSN), Group Masan Hoa Sen Group(HSG), Group (HPG), Hoa Phat (VJC), Air Vietjet (GAS), negativelyaffectedth Other companiesthat (BVS). Securities Bao Viet and (VND) Securities VNDirect (HCM), ties (BVH), Holdings Viet Bao include day losing Securities and insurancecompaniesalso amongdecliners. were Bignamesthathada BIDV (BID) and Military Bank (MBB) largest banksby market value and totalasse trillion in in dairy Vinamilk. firm in dairy trillion thanks the firsthalfof 2017, mainly to th period ofSOEs structuring in the 2016-2020 toagovernment plan, aroundVN According department analysis affect cashflowintothestock market,said divestmentand equitisationbyStat Capital 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES steam_289653.html http://bizhub.vn/markets/market-corrects-downwards-as-blue-chips-lose- Afternoon trade startsat1pm. traded on thetwo inthe markets morning. ofKISVietnamSecurities Company. icted the market will soonexperience acorrection following a /shares-slide-on-profit-t 'buythe rumourandsell the news', following whichthey um to rise and entering the value accumulation period, um torise and entering accumulation the value as the number of losing stocks outnumbered gaining outnumbered the numberoflosingstocks as average daily trading volume and value. volume and trading daily average decreased between 1.3-2.6 percent. Another 301 stocks remained unchanged. 301 stocksremainedAnother e two stock exchanges on Monday morning as morning e twostockexchangesonMonday d Hau Giang (DHG). d Hau Pharmaceutical e saleofa5.4 percentstake worth VND11.2 llion shares worth nearly VND5.2 trillion nearly VND5.2 llion sharesworth from VND105,700 a share late inSeptember late ashare fromVND105,700 streak to 18 sessions in a row. ROS pricehas streak to18sessionsinarow.ROS Bach An Vien, head of financial and macro head BachAnVien, offinancialand g the market the most were Vietinbank Vietinbank were most the market g the e-owned enterprises (SOEs)mayadversely s announced their third-quarters results," ts) Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG), (CTG), Vietinbank (VCB), Vietcombank ts) arly when large caps, driving the market's . A mere VND15 . Amere wasmobilised trillion VND15 in e overall marketoutlookincluded PV Gas VND2.5 trillion(US VND2.5 likelyexpanddivergencewhen the earn- VS), thegrowth oflargecaps was slowed Saigon Securities Inc(SSI), HCM Securi- D250 trillion could beraised from the re- declined 1.14percent aking-selling_289660.html $109.7 million) were $109.7 24 October 2017 31 /44 24 October2017 to 106.91 points. 106.91 to BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam profits pre-tax target for TACto reach2017 solid results VFM funds report Intellasia http://bizhub.vn/markets/vfm-fun 2003. VFM, isthe first domestic fund manageme and reported returns of13.4 per cent. into-equities.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56703/SO billion. VND28 if put-throughdeal ern market, Foreign investors netsoldoverVND86.8bi on fell also Fr but they quarter, third speculative Some stocks attracted cash flow, sion, the market still dropped as losers point level again.AlthoughROSrosetoit t takers profit Friday, Last tronic store operator MWGhelped keep day. Keystocks such asconstruction enterp These factorsledtoinvestor caution, hence low turnover on Wednesday and Thurs- VN atahigh selling icant signs emerged, suchaspoor transactions of Large-cap stockscontinued making positive versus aweekearlier respectively. market and46.8 millionsharesontheHanoi matching volume averaging at162.8 mi out points. at108.14 percent Index dipped0.89 Closing last week, the VN Index gained 0. with bright prospe firms an financial including they, However, ture. Foreign investorsare expected to be active pl view with vietstock.vn. in an uneven result also will the into stock market cash flow domestic if eq and divestment In the short term,capital market. the transparency of businesses. The plan will also spur thedevelopment of the stock VFB, an open end fund investinginbonds, openendfund VFB, an and 18per this year five years. cent inthelast retu anda million) value billion($22.4 VND511 VF4, another open end fundinvesting fully said. achievedaverag last fiveyears,VF1 In the billion($34.5million)andma of over VND787 its VFM alsoreportedthat It aims to replicatethe performance of launchedhas attracted in2014, many foreign investors. ETF VFMVN30, adomesticexchange-traded fund incorporated countryin theand ended funds in Vietnam. of 28 per cent It saidthefund's return after jumpingby138per million) lion (US$43.8 cent this year. the size Vietfund Managementsaidthat 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS SOEsequitisati up Speeding pected to reach itstargetof pected toreach Cooking oil manufacturer Tuong An Vegeta 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS cts, theexpert said. Index, around 830 Index, around830 points. ook the upper hand as the VN Index failed tobeatthe830- ook theupper asthe Indexfailed hand VN pre-tax profits of VND165 billi profitsofVND165 pre-tax VF1, abalanceopen end fund, now has a totalasset value on isanecessary steptob distribution of cash among se s of wereplastic excluded, firm NTP they netsold over ds-report-solid-results_289655.html iday due topoor index developments. Indexasclosely the possible. VN30 as is thehighest even surpasses any other open- far outnumbered gainers by 292 to 155. to 292 by gainers far outnumbered the main index from astrongdecline. of its ETF VFMVN30hastopped VND1 tril- e returns of 16.8 per cent a year, the company company year, the 16.8 percenta e returnsof s upper limit for the third consecutive ses- thethirdconsecutive for s upperlimit 72 percent at pointswhile HNX- percentat 826.84 the 72 E-divestment-seen-obstructing-cash-flow- and foreign demand fails to improve. This This toimprove. fails foreign demand and nt company in Vit Nam, was founded in in founded was Nam, inVit nt company rise ROS,nationalgasgroupGASand elec- llion on the southern bourse.southernllion onthe Onthenorth- has assets of VND223 bi ofVND223 assets has Turnover improved onbothbourses, with most small and medium stocksandsignif- mostsmall d strategic investors, will focus on major llion shares per sessionon the HCMCity uitisation by SOEswillplace pressure on exchange, up 15 percent and 11.2 percent percent 11.2 and 15percent exchange,up in blue-chip stocks, stocks, blue-chip in supported by good business results in the in the results business good by supported contributions totheVNIndex.Butbad contributions ble Oil Joint-Stock Company (TAC) is ex- is (TAC) Company Joint-Stock Oil ble ayers inSOEs' shareissuesinthe near fu- de a return of 21.55 percentthisyear. de of21.55 a return rn of nearly 24 per cent after 9 months 9 months after cent per rn ofnearly24 oost economic restructuringand on (US47.2 million) this year, million)this on (US47.2 ctors, ataninter- Viensaid has total assets of assetsof has total 24 October 2017 32 /44 24 October2017 llion ($9.7million) BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam ownership cap plans tolift foreign Tien Phong Plastic Intellasia IndustriesLtdoffloaded (Saraburi) Co it The plancameafter thecompany announced 65 percent ofshareholders for thechange. scheduled for November 30.The management The finaldecision will be madeatthecompany's extraordinary shareholders meeting, instea ofitscapital ownership Tien PhongPlastic JointStockCompany(Tie 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNA http://bizhub.vn/markets/t in thecountry. LastNovember, thecompany was acquired by KidoGroup. Established in1977, the company is now one will also bebrought to the market. increase thanks tohighdemand during the the compan thisyear, to theendof now From quarter. fourth and todevelop more products in the TAC attributed suchinvestments toits plan tion system aswell asdevelop human resources. During the first nine months, the company sp trillion. VND3 revenue inthisperiod TAC reportedthat riod lastyear. profit ofover VND107billion said that the oftheyear, in firstThe company threequarters had it reached a pre-tax company. according tothe The identity ofthe largest bu pershare. to71,800 VND 69,300 VND share pricevarying between for TienPhongPlastic's shares with volu During the 14-trading-dayperiod, there we percent a 37.1 stake. Phong Pl in Tien monitor theState'scapital Investment The StateCapital in 2012. investment initial its USD), triple 65million ly producer plastic Thai-based meansthe That period. sh VND per to71,900 (3.06USD) VND 69,000 tradin is Plastic Phong Tien 12. October between September25and firmonthe plastic ship intheVietnamese In thethirdquarterof2017, TienPhongPlas make a 15 percentadvancedividendpa upcoming sharehol boards atthe pervisory Tien PhongPlasticwill boards. supervisory tober 17askedfor the resignation ofth on Oc- Thai company the representativesof two PhongPlastic,thedrawing fromTien fr payouts worth ofdividend During thefive-year investment period, Sa 119947.vnp https://en.vietnamplus.vn/tien-phong-plast percent. rise of27.6 363 total earned months, the company In nine percent. increase of ayearly 83.3 pre-tax profit, one-year lowof57,600VN its closedonOctoberNTP 19 at 73,000 VND per the shares. up investor buying a foreign is alsodiscusstherestructuring of ac-to-reach-2017-target-for g its89.2millionshares on the Hanoi Stock Exchange for yer has remained conf Corporation (SCIC), whichrepresents the government to om the Vietnamesefirm. Afte D per share inearlyMarch. ($4.7 million), up bynearly pe- 50percentoverthesame d ofthecurrent 49 percent. e Vietnamese firm's management and yout for 2017 performance yout for2017 on November29. s 21.27 millionshares 21.27 s me ranging from one to nine million and to ninemillion one ranging from me increased by 6 per cent year-on-year to cent year-on-year by 6per increased stock market (traded under the code NTP) astic, remains the biggest shareholder with the biggestastic, remains end of the year season. Many new products raburi received arou der to meeting. Thecompanyalsoplans ic-plans-to-lift-foreign-ownership-cap/ toputafootholdinthehigh-endsegment re many put-through trading transactions trading transactions put-through re many sold its share for 1.46 trillion VND (rough- VND trillion 1.46 for share its sold tic recordednearly161 share, having increasedbyaquarter since ofthe biggest cook n PhongPlastic)mayallowtotalforeign are duringtheSeptember25-October 12 the Thai plastic producer Nawaplastic Thai plasticproducer Nawaplastic the ent a great deal toexpandtheirdistribu- great a ent y predicts that its revenuewill strongly billion VND in pre-tax profit, an annual profit, anannual billion VNDinpre-tax board willneed toobtain approval of idential,is believedhowever, that it -pre-tax-profits_289651.html the firm'smanagementand su- r Saraburi completed with- completed r Saraburi or 23.84percentowner- nd 173 billion VND ing oil manufacturers manufacturers oil ing 24 October 2017 33 /44 24 October2017 billion VND in its billionVND BUSINESS stringently trace porkoriginmore HCM City says will finance& business Vietnam Vietnamese pork threatens export of Concern overquality export pig production for develop disease-free Nam Dinh, Thai Binh Intellasia for-export/119905.vnp https://en.vietnamplus.vn/nam-dinh-thai-b while Dinhhas Nam nearly 780,000 Thai showedthat 1,2017 onApril Statistics chains. prod inits 11 cooperatives farms linkingwithfouren 26 has Thai Binh Dinh recognised as chlorella-free farms. Thai Binhand23othersin Nam Dinh,with 11 helpeddevelo project the 2017, By September port. developmenton sustainablebreeding ofthe se The project,whichis from20 conducted Binh. meeting requirements for export inthenorthern provinces of Nam Dinhand Thai opment isimplementing a project tobuil The Department ofAnimalHealthunderth 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNA stringently.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56696/HC more time tomeet thestandards. needed they said traders But week. last early force into came which government, city pork traders a few more days the managementEarlier, boardsHoc of ment and ofpork traceability manage- quality for framework legal a create to markets wholesale for rules crafting The departments ofindustry-trade and justic which are suspected offailingtomeetthe standards. in snap and regular carryout should They pigs. Pigsmustbe of and hygiene ter up with relevantdepartments Ag of HCM CityDepartment Tuyen toldthe products inamore stringent manner. farmingdistribution and stages.The secondph Phase one of the scheme whichhas been carried out since last December focuses on transport and trading of andporkproducts. pigs andagenciestost partments Tran VinhTuyen chair City vice terhouses anddistributors. nextearly yearwhichmakespossible itto out the second stage oftheporkmanageme Depa has askedthegovernment The HCMCity 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES percent ofitstotalproduction, However, Vietnam exportsa mere 20,000 tonne Brazil and Russia. tonnes, ranking it sixth in the world behind Vietnam's totalpork production in2017 is sought solutionstoVietnam's fl The forum,held on Fridayby the Ministry noi last week. to the meatis exporterbecoming amajorof Improvements in the quality of Vietnamese po 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| TUOITRE NEWS uction chain,while Nam Dinhhasalsosetup somesimilar rengthen State management of rengthen Statemanagement products andother commodities. to fully adhere to the traceability standards set by the by the set standards traceability the to adhere fully to and agencies to strengthen and tostrengthen agencies despite growing globaldemand. agging pork export industry. agging porkexport issued an official letter last anofficial issued pigs farms. with 30large-scale processed at accredited slaughterhouses. Mon and Binh Dien wholesale markets gave 15-2020, is part of Decision 441/QD-BNN-TY ispartofDecision441/QD-BNN-TY 15-2020, d safeand disease-free pig breeding region spections of pig farms andslaughterhousesspections ofpig trace tofarms, pork products back slaugh- ofAgriculture andRuralDevelopment, forecast at aroundforecastmetric 2.75 million terprisesbreedingone and association and M City-says-will-trace-pork-origin-more- Binh has 1 million pigs bred in 546 farms, 546 Binhhas1millionpigsbredin inh-develop-diseasefree-pig-production- e MinistryofAgriculture andRuralDevel- China,the European Union (EU), the US, nt, identificationand traceability scheme berealised, experts said at aforum inHa- riculture and Rural Development to team Development to and Rural riculture farms inThaiBinhandsixothers inNam e, and agenciesare relevant tasked with p 22 concentrated pigbreeding farmsin concentrated p 22 ctor with international standards for ex- with international ctor rk are crucial if the country's vision of of vision if the country's rk arecrucial s on average per year, or lessthan0.73 ase is ase set totrace origin of pork the rtment of Industry and Trade to carry and Tradeto of Industry rtment inspections over theslaugh- week ordering relevant de- the farming, slaughter, slaughter, thefarming, 24 October 2017 34 /44 24 October2017 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam entering Korea supporting brands in VIETRADE Intellasia 7-Eleven, andE-mart, according toLe An value chainsthrougcountry's ticipate inthe In order to build a brand in SouthKorean, in helps also it because brands" "national a Act. Itis Trade AdministrationForeign bythepr approved development programme Department under MoIT. that th emphasized Lang culture andbusiness. rea is ofpotential a market and it shares etnamis South Korea's third largest trading investor largest the currently Korea is South two governments. tegic cooperation between Vietnam and South the NationalBrandingProgramme, told the c DoKim Lang, deputy director general of VIETRADE anddeputySecretary general of National Branding Programme tosupport ment ofVietnamese Brands intheSouth Ko and Tradeorganisedaconference onOctober 12inHanoion "Promoting theDevelop- The Vietnam Trade PromotionAgency (VIETR Branding tohelplocalbusi Programme Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency holds co 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMIC TIMES https://tuoitrenews.vn/new promote trade and open up foreign markets." th Cuong said,"but begun," "Businesses have oppositepicture. atotally paint ment, the valueofVietnam'spork industry According toNguyen Xuan Cuong,themini with met was stalls market terhouse to provide ahi tags that without tracking pork The latest effort by HCMCity ing their pork without providing any information regarding its origin, Hung said. This posesan challe immediate ble beforesigningany contracts. partners had asked fortheirpork importsto Vu Manh Hung,generaldirectorofHung N andSpain. likethe Germany sources from trusted US, billion worth of Korea imported $5.8 South nam. stressed theimportance of food safetyan Jong-beom, deputygeneralLeeof director shook the ofthepopular perception public's meat. since the sedatedpigshave Though allof at shortly HCM slaughter before Earlier this month, thousandsofpigs were porters from openinguptheirmarkets. over thequality andsafe However, concerns than its competitors. technologies, have enabled the country to producepork atamore competitive price ofnew the transport andlabour with costs, coupled implementation low Vietnam's rum. Philippines 195,000tonnes,tonnes andac the China nearly 2.2 currentlyimports milliont port-of-vietnamese-pork/42208.html e NationalBranding Programme s/business/20171023/concern- officialstoimpose a ban on so-called 'homeless' pork nge forlocalproducers, who have become usedtosell- City's largestslaughterhouse. City's widespread criticism by local merchants. bylocal criticism widespread nesses gain traction in South Korea.nesses gaintractionin South many similarities with crease their prestigeinforeign markets. d hygiene for aspiring exporters likeViet- been scheduledfor incineration, the scandal great opportunity for enterprises who are South Korean Daewon MachineryCo., Ltd, Vietnamese enterprisesVietnamese par- shouldactively Hai, deputy director found to have been injected with sedatives tohavebeeninjectedwithsedatives found businesses in approaching the country. h distribution channels such as LotteMart, rean Market", within theframeworkof onnes ofporkperyear, Japan1.36 million nference within framework ofNational pork in 2016, Leesaid, in2016, though pork most came andtrading partner ofVietnam, while Vi- is higher thanrice, but export revenues partner after the US and China. South Ko- story ofitsjourneyfrom farm to slaugh- be of traceable orig be oftraceable hon Group,said that mostof his foreign ster of Agriculture and Rural Develop- Rural and ofAgriculture ster ty ofVietnamese pork have stopped im- e remaining task is for the authorities to the authorities for is task e remaining cording toexperts attending Friday's fo- onference thatthe strengthening ofstra- ime minister and recognised under the the under recognised and minister ime Korea hasalwaysbeena priority of the ADE) under the Ministry ofIndustry over-quality-threatens-ex- isthe only national brand Vietnam in terms of Vietnaminterms of thePacific Market in and risk-managea- 24 October 2017 35 /44 24 October2017 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam found, withbiglosses loophole LCD tax economic links Vietnam-Japan Association enhances Intellasia http://english.vov.vn/econom universitiesand inHokuriku. an manufacturing, and agriculture, banking, programme in Japan. Alsoinattendance ofViet with theparticipation At the event, the Association heldaVi Around 72businessesfromHokuriku research institutes. processing andproduction busine ricultural leading technological, mechanic home tomany Hokuriku region comprisesthree prefectures in mid-2018. opportunities investment Vietnam seek to of tour finding abusinessdelegati In the future, immediate human resourcetraining,recruit and programmes willregulateandreceive economic encourage and supportKokuriku To achieve itsgoals,theAssociationwillca viser. Tran DucBinh, Vietnamese Consult general President of the Mitani Corporation isservin keen toinvestinVietnam. or are operating businesseswhich some regionalparliamentariansUniversity, se offices,Trade the Organisation (JETRO) include repres Membersthe association of sources andeconomic exchanges. businesses and develop economicties betw for opportunities investment cultivate to aiming Japan, City, Kanagawa in October 20 invest of association The Hokuriku-Vietnam 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VOV ing-south-korea http://vneconomictimes.com/article/busine rean market. inparticularand promoting brandnames na and contributed to increasing export oppo The conference attracted agreat deal of a ready madea on mark shopping habits." the habitsofSouth Korean consumers," he adurablebran with,sobuilding are familiar Business Associati For his part, Yoon Sang Ho, President ofthe Korea Federation of Small and Medium and inSouth preferred are Korea," said. sold Hai are being "There are systems. distribution informal Xua Va Naynoodles,Trung Thanhchilisauc G7 coffee, whichappears on theshelves of A number of Vietnamese brands are already in South Korea, such as Trung Nguyen's companies ensure distribution systems and develop their brandin foreign markets. onthe focusing also while markets, target They also need toaddress issues such as product positioning, packaging design, and Phan Minh Le, deputy director of the HC the of director deputy Le, Minh Phan to million)due ($21.89 billion VND481.68 as electronicsavoid taxlosses, firms have to customs departmentsLocal will have toti 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VIR 360890.vov ons, said that SouthKoreancustom namese officialswhoaretrain y/association-enhances-vie businesses investing and operatinginVietnam.The investing businesses Vietnamese studen etnam-Japan economicexchangeconference are operating in Vietnam at present. are operatinginVietnam Hokuriku Economic Federation, Kanagawa ttention from organisations and enterprises ttention fromorganisationsand were more 100Ja than ghten their inspection of LCDproductcodes ghten their inspection M City Customs Department, M CityCustoms noted inare- incorrect declarations oftaxcodes. products fromVietna entatives fromregional Japan External rtunities for Vietnamese enterprises and Vietnamese enterprises rtunities for domestic market. All of this would helpmarket. All ofthiswould domestic rry outaseries ofprogrammesdesigned to advised. "NewVietnamese brands have al- ss/vietrade-supporting-brands-in-enter- large supermarkets.Ot een thetwocountriesthrough human re- on from theAssociationwillmake afact- ment promotionbusinesseswassetupon recently recently been taggedwithtax arrears of d is important. "Enterprises should study study should "Enterprises important. is d sses, alongside somebig universities and d representatives fromresearchinstitutes to Osaka is an honorableand ad- an member to Osakais g as the President of the Association, and oftheAssociation, President g asthe tional brandsingeneral to the SouthKo- e, and NamNgufishsauceare sold via of Fukui,Ishikawa, and Toyama.Itis rving as asadvisers, stint and Japanese al, manufacturing, garment,IT,andag- and trade exchanges, and ers prefertochoosebrandsthey tnamjapan-economic-links- ts and trainees. ees of a leadership training ees ofaleadership m but foreignbrands panese businesses in panese businesses 24 October 2017 36 /44 24 October2017 hers, such as Pho assistVietnam's BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam airport inHCM City monorail lines to ITST proposes Intellasia Panasonic AVCNetworksViet nology. of televisions and other audi per centforeigninvestedcompany.Theco as fromAugust As 1996 a joint venture. According toitswebsite,Panasonic AVCNe consider million), sowe ($21.89 must "The said, Department Customs City The HCM cent rate. lightingbelongsHSto code8529.90.91, import and taxesimposed must beat a3per http://www.vir.com.vn/lcd-tax-loophole-found-with-big-losses.html inVietnam. ing Dr Pham Xuan Mai, an expert an expert in trafficengi Mai, Xuan Dr Pham Othe infeasible. and costly is proposal Ha NgocTruongfromtheHCM CityAssociat It would take 18 months tocompletethe two lines. perkilometer. or$50 million toVND7,040 billion, to billion cost rise would VND6,160 VND4,725 billion, or $35 billion,or$35 milli VND4,725 monorailsingle-track lineswouldre The Dinh Park. an lotfor2,000 cars, and ground parking The terminals would be located at The terminalswould at the two be located inparallelwith Tr and run other line wouldconnectHoangVanThuPark Park in Go VapDistrict and According toITST'swould traverseline plan,oneelevated monorail betweenGiaDinh meeting late last week. national Airport tocope with severe traf c Transportpartment to of The InstituteofTransport Scienceand Tec 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES theMinistryofFinanceissueda In 2016, within customs agencies and not guidel that theHowever, firmscomplained category. tax Department ofVietnamCustoms, Depart Customs City the HCM to According of0per tax haveimport rates cent. ofwhich all display crystal liquid and lighting, ofTVpanels, to thecategories attributed fallenthat shouldhavecodessystem. HS misattributionsin a werediscoveredThe strument panels,aircraftcockpit disp are used inawiderange ofapplications thelight-modu thatuses device optical ulated flat a display crystal liquid for stands LCD for theirimported products. snuck through a0percenttax,valued with Panasonic AVC Vietnam billion VND16,056 According tothe report, firms imported cent. 0 per stead of Under the intended tariff rate, firmswouldhave hadtopay a 3 percent import taxin- system. internationally-standardised an to according product adjustment of the HScodeofLCD products Custom reportcent toVietnam ($729.8 million). ($729.8 is reported to have 891 customs declaration numbers that numbersthat declaration tohave891 customs is reported onsider buildingtw uong SonStreet whichisof the nation'sbusiest airport vi o-visual devices with premiu on per kilometer. If the double If the on perkilometer. nam Co., Ltd isoneofsix s, "After post-clearance chec madeknowntothe public. some oftheseproduct typesare listed ina3per cent the appropriatemeans ofcollection." lays, andindoor andoutdoorsignage. r options should be weighed, he said. weighed, he be r optionsshould 1 2014, thecompany transformed 1 2014, was to a 100 these LCD-coded products valued at judgement sayingthat fic congestionaroundtheairport,heard a LCD panelsscreens, forproducing LED back- in- televisions, monitors, computer including quire an estimated VND4,425 billion to billion VND4,425 estimated an quire under LCD product numbers were instead instead were numbers product LCD under operation and maintenance centre atGia review ofinformation onthe customs data hnology (ITST)hasasked the HCM City De- mpany manufactures and sells awiderange mpany manufacturesand -panel display or other electronically-mod-display orother -panel parks. ITST proposed parks. ITST neering, said if the terminals are located at at located are theterminals if said neering, at nearly VND1.956 trillion ($88.9 million) million) ($88.9 trillion at nearlyVND1.956 ine had only been circulated internally tworks Vietnam Co., Ltdwasfounded in is right." An a codeclassifies is right."An HS traded ment, citing a guideline bythegeneral lating properties of liquid crystals. LCDs LCDs crystals. liquid of properties lating ion of Bridge, Road and Port said ITST's ion ofBridge,RoadandPort saidITST's o monorail lines to Tan SonNhatInter-to Tan monorail lines o tax arrears are large VND481.68 billion tax arrearsarelargeVND481.68 inTanBinhDistrict and theairport, ten congestedat rush hour. a Pham Van DongStreet. The Panasonic companies operat- m Japanese quality and quality tech- m Japanese ks, firms admitted that the -track lines are chosen, the -track linesarechosen,the Panasonic's LCD back- Panasonic's LCD building anunder- 24 October 2017 37 /44 24 October2017 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam legal entities: VTC should found VN Global ITfirms technology park $189 millionscience, HCM City to setup Intellasia Hewas speaking atthe21st Committee Nguyen ThanhPhong yesterday. People's city the of chair said million), (US$189 trillion VND4.3 of capital total the efforts toestablisha HCM Cityis making 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| SGGP NEWS City.html HCM http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56691/IT to TanSonNhatInternational Airport. Cityalsoconsidersbuil HCM ment wouldlookintoITST's proposaland others. Bui Cuong,directorXuan of the HCM City De port on and ThamStreet, Hoang building Hoa overpasses and cableways. at rush hour. He suggested other measures non-air passengers often choose Son Nhat leading toTan roadsTraffic onthe Hoang Van Thu and GiaDinh parks, areas aroundthe parks would facetraffic jams. ices and information content online, both domestic and foreign firms are required to requiredcontentforeign firmsare and information and ices online,both domestic themanage about Decree72/2013/ND-CP, Under Vietnam. This makes it difficult to manage borderless payment apps. intermediary or cards credit via payments making users with films, and games ing, Netflix are providing content services for Vi competition fair ensure help would Bao said that borderless service platform this saying as companies. foreign and between local ictnews.vn by quoted was company, Nguyen Ngoc Bao, director ofVTC Mobile VTC Mobile has proposed. entities inVietnamcharge ofconforming Global ITplatforms such asGoogleandFace 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS He called on businesses to and technologyinnovation. The parkwillbea foundation forthe city ogy, information technology,renewable sector. Thatwillstudyanda According toPhong, the parkestablishment wan. Korea,Iran,Turkey, South such asJapan, nations400 delegatesoverand territoriesfrom PA) openedinHCMCity,gathering http://www.vir.com.vn/hcmc-to-set-up-189 10percent tribute the of gros city's Tech addedvalueaverages$6.8bill products' so far, HCM City has attracted 130 hi-tech projects with the total capital of $6.8 billion. over 70percent. for and technologyaccounting with science nomic growth reached 33.1 percent, higher thanthecountry's averageof29 percent, est in nine majorservice sectors. Contributi In thephaseof 2011-2015, thescience and te and technology. determinedin economicdevelopment, tocreate scienceCity has breakthroughs HCM themainmethodto dist bidding ernment and smartcity; solve administrati In addition,the city willcontinue improv consis them siding with to always and continue expandingand committed investmentcontinue inthecity pply advancedtechnologies tocreate eco-friendlytechnol- annual conference ofAsian ding a2-kilometer metroline the streets near the airpor the streetsnear ribute resources inthe city. s regional domestic product domestic 2020. s regional by product tently implementingassistance polices. energy and space technologyproducts. 200 hectare science and technology park with and technologypark200 hectarescience ing investment environment, buildinge-gov- s such asFacebook, YouTube, Google and 's economicon science's developmentbasing the US, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia and Tai- and Malaysia Singapore, Russia, the US, ST-proposes-monorail- ve reformcongestion;make auctionand , aVietnamese mobile game publishing on oftotalfactor productivity(TFP)toeco- chnology fieldgrew16.9percent, the high- million-science-technology-park.html such asopeningmore such entrances to theair- to the country's laws, a representative of service platforms without legal entities in entities legal without platforms service book should be requiredbook shouldbe toestablishlegal etnamese users, such as online advertis- aims toattractinvestment in greymatter International Airport is heavy as a lot of ion. The hi-tech fieldis expected to con- partment ofTransport, said the depart- ment, provision, useofinternet serv- Science Park Association(AS- t tomove between districts fromLangChaCastation lines-to-airport-in- 24 October 2017 38 /44 24 October2017 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam nationwide out E5bio-fuel roll to PV Oilready destroyedin LangSon smuggled goods Nearly VND5bnof Intellasia switch fromRON A92 petrol toE5bio-fuel. provinces also a cities and Previously, theMinistry ofIndustryandTrad of theyear. tocompleteup Itplans and distributors. and stations is E5atretail bio-fuel ready PV Oil hasalso accelerated the switch fuel Oil willsource ethanol E100.PV rial forE5 bio-fuel blending processi for Besides, plans the company built PV Oilwasconsidered thepioneer piloting andthen totransit retail warehouses, blending, blendingbio-fuel,and transporti E5 PV Oil hascompleted the close loopinclud bio-fuel E5on nationwidefromJanuary PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil) is willing to switch from RONA92petrol to 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VIR stroyed-in-lang-son.html http://dtinews.vn/en/new found hundreds offakeRangDongli Asidesfromcosmetics, (USD17,600). VND400m year, MarketSurveillanceDepartment Last trict. arecrushed,Some burnt and finally buried atTan Lang dumping site in VanLang Dis- cosmetics, footwear, clothes and batteries. There arethousands of products includin early 2016. an ofsmuggled worth (USD220,000) VND5bn ofLa Surveillance Department Market The 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS http://bizhub.vn/tech/global totackle competition. this problemearlytoensurehealthy icies Previously, Hai proposed the Ministry of nies. compa- publishing game including contentcompanies, digital forlocal difficulties ate According toLuuVuHai,chair ofVTC, th the paymenthad been processed. cust when only receivepayment would viders ownInstead, onlypaymentsthroughtheir Google Play Store. Store andApple through local channels, such as mobileca beginning ofthisyear,Google the From said. payment channels,he into Vietnamese ment which enables borderless services provis etnam tobetter managetheiroperations Bao saidthat it wasessentialrequire to global follow thecountry'sregulations. year to ensure the nationwide thenationwide comme year to ensure ing stationsinto operation nationwide, anumb the storagetanksupgradedPV Oil systemsan Tau. and Ba Ria-Vung Hanoi, HCMCity,Ha includingprovinces, en into popularusethroughPV Oil's di Si 1,2010. ed fromAugust retail distribution s/017004/53435/nearly-vnd5b nnounced accelerating theimpl nnounced , which is a mix of 95 per cent A92 petrol and 5 per centA92 petrol and 5per percent whichis amixof95 , -it-firms-should-found-vn-l all ethanol E100 all E100 domestically. ethanol stationsanddist ght bulbs and food of unknown origin.and foodofunknown ght bulbs rcial distribution distribution rcial stribution systems in seven cities and and Apple stopped acceptingpayments in Vietnam amidstrapidtechnology develop- grading and switching processes by the end the end by processes switching and grading 1, 2018, 1, 2018, according tonewswire Cafef. to provide technical support to support agencies its to provide technical rds, for purchasing digitalcontentonthe g fake, smuggled, banned goods including Information and Communications raise pol- raise and Communications Information e policiesofGoogleandApplecre-payment pumping facilities from RON A92 petrolto fromRONA92 facilities pumping payment gateways were acceptedandpro- payment gateways ng SonProvince has destroyed nearly ing processing raw material forbio-fuel i Phong, Danang, CanTho, Quang Ngai, of Lang Sondestroyedfake goods worth the E5 use programme programme use E5 the nce December 1, 2014 E5 bio-fuel was tak- bio-fuelwas E5 1, 2014 December nce ng ethanol E100 to ensure the rawmate- e (MoIT) and other aut other and e (MoIT) omers' transactions were completed and d simultaneously took simultaneously d ng E5bio-fuelfromblendingstations to d banned goods seized inthearead banned since goods ion. Paymentsshould IT firms to establish legal entities in IT legalentities Vi- firms to establish er that willincrease by December this footwear, clothes products, theyalso ributors nationwide. n-of-smuggled-goods-de- of E5 bio-fuel. of E5 egal-entities-vtc_289663.html ementation of solutions to 24 October 2017 39 /44 24 October2017 and officiallystart- also be integrated also beintegrated horities as well as 11bio-fuelblend- BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam refinery of Vietnam's sole tosell 5-6pct Operator Intellasia nams-sole-refinery/42213.html Vietnam currently has five petroleum trading has fivepetroleum Vietnam currently 2018. ficultiesand obstacles during Besides,with 26large-scalepe MoITworked the year. the endof restarted by erations, willbe Binh Phuocbio-ethanol fa The DungQuatand is enough toblend of3.9milli Tung LamCo., Ltd with a total annualcapaci https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/ 2022. March BSR is alsoundertakingaprojecttoexpand percent. ratioof on equity boasts areturn Dung Quat meeting already budget, to thestate In doing so, therefinery hascontributed mo trillion ($2.42 billion). of products, tonnesof 4.3 which million ha In thefirst nine monthsofthis year, the ager Tran NgocNguyen. general man- BSR said percent, toeight by six capacity production design its ceeding gas giantPetroVietnam oil and Developed by Quat. come astrategicshareholderofDung Vietnam's largest fuelwholesaler Petrolimex company leaders. in ahead go set to offering, public initial ing rently invitinginvestorstopu a pr deputy with recent meeting Following refinery inVietnam,billion.valued at$3.2 is the central province ofQuan in Situated nounced later thisyear. in proportion ofits shares put a finery, plansto Binh SonRefiningandPetrochemicalCo.Ltd(B billion at$3.2 is valued Refinery Quat Oil Dung 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| TUOITRE NEWS http://www.vir.com.vn/pv-oil-ready-to-roll-out-e5-bio-fuel-nationwide.html (MIPECORP), and Nam Song HauTrad namely Petrolimex, PV Oil, SaigonPetroCo four ethanol date, Vietnam has Notably, to 2018. blendi meetE5 thedemandfor bio-fuel to According toMoIT'scalculations,thedomest E100. toprocess ethanol andinfrastructure them facilities Limited to urge to complete the with bio ethanol manufacturersand Binh bio-fuel of E5 to ensurethesupply In order friendlier E5fuel. demand fo the meet to per year,adequate MoIT forecasts thatthedomestic supply of blending. means producingtonnes ofet 250,000-270,000 needabout country will the disappears -- rol Accordingto calculationsbyMoIT,from business/20171023/operator-t rchase five to six percent of the facility during an upcom- an during facility the of percent six to five rchase on cubic metresofE5bio-fuel. the preparation processfortr 91 percent ofitsfull-yeartarget. ing and Investment PetroleumJSC. facility churned out4.4 million metric tonnes g Ngai, Dung Qu g Ngai,Dung the beginning of 2018 -- whenRONA92pet- 2018 beginning of the ng, once itreplaces RON 92 from January 1, r the blending ofthe new environmentally Son Refining andPetrochemicalCompany for users, MoITorganised working sessions ve been consumed,been ve withrevenueofVND55 E100 processing factor E100 processing E100 will reach about 520,000 cubic metres 520,000 willreach about E100 ime ministerime Trinh Dinh Dung, BSRis cur- 16.09 percent, and a return on sales of 9.94 of onsales a return percent,and 16.09 the last quarter of this year, according to year, ofthis according quarter the last ., Ltd, Military Pe Military Ltd, ., the facility, expected tobe completed by re than VND6.5 trillion ($286.34 million) re VND6.5trillion($286.34 than troleum trading units to listen totheirdif- tolisten trading troleum units revealed in August that it planned to be- to planned it that August in revealed ic ethanol E5 source iscurrentlyenough 5.5 millioncubic metres ty of200 million litr firms with E5 bio-fuel E5 with firms , Dung Quat is operating well, even ex- is operatingwell,even Quat , Dung hanol E100asraw mate ctories, which have suspendedtheir op- the facility for sale in an IPO to be an- be to IPO an in sale for facility the SR), theoperatorof at, the onlyfu o-sell-56-perc ading E5 bio-fuel in early inearly bio-fuel ading E5 troleum Corporation ies manufactured by ies manufactured es ofethanol, which 24 October 2017 40 /44 24 October2017 DungQuatOilRe- blending stations, of E5 fuel. This fuel. ofE5 rial forbio-fuel nctioning oil ent-of-viet- BUSINESS Air honoured by Korean firm ground services Vietnam's airport finance& business Vietnam ACV mismanagement at Inspection findsgrave Intellasia purposes. Notably, ACV allowed enterprises Furthermore, ACV committed violationsin before transformingintoan equi Along withdelayingtheland lease procedur ofland. to leasemorethan200 hectares side of the airports. However, ACV was foun which arelandinsidetheairport areasand managing3, ACV the was At time, inspected Lax management of landareas fees. billion ofVND551 earnedatotal 2015, ACV picking upor dropping off passengers. ticket for stopping, even for short durations for adailyticket and between VND600,000- Accordingly,to cardriverswererequired entrancethe terminals. feespay at bly, atthe time ofinspection, 21of22 ai Besides, ACV was foundtohavecommittedvi that selecting partners via bidding will create more benefits. appointment of sequences ofACV'svoluntary the con- clarify has yetto Vietnam of Inspectorate government the that the fact Despite activities. business ACV wasfound to voluntarily appointcomp conducting abidding to select companies to form process to select goods and service providers atits airports. Notably, instead of According to the inspection conclusions, du No competitive bidding tised company model. th to thedate isidentical 2016) (April tion The datethatthegovernment Inspectorate ACV' at closerlook a after taking These inspection results were published by relating totheenforcementregutions of airports acrossthecountry, has recently Airports Corporation ofVietnam(ACV), 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VIR an-air/119938.vnp https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnams-airpo tional airports. firms whicharenow itssubsidiaries at No basing 2016 1, on January wasfounded VIAGS handled about 800,000 tonnes ofcargo,ri and 11percentpassengers, up 5percent lion In the first ninemonthsof 2017, VIAGSserv and CathayPacific. awards presented by famous carrierssuch Aside fromtheKorean Air recognition, ment and unexpected incident response. resources, equipmentmaintenance to cargo panies by basing onsevenmajor criteria, fr services ofground com- the Air Korean service Airlines said quality assesses Vietnam solute score of 50/50 by Korean Air. lines, hasbeen recognisedasaproviderof The Vietnam Airport GroundServices Co. Lt 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNA tised wasanother company violation. s operations in the 2012-2015 period. 2012-2015 in the s operations rports managed by ACVasked car drivers to Between January 1, 2012 andDecember 31, 1,2012 Between January VIAGS recently woneightservice quality lations as andlanduse. well as capital been found to have committed several viola- committed several found tohave been sing 1.3timesyear-on-year.by almost the sole airport company managingthe22 at ACV started its operation under theequi- under operation its started ACV at pay between VND7,000-13,000 ($0.31-0.57) ($0.31-0.57) paybetweenVND7,000-13,000 rt-ground-services-f i Bai, TanSonNhatand Da Nanginterna- the bestcargo handlingservice withtheab- the the remaining 17hectareswerelocatedout- as Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines Airlines Malaysia Airlines, Singapore as om security andsafety ensuring, support of Vietnam announced starting theinspec- of Vietnam transportation, training, services improve- transportation, training,services sell goods and services inside the airports, the airports, inside and services goods sell 1.65 million ($26.42-72.64) for a monthly fora million ($26.42-72.64) 1.65 the governmentof Vietnam Inspectorate of three-five minutes only at the pathsfor ring 2012-2015, ACV did auni- ACV not have ring 2012-2015, using allocated land plots for improper improper for plots land allocated using ed nearly 93,000 flights ed with over28mil- nearly 93,000 d to have delayed procedures completing ($24.3 million)fromcollecting entrance to conduct unrelated activities on several on several activities unrelated to conduct e, ACV'slackofthelandleaseprocesses from the same period last year. Italso d (VIAGS), asubsidiary of Vietnam Air- 102 hectares of land, 3,085 hectares of hectares hectaresofland,3,085 102 anies and tohire individuals space for olations in collecting service fees. Nota- fees. service collecting in olations goods andservices providers,itis sure on the mergerofthree groundservices on irm-honoured-by-kore- 24 October 2017 41 /44 24 October2017 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam in NinhBinh Float glassplantopens An Nghe in factory million USDcandy Ground broken for16 factory processing on new wood HAAN beginswork Intellasia an/119933.vnp https://en.vietnamplus.vn/ground-broken-fo trillion VND(1.8 billion US tor has experienced arelativelyhigh and stable Internat totheBusinessMonitor According pany's key project in the northcentral region. Duong vowed tofacilitate the operation of at theceremony, Chairofthepr Speaking of 1.7trillionVND(74 USD). million providing 75,000 tonnesofproductseach year Invested by HaiChauConfectioneryJSC, uong.com.vn reported. Zone was witnessed by deputy prime The ground-breaking ceremonyfor theHai Ch central province ofNgheAnon October 21. Construction of a 360million Construction of 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNA ing-factory.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56701/ ny looks to make VND300 billioninrevenue thisyear. construction mate products and wooden interior distributing and manufacturing indesigning, specialises HAAN COC. & FSC Social Audit,Factoryand fi saidthe HAAN, chair of Tuyen, Doan Mai An 2 isput into operation. HAAN Groupexpects40 percent ofitsproduc tory are exported toEurope, theAmeric Around 15percentcompany's products ofthe will becapable of turning out 80containe billi ofVND100 investment atotal With tory will be upandrunninginlate April 2018. Located next tothefirm's operational HaAn Pa in TanDuc Industrial HAAN Groupon October 20 started construc 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES http://www.vir.com.vn/inspection-finds-grave-mismanagement-at-acv.html by MoTandACV. and loansmanagedbudget investme capital forconstruction managing and onraising ACV's performance examine will team inspection the Accordingly, ACV. ing aninspectionon the capitalefficiency In earlyAugust, the Inspectorate oftheMi centres forbusinessactivitieswa ACV's permitting enterprises to usearea spaces than what was specified in thecontractsfor their business activities. Besides, the At period, time g inspected numerous oversight atitsspacesfor lease. management ficient suf- lacked ACV Accordingly, airports. five key its at service quality ofACV's results of theInspectorate 2017, the Earlier inJuly land plotsallocated for of NinhBinh's Khanh Cu Industrial Zone. oper started plant floatglassmanufacturing A 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNA aviation-related purposes. rk, LongAnProvince, whichborders HCM City. D) in revenues in2018. D) inrevenues VND (16millionUSD)confecti rials for hotel, resort and housing projects. The compa- s another signofmismanagement. minister VuongDinhHue, baocongth- HAAN-begins-work-on-new-wood-process- on (US$4.4 th million), as, the Middle East, Au allocatedcustomer foropening supporting of construction investments managed by investments managed ofconstruction r loads ofinterior wooden goods a month. ovincial People's CommitteeNguyen Xuan oods and services providers used larger the factorywillhave10production lines, Ministry of theinspection Transport issued nistry of Transport nistry ofTransport announced(MoT) start- the factory, which is regarded as as the com- is which regarded the factory, ional (BMI), the nation'sconfectionery sec- nt, including capital from the national from nt, includingcapital rm's products meetrm's exportstandardslike products Long An 1 facility, Ha An Long An 2 fac- 2 An Long An Ha facility, 1 An Long r-16 million-usd-ca r-16 tion onanew wood processing factory ation last week inthenorthernation last province manufactured atHa An Long An1fac- . It is expectedtoearn annual revenue ts will be exported when Ha An Long ai 2factoryinthe Dong HoiIndustrial growth rate and is forecast to earn 40 40 forecasttoearn is growth rate and onery factory began in the factory beganin onery e forthcomingfactory stralia andBhutan. ndy-factory-in-nghe- 24 October 2017 42 /44 24 October2017 BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam ecological resort zone to welcome Nghi Soneconomic Companies TopForbes' Regarded among top 100 in CapitaLand ranks68th Intellasia resort_289657.html http://bizhub.vn/news/nghi-son-ec sifying the province's tourism servic theproject, theWith investors resort at aneco-tourism aim for building tourists, diver- intooperationin of2020. put quarter the fourth Construction the of tobe resort intois twophases,expected divided completed and swimmingpool 3,000sq.m an 5,000 a complex, condominium 16,400sq.m anareawi Spanning of28.9ha,project the project's investment capitalcomes from equity and Tecco InvestmentCorporation Joint StockCompany. Some 62 per centof the Thin Phu by invested jointly is The project Tinh GiaDistrict. go-ahead toa$15.6millioneco-touristresort prov inthecentral The People's Committee 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS Forbes%E2%80%99-Top-Regarded-Companies.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56689/ nities globally and se products real estate quality deliver to arecommitted we sustainably, in thefuture investing and growing while nications "As wecontinuetoproactivelyengageou more than spanning portfolio tate partner, product and serviceprovider, and su brand strength oftheCapitaLand atrus as tonotjustthe financ attests accolade This inthe TopRegardedCompanieslist. 100 Forbes' 2000: Global the top make itto companies toSingaporethe onlytwo one of estate companyand real Lim Ming Yan, President andCEO of CapitaLa pany as an employer and theperformance of the company's productor service. companies were evaluated basedontrustworthiness/honesty, social conduct,the com- their give to countries from 60 spondents Top RegardedCompanies list, Forbes part th 58countries companies from rankings, the 2000 Global on Forbes'2017 Based list. nies making it tothe intheForb top 100 estate company, aleadingreal CapitaLand, 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES https://en.vietnamplus.vn/float-glas by2020. 10,000 The province is nowhome to6,000 enterprise inthelocality. investors and businesses for ditions said Ni chair opening ceremony,At the the invest the and authorities local by efforts Chiarman oftheprovincialPeople'sCommi expected jobs. to create1,000local The plant, whichcanutilise theprovince's av kets. mar- international and ofdomestic theincreasing demand meeting to annually glass Joint StockCompany, Financed byINDEVCO ," Limsaid. d several other facilities. at together generated $35.3 trillion in revenue. For the For inrevenue. trillion $35.3 generated at together 150 cities and inover 150 cities countries. 30 and onomic-zone-to-welcome-ecological- s-plant-opens-in-n es and promoting cultural exchange. cultural es andpromoting es' 2017 Global 2000: TopRegardedCompanies Global2000: es' 2017 CapitaLand-ranks-68th-among-top-100-in- or to speed up the factory's construction. the up or tospeed opinions on the Global 2000 companies. The the Global2000 opinions on h Phat general Trading Joint Stock Company Joint Stock Company generalTrading h Phat ial success oftheGroup.Itunderscores the r stakeholdersr throughtransparent commu- ll include a 6,000sq.m three-starhotel,a a6,000sq.m ll include rvices that enrich people and build commu- and build enrichpeople rvices that nered with Statista, who asked15,000 nered withStatista, re- tworthy and attractive employer, tworthy and employer, business attractive nh Binhhasalwayscreatedfavourablecon- sq.m restaurant, a 4,500sq.m spa, a spa, a4,500sq.m sq.m restaurant, is one oftheonly two Singapore compa- ince of ThanhHoahasrecently given the ttee DinhVanDien saidheappreciates the project intheNghiSoneconomic zonein stainable global citize stainable global ailable source of limestone materials, is is materials, oflimestone source ailable s and strives to raise the figure to over the toover toraise figure strives s and and the rest is sourced from bank loans. from bank sourced is rest the and the plant provides 80 million metres of plant provides80million the nd Limited, said CapitaLand isthetop saidCapitaLand nd Limited, list features the list features world's biggestpublic inh-binh/119932.vnp 24 October 2017 43 /44 24 October2017 n across our real es- n acrossreal our BUSINESS hotel-spas inworld selected astop-20 Fusion MaiaDaNang finance& business Vietnam Intellasia End in-world_289662.html http://bizhub.vn/corporate-n Phu Quoc Island. on Trang and The FusionGroupisoperatingsixresorts being," he said. "We doeverything we can togive our gues special. resorts the all of and company's Nang Da Maia Fusion makes CEO ofFusi Marco vanAggele,founderand door andoutdoorwellness studio The spa's facility also offers beauty salons, wellness lounge, steamroom and sauna, in- guests to incorporate healthy practices into their daily lifestyle." generalmanage Ford, Michelle body wrapsand scrubs, andnurturing beauty. by skilledVietnamesetherapis treatments inspired of a variety featuring rate, intheroom areincluded health services All spa Fusion MaiaResort is located on MyKhe inLangkawi. Spa The Andaman even higher than the Six Senses intheMa Fusion MaiaResort Da Nang readersparticipat 300,000 Nearly er. th world intheReadersChoiceAwards in Fusion Maia Resort Da Nang has been selected 24/OCT/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS ews/fusion-maia-da- was ranked11thin the Overseas category, Hotel Spa rsa ofFusionMaiaDaNang, ed in this year's survey. ed inthisyear's s, private pool,and s, waterfall. private ldives, The BanyanTree Spain Phuket, and Beach inthe central city of Da Nang. and hotels in HCM City, Da Nang and Nha NangandNha Da City, and hotelsinHCM ts, such as massage, homemade all-natural e prestigious magazineCondeNastTravel- ts afeelingofcompleteopenness and well- on, said the all-inclusive spaconcept as one of the top20 hotel spas inthe nang-selected-as-top-20-hotel-spas- id: "We want to inspire our our to inspire want "We id: 24 October 2017 44 /44 24 October2017