Category: Business

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 6 (Western Visayas) is ready to release a PHP3.75-million aid to an initial 250 small rice retailers affected by the price ceiling in the region. “We are fast-tracking the processing of the subsidy so that the micro rice retailers will get the aid as soon as possible,” said lawyer Carmelo Nochete, DSWD Regional Director, in a statement on Monday. Each retailer is entitled to a PHP15,000 one-time assistance under the Sustainable Livelihood Program-Economic Relief Subsidy (SLP-ERS) to help them cope with their losses amid the price cap for regular and well-milled rice. The price ceiling is mandated by Executive Order 39 signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last Aug. 31. The subsidy will be released once the list from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) central office is available. Last week, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. said the province could not extend support to the affected retailers because it is not in the provincial g
overnment budget. He said a possible source could be the calamity fund, but there has to be a declaration of a state of calamity.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu has recorded no violations related to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing since 2021.

Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Pham Van Muoi attributed the result to the province’s efforts to mobilise the whole political system to get engaged in the fight against IUU.

Attention has been also paid to stepping up the dissemination of laws to improve the awareness of ship owners, captains and fishermen about IUU fishing prevention and control.

As a result, 100% of ship owners and captains have signed a commitment not to conduct IUU fishing.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Le Tan Can said that to continue the effective implementation of the European Commission’s recommendations on this issue, the provincial steering committee for IUU prevention and control will diversify forms of dissemination to popularise the Fisheries Law to fishermen, and support owners in installing the vessel monitoring system.

The province will also increase patrols and inspections to promptly detect and strictly punish IUU fishing violations in accordance with regulations, added Can./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The country’s economic team on Monday reiterated full support and endorsement of the President’s recent decision to impose a price cap on rice. In a statement on Monday, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno also emphasized the importance of immediately implementing a comprehensive set of measures aimed at securing long-term stability within the rice market. “Executive Order No. 39 was issued by the President as the chief executive and the concurrent secretary of the Department of Agriculture. EO 39 serves as a lifeline, extending much-needed relief to Filipinos grappling with the high rice prices,’ Diokno said. Under EO No. 39, the mandated price of regular milled rice is PHP41 per kilogram while well-milled rice is at PHP45 per kilogram. Diokno said the economic team views EO 39 as an essential stop-gap measure, and underscored the importance of supplementing it with additional measures to achieve long-term rice price stability. ‘We agree with the President that implementing a price cap on rice is the most pru
dent course of action at the moment to achieve two critical objectives: stabilizing rice prices and extending immediate support to our fellow countrymen,” he said. The imposition of a price cap on rice aims to address non-competitive practices by some market players and discourages hoarding, thereby reducing the price of rice. Diokno, however, said EO 39 can be proven effective in the near term, but should not persist for an extended period. Earlier, he said the President has directed the economic team to implement measures that will mitigate the negative impact of the price controls on rice retailers and farmers. The Department of Finance (DOF) has proposed a comprehensive approach, including the temporary reduction of the 35 percent rice import tariff rates, both ASEAN and Most Favored Nation (MFN) rates, to zero percent or a maximum of 10 percent, to arrest the surge in rice prices. The government also aims to curb non-competitive behavior in the rice industry by actively pursuing cases of hoarding, smuggl
ing and economic sabotage

Source: Philippines News Agency

After almost 13 years of building a new-style countryside, rural areas in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau have enjoyed major improvements with sustainability-oriented economic development, upgraded infrastructure, and better material and spiritual lives for the citizens who live there.

Strong improvements

Recognized as a new-style rural area in 2022, Chau Duc district has gained a true facelift thanks to the national target programme on building new-style countryside. From an agriculture-based, remote and poor district, it now has all of its 15 communes listed as new-style rural areas, including seven meeting advanced standards, after over 10 years of progamme implementation.

To help its communes satisfy the new-style rural area criteria, Chau Duc has made use of funding from the state budget and mobilized every possible resource from local people, organizations, and enterprises.

Nguyen Tan Ban, Chairman of the Chau Duc People’s Committee, said the district has engaged the entire political system in the task and improved communications to raise public awareness of the goals and purposes of the new-style countryside building.

In the next phase, it will work to make typical products, maintain cultural identities, develop craft villages, and create signature products of community tourism, thereby improving local income, he noted.

Meanwhile, Xuyen Moc used to be the poorest district of Ba Ria – Vung Tau at the time it began new-style countryside building efforts. Per capita income stood at only 16.62 million VND (about 690 USD at the current exchange rate) per annum in 2010, when the national target programme was launched nationwide.

The programme has helped give a facelift to this remote locality. Particularly, per capita income reached 69 million VND by the end of 2022.

Chairwoman of the Xuyen Moc People’s Committee Le Thi Trang Dai said that building new-style rural areas has a start but will never end. Building on the achievements in this regard for the last more than 10 years, the district will exert more efforts to help its new-style rural communes meet the standards of advanced and model areas.

The building of a new-style countryside will become more substantive to further improve the material and spiritual lives of rural citizens, she added.

Building new-style countryside a constant task

Rural areas in Ba Ria – Vung Tau gain facelift hinh anh 2

Infrastructure in Xuyen Moc district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, has been modernised in recent years. (Photo: VNA)

So far, all the 47 communes in Ba Ria – Vung Tau have met new-style countryside standards, including 30 meeting advanced criteria, turning it into one of the 18 provincial-level localities nationwide having all communes achieving this status, according to the province’s coordinating office for the national target programme.

Meanwhile, six of the eight district-level localities have completed building new-style countryside and earned the Prime Minister’s recognition. The two remainders are preparing dossiers to submit to the PM to seek the new-style rural district status. Besides, Long Dien and Dat Do districts are striving to satisfy advanced criteria in 2023.

In particular, Ba Ria – Vung Tau no longer has poor or near-poor households according to the national poverty criteria. Annual per capita income now stands at 67 million VND in new-style rural communes and 72 million VND in those meeting advanced standards, statistics show.

Ninety-one local agricultural products have been rated at least three stars under the One Commune, One Product (OCOP) programme.

Identifying building new-style rural areas as a constant task during its socio-economic development process, Ba Ria – Vung Tau targets that by 2025, the agricultural production value in new-style rural communes will grow by 4.12% on average annually, 38 communes (80.85%) meet advanced new-style rural area standards, and 14 others (29.78%) be recognised as model areas.

It also looks to reduce the household poverty rate calculated based on the province’s criteria to 0.5% or below, and increase the agricultural production value and income per farmland unit by 1.5 times from 2020./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Oil firms will increase pump prices yet again Tuesday but increments are softer compared to the past nine weeks. In separate advisories Monday, Caltex, Cleanfuel, Jetti, Petro Gazz, Phoenix Petroleum, PTT, Seaoil, Shell, Unioil and Petron will increase prices of gasoline by PHP0.20 per liter and PHP0.40 per liter on diesel. Kerosene prices of Caltex, Seaoil, Shell and Petron will also increase by PHP0.20 per liter. Other oil firms are yet to announce their price adjustments for the week. With the oil price hike last week, prices of gasoline since the start of the year have increased by PHP18.44 per liter, gasoline prices by PHP12.30 per liter, and kerosene prices by PHP10.45 per liter. ‘Oil prices gained almost 1 percent to a nine-month high on Friday on rising U.S. diesel futures and worries about tight oil supplies after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended supply cuts this week. Brent futures rose 73 cents, or +0.8 percent, to settle at USD90.65 per barrel, while WTI crude rose 64 cents, or +0.7 percent, to s
ettle at USD87.51,’ Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limilngan said

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Hanoi People’s Committee has identified tasks and measures in terms of planning, construction, management, and sustainable development in a recently issued plan.

The tasks and measures were specified in Plan No 216/KH-UBND, issued to carry out the municipal Party Committee’s Action Programme No 25-CTr/TU, dated March 16, 2023, on the implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution 06-NQ/TU, dated January 24, 2022, on the planning, construction, management, and sustainable development of cities in Vietnam until 2030, with a vision to 2045.

In this plan, Hanoi set many concrete targets, including raising the urbanisation rate to 60 – 62% and the ratio of urban construction land to the total land area to about 30% by 2025. The respective figures are targeted at 65 – 75% and 33 – 36% by 2030. The capital is set to complete zoning plans for districts and satellite urban areas by 2025.

During 2025 – 2030, it will build two or three new smart city-oriented urban areas, and three – five urban areas whose brands are recognised at regional and international levels.

Tran Ngoc Chinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association, said the local targets match the whole country’s urban development orientations and also reflect the city’s ambition to implement major projects to make socio-economic development breakthroughs and be on par with the capitals of developed countries in the region.

Architect Dr Dao Ngoc Nghiem, Vice Chairman of the association, recommended the city identify detailed criteria in the Capital Planning for 2021 – 2030 with a vision to 2050, along with concrete objectives and directions so as to realise the set targets./

Source: Vietnam News Agency