Vietnam Economic News: 05.7 - 12.7.2024
Summary of Vietnam Economic News: 05.7 - 12.7.2024
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Summary of Vietnam Economic News: 05.7 - 12.7.2024 ---
VIETNAM TO BUY EXCESS ROOFTOP SOLAR POWER FROM HOMES AND OFFICES
Reuters News – 12 July 2024
Vietnam's national power grid operator EVN plans to buy excess power generated by solar panels on homes and offices to feed into its own supply, state media reported on Friday. Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has told the Ministry of Industry and Trade to work on a plan to buy the rooftop power, with a proposed offtake volume of up to 10%, according to a ministry statement. The authorities are proposing a price of 671 dong ($0.0264) per kWh for the excess power from rooftop solar panels, the report said. If approved, the price would be less than half the price of electricity EVN is buying from solar farms, it said. Vietnam aims to have half of its office buildings and homes powered by rooftop solar panels by 2030, under a master power development plan approved by the government in May last year. The country has solar energy potential of up to 963 gigawatts (GW), according to the plan. Vietnam has 103,000 rooftop solar projects with combined installed capacity of 9.5 GW. Last week, the government said it had issued a new decree to allow factories to directly buy electricity from renewable power suppliers via Direct Power Purchase Agreements. ($1 = 25,410 dong).
HSBC RAISES VIETNAM 2024 GDP GROWTH FORECAST TO 6.5%
Reuters News – 11 July 2024
HSBC Bank on Friday raised its forecast for Vietnam's gross domestic product growth for this year to 6.5% from its previous forecast of 6.0%, after second-quarter growth beats consensus. "Beyond headline numbers, its recovery has started to show signs of broadening out," HSBC said in a note. It said, however, inflation appears to be an imminent concern with higher pork prices, resulting from an African swine fever outbreak, keeping inflation elevated on a year-on-year basis in June.
VIETNAM JUNE GOODS EXPORTS UP 4.3% M/M TO $33.66 BLN, RICE EXPORT FELL
Vietnam News – 9 July 2024
Vietnam's goods exports in June rose 4.3% from a month earlier to $33.66 billion, led by an increase in shipments of electronics, government customs data showed. Imports fell 6.9% from May to $30.46 billion, leading to a trade surplus of $3.2 billion in June, the Customs Department said in a report. Exports of electronics in June rose 18.4% from a month earlier to $6.55 billion, while smartphone shipments rose 11.2%, according to the report. The goods exports figure for June was higher than a preliminary forecast of $33.09 billion issued by the General Statistics Office late last month. The export-oriented manufacturing hub is seeking to speed up its economic growth this year, after the pace of annual growth accelerated in the second quarter to 6.93% from 5.87% in the first quarter. For the first half of 2024, exports rose 15% from a year earlier to $190.7 billion, while imports were up 17.3% at $179 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $11.7 billion for the six-month period. At the same time, rice exports fell 40% from the previous month to 513,409 metric tons, customs data released on Tuesday showed. Rice export revenue for the month was $323.4 million, down 38% from the previous month, Vietnam Customs said in a statement.
VIETNAM'S DIGITAL ECONOMY ESTIMATED AT $220 BLN BY 2030
Reuters News – 11 July 2024
Vietnam’s digital economy is estimated to grow by 11 times by 2030 to reach $220 billion, around half of its current GDP, according to Marc Woo, managing director, Vietnam, Google Asia Pacific. And artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to be a key driver of this growth, he said at a forum held in Hanoi on July 11 to launch a comprehensive initiative that promotes the development of AI in Vietnam. However, Mr. Woo said Vietnam is facing a shortage of AI human resources and experts. Accordingly, the “Build for the AI Future” initiative, launched by Google and the National Innovation Center (NIC) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), focuses on two pillars – Build for Talent and Build for Startups. Each pillar addresses critical areas to empower Vietnam's human resources, nurture its burgeoning startup ecosystem, and strengthen the foundation for maximizing AI adoption, according to MPI Deputy Minister Tran Duy Dong. The initiative reflects the strong commitment and support of the MPI and Google for promoting the AI ecosystem in Vietnam. It will provide 40,000 scholarships with 10 training courses, including the newly-launched additional course - Google AI Essentials - to equip Vietnam's young generation with the latest AI skills. Beneficiaries include officials, lecturers and students of more than 80 universities and colleges across the country.
VIETNAM IS STRONGLY DETERMINED TO SHIFT TOWARDS ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Reuters News – 10 July 2024
Vietnam is highly determined to transform towards green practices across various industries, including the car industry, with an aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, as it had committed, according to a report from Vietnam daily news. The daily reported that after Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made commitments at COP26 that the government has implemented strong and drastic measures, such as Decision 876 in July 2022, which outlines a roadmap for the transportation sector to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. So far, 57 out of 63 centrally-run localities nationwide have issued action plans to implement Decision 876, and two out of five ministries have also developed their own action plans. The remaining government agencies are in the process of developing their own plans as well. Green transformation is a global imperative, but Vietnam is still in the early stages of implementation compared to other countries. This means the country has a lot of work ahead to build the necessary legal, institutional and policy frameworks.