Vietnam Economic News: 5.10 – 12.10.2024
Summary of Vietnam Economic News: 5.10 - 12.10.2024
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Summary of Vietnam Economic News: 5.10 - 12.10.2024 ---
VIETNAM RAISES AVERAGE RETAIL ELECTRICITY PRICE BY 4.8%
Reuters News – 11 October 2024
Vietnam on Friday raised its average retail electricity price by 4.8%, state utility EVN said, the country's first such increase since November last year. The country, a regional manufacturing hub, has recently been raising its retail electricity prices to attract investment in new generation capacity. The new average price is 2,103.116 dong ($0.0848) per kWh, valued added tax excluded, EVN said in a statement. The decision to raise electricity price came one day after the government said the electricity production cost rose 2.79% last year to 2,088.9 per kWh, said EVN, which is the sole operator of the national power grid. "The price hike will have limited impacts on poor households," EVN said, without elaborating. The industry ministry said on Thursday EVN had reported losses of $879 million in 2023 on rising production cost. ($1 = 24,805 dong)
VIETNAM AIMS TO DEPLOY TWO UNDERSEA INTERNET CABLES, 5G SERVICES
Reuters News – 9 October 2024
Vietnam's government said on Wednesday it aimed to put two new undersea internet cables into operation and deploy 5G mobile services across the country by the end of next year. The moves were part of a digital infrastructure development strategy signed by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh on Wednesday, it added. Vietnam, a regional manufacturing hub, has over the recent years reported outages of its five major existing cables, which are aging. Last month the United States was urging the country to avoid Chinese contractors to build its new undersea cables due to security concerns. By 2030, all of the country's population will have access to fibre-optic cable internet service with speed of at least 1Gbps, the government said, adding that it would be ready to test 6G mobile services by then. The strategy also includes ambitions to establish AI data centres and hyperscale data centres by 2030, according to the government statement. Vietnamese mobile carriers have been testing 5G for years, but the mobile service is yet to be commercially available on a large scale.
VIETNAM RAISES $329 MLN IN GOVERNMENT BOND AUCTION
Reuters News – 9 October 2024
Vietnam's State Treasury raised 8.18 trillion dong ($329 million) at a government bond auction on Wednesday, the highest volume in more than a month. The uptake was also higher compared to last week's auction, with 58.4% of the offer sold compared with 30.5% at the previous auction, a filing to the Hanoi Stock Exchange showed. Vietnam aims to raise 400 trillion dong from government bond sales this year, mainly to fund its public investments, among the key drivers of economic growth. It has raised 279 trillion dong of that so far this year, exchange data showed. The treasury on Wednesday sold 7.62 trillion out of the 10.5 trillion dong of 10-year bonds offered, with a 2.66% coupon. It raised 300 billion dong of 15-year bonds and 260 billion dong of 30-year bonds with coupons unchanged from last week at 2.86% and 3.10%, respectively. On the corporate front, Vietnamese companies have raised 312 trillion dong from bond sales this year up to Oct 4, according to bond market association data. The value of corporate bonds maturing in the remainder of 2024 is 78.8 trillion dong, 43.5% of which belongs to the real estate sector and 10.8% to the banking sector, it added.
TRUMP ORGANISATION TO DEVELOP $1.5 BILLION GOLF COURSE AND HOTEL PROJECT IN VIETNAM
Reuters News – 8 October 2024
Vietnam's real estate developer Kinhbac City (KBC) said on Tuesday that its subsidiary has partnered with The Trump Organisation to develop a $1.5 billion golf course and hotel project in Vietnam's Hung Yen province. A memorandum of understanding between the two companies was signed in late September during the visit of Vietnamese President To Lam to the United States, KBC said in a statement. The project consists two 54-hole golf course systems, together with a network of hotels and resorts and a modern residential complex, the statement added. The golf course and resort business was the biggest driver of cash flow for the Trump Organisation, the family business of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, which houses the hundreds of companies he ultimately owns. In mid-September, representatives from the Trump Organisation visited the province and met Hung Yen authorities to discuss investment opportunities, according to the provincial administration. "We are excited to enter this dynamic market. Vietnam has potential in the luxury hotel and entertainment industry," Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of The Trump Organisation, also the second son of former President Donald Trump, said in the statement. It did not provide a timeframe for construction of the project. Vietnam, with a population of 100 million, currently has about 70 golf courses and 100,000 local golfers, according to the Vietnam Golf Association.
VIETNAM UPGRADES TIES WITH FRANCE TO HIGHEST LEVEL
Reuters News – 8 October 2024
Vietnam and France have officially upgraded their relations to a "comprehensive strategic partnership", Vietnam's highest level, during a visit by Vietnamese President To Lam to Paris. The move underlined Vietnam's increasingly strategic role as an important link in global supply chains and is the latest success for its flexible foreign policy known as "bamboo diplomacy". Lam and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed increasing security and defence cooperation, according to a joint statement released on Monday after the upgrade. The leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in new areas such as aerospace, artificial intelligence, and airport transport infrastructure, it added. After a string of deals in recent years, Vietnam's other seven top partners now include the United States, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Russia and Australia. Total trade turnover between Vietnam and France stood at $3.4 billion in the first eight months of this year, 6.9% higher than the same period of 2023, official data showed.