Day: March 29, 2023

Deputy Prime Minister and President of the National Disaster Management Committee Chansamone Chanyalath has urged disaster management committees at central and provincial levels across the country to attach greater attention to addressing fire incidents and bushfires as several severe bushfires have taken place in Vientiane and several other provinces of the country in recent weeks.

The Deputy Prime Minister asked the relevant authorities to pay close attention to monitoring risk areas prone to fire incidents and bushfires, and prepare personnel, vehicles, equipment, budget and consumer goods to support anti-bushfire efforts.

In a notice dated Mar 28, 2023, the vice premier called on local administrations and people to be cautious about possible fire incidents and bushfires and get ready to deliver a prompt response to such a kind of disasters.

Fire incidents and bushfires taking place in any areas shall be the responsibility of the authorities in those areas, he stated in the notice.

Source: Lao News Agency

Preparations for the start of cross-border passenger services on the China-Laos Railway’s Lao section are progressing well, with the new service expected to start in April, said Deputy Prime Minister Saleumxay Kommasith.

DPM Saleumxay went to Luang Namtha province on Thursday and Friday, which borders China, to monitor the progress of the railway preparations, Lao National Radio reported on Tuesday.

During the visit, Mr Saleumxay also inspected immigration checkpoints at Boten Station in Luang Namtha, which is the main entry point into Laos from China.

At a recent extraordinary cabinet meeting on March 15-16, Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone called for the urgent installation of immigration booths at train stations to facilitate travel by both inbound and outbound passengers.

The first cross-border passenger train is expected to run on April 13, the day before the annual Lao New Year holiday, which falls on April 14-16 every year.

The planned launch of the cross-border rail passenger service comes just in time for the Lao New Year, the most important festival in the Lao calendar. This annual festival is expected to boost passenger traffic on the railway during the holiday, according to the report.

Since the China-Laos Railway came into operation, it has seen increasing demand for its services. From January to February, the railway carried 417,400 passengers, up 256.2 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

On the busiest days, the Lao section of the railway made a record for carrying 10,197 passengers a day.

Also, a ticketing mobile application was officially launched, allowing passengers to book and manage their journeys on smartphones.

Source: Lao News Agency

Introduced to Vietnam in the mid-nineteenth century, coffee has become one of the country’s main industrial crops. Vietnam is now the world’s largest producer of Robusta and second largest coffee exporter. Last year, its earnings from overseas shipments of the products hit a record high of about 4 billion USD, up 32% annually.

(KPL/VNA) Introduced to Vietnam in the mid-nineteenth century, coffee has become one of the country’s main industrial crops. Vietnam is now the world’s largest producer of Robusta and second largest coffee exporter. Last year, its earnings from overseas shipments of the products hit a record high of about 4 billion USD, up 32% annually.

At the end of the twentieth century, Vietnam became the leading coffee producer in Southeast Asia and ranked second in the world after Brazil.

Currently, Vietnam grows three varieties, Robusta, Arabica, and Liberia.

Vietnam is now the world’s largest producer of Robusta coffee and the second largest coffee exporter in the world after Brazil.

The country’s coffee growing areas amount to some 710,000 ha in total, with most of those for harvest located in five Central Highlands provinces, including Dak Lak.

In 2022, Vietnam shipped about 1.72 million tonnes of coffee overseas for 4 billion USD. Vietnamese coffee is now present in more than 80 countries and territories worldwide.

In particular, the quality of Vietnamese Robusta coffee has been recognised by leading coffee-consuming powers.

In addition, Vietnamese coffee has received myriad praise from a series of prestigious international press.

Vietnam’s drip and special iced milk coffee, meanwhile, are the favourite for many foreign politicians and world famous stars during their visits to the Southeast Asian country.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Singapore-based United Overseas Bank (UOB) anticipates the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will cut its refinance rate in the second quarter this year by 100 basis points to 5.00%.

“With the US Fed poised to end its rate hike cycle as soon as May 2023 and that domestic inflation rates are showing some tentative signs of turning, we anticipate that the SBV will cut its refinance rate sometime in the second quarter this year by 100bps to 5.00%,” UOB’s report emphasised.

According to the bank’s newly-released report on global economic outlook, that could be a one-off move, and more rate cuts may be on tap if domestic price pressures ease off further, although this is highly uncertain for now.

From September to November last year, the SBV embarked on a flurry of policy moves given aggressive US Fed interest rate hikes, USD strength, and inflation pressures. It then unexpectedly raised its key interest rates by 100 basis points on 22 September, followed by another round of 100 bps hike a month later on 24 October.

The SBV on 17 October announced the widening of the USD/VND trading bands to /-5% from /-3% to allow for greater flexibility for the VND given a strong USD.

On 16 March this year, the SBV unexpectedly lowered its discount rate by 100bps to 3.5% from 4.5% in an attempt to boost economic growth amid global uncertainties. The US and European banking sectors are mired in a crisis of confidence. The SBV also reduced the overnight lending rate in the interbank market by 100bps to 6% and trimmed the cap on the lending interest rates for short-term loans in some sectors to 5% from 5.5%.

According to the UOB, the most important part of the latest policy move was that the SBV left the refinancing rate unchanged at 6%. This signals that the policy stance remains unchanged despite cuts in other interest rates.

As the SBV balances economic growth while ensuring price stability, there will be an increasing bias to shift towards a more accommodating stance ahead.

Experts from UOB forecast Vietnam’s GDP growth will reach 6.6% this year in line with the target of 6.5% by the government.

This takes into account the first quarter growth momentum to pick up slightly at 6.45% year over year, largely due to the low base in 2022.

According to the bank, several external risks continue to weigh on its outlook including the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its impact on energy, food, and commodity prices; global supply chain shifts and disruptions; global monetary policy tightening; and the developments in the global banking sector with its impact on confidence.

Consumer prices are showing tentative signs of turning around, however it is still early to tell whether the trend is sustainable. Of concern is that core inflation remains well above the overall target, which will be a key consideration for the central bank, the bank suggested.

Source: Lao News Agency

The weighted real GDP growth rate of Asia in 2023 is estimated at 4.5 percent, an increase from 4.2 percent in 2022, according to a report released by the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Tuesday.

In the context of a global economic slowdown and the risk of increasing fragmentation of globalization, Asia is expected to accelerate its pace of overall economic growth, said the report titled “Asian Economic Outlook and Integration Progress.”

Asia, a bright spot in the bleak global economic landscape, will continue to advance regional production, trade, investment and financial integration and cohesion, and seize the “Asian moment” for global economic governance, according to the report.

China and India would contribute half of the world’s growth this year, noted the report, citing data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, BFA Secretary-General Li Baodong said Asia’s growth and development is the biggest highlight against the backdrop of the global economic slowdown.

He added that the Asian economy is growing steadily, and China’s economic rebound has sent a very strong signal, which is stability amid instability.

In January, the IMF predicted a global economic growth rate of 2.9 percent for 2023, which is slightly higher than their forecast in October 2022, but still significantly lower than the historical average of 3.8 percent from 2000 to 2019.

The global inflation rate is predicted to decrease from 8.8 percent in 2022 to 6.6 percent in 2023, and it is expected that global food prices will continue to decline, indicating an improvement in the global economic growth environment, the report said.

It added that this year, inflation pressures in Asia are expected to ease, but the factors that push inflation up and down may coexist.

Despite a deteriorating global labor market in 2023, the employment situation in Asia, particularly in East Asia, may turn out better than expected, the report noted.

Founded in 2001, the BFA is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Japan Committee, Vaccines for the World’s Children (JCV), a non-profit organisation that works to support routine immunization in developing countries around the world, recently joined UNICEF on a field mission to Champassak and Attapeu provinces of the Lao PDR.

During their visit to Champassak and Attapeu provinces between March 28 and 29, the JCV delegation had the opportunity to observe the vaccination system at local health centres, and vaccination outreach services at schools and communities.

“The visit will help us identify strategic areas of support for the Lao PDR’s routine immunization programme and ways in which JCV, and in essence the people of Japan, can better support the Lao PDR in ensuring life-saving vaccines are within reach of all children as per our mission,” said Director-General of JCV Okudera Noriho.

The people of Japan have been long-time supporters of the Lao PDR’s routine immunization programme.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan has also been a close supporter of the Lao PDR in its national pandemic response activities and vaccination campaign. These support included the provision of more than 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the Lao PDR as well as cold chain equipment such as vaccine carriers, fridges, cold boxes, alongside special refrigerated vehicles for Xekong and Attapeu provinces for the transport of vaccines across vast distances.

“UNICEF thanks JCV and the people of Japan for their strong cooperation on the immunization here in the Lao PDR. We hope that this visit by the JCV delegation will help to further cement the strong existing collaboration between the two countries for the benefit of more Lao children,” said UNICEF Representative to the Lao PDR, Pia Rebello Britto.

Source: Lao News Agency