Category: Business

Russian tourist flow abroad surged by 47% year on year against the like period from 2022 to two mln trips, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov said on Monday.

“While Russian tourists made about seven million trips overseas in 2022, Russians have already made about two million trips abroad for tourism purposes as early as in the first quarter of 2023. This is almost 47% more than in the like period from last year,” Reshetnikov said, as cited by the ministry’s press service.

Russians are currently traveling to traditional destinations with developed tourist infrastructure, the minister noted. Tourism soared by 71% to Turkey, by 88% to the UAE, and by a factor of twelve to Thailand in January – March 2023 on account of direct air service being restored.

Source: Lao News Agency

Thailand’s exports of cassava and cassava products are estimated at 9 million tonnes this year, down from 11 million tonnes last year due to reduced output caused by drought, according to the Foreign Trade Department under the Ministry of Commerceof Thailand.

Ronnarong Phoolpipat, director-general of the department, said there is high demand for tapioca and tapioca products from Thailand when customers are willing to buy all available quantities, but this year Thai production has been affected by drought conditions, denting output.

He advised farmers not to rush harvesting small cassava roots that are unsuitable for sale during periods of high prices, as it may affect the overall quality.

In the first five months of this year, Thailand exported 4.73 million tonnes of cassava and cassava products valued at USD 7 billion, marking year-on-year decreases of 21% and 19%, respectively.

China remains Thailand’s top export market for cassava products, accounting for 65% of the total.

Thailand is expected to import about 2.4 million tonnes of cassava chips from neighbouring countries, such as Laos and Cambodia, to meet the demand.

Source: Lao News Agency

Briefing the 5th Ordinary Session of the National Assembly’s 9th legislature on Monday, Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone expressed his belief that the GDP of the Lao PDR in the first half of 2023 will grow by at least 4.8%.

The first three months of the year recorded an economic growth of 4.8% as the second quarter is expected to record a growth of 4.9%.

Previously, the National Assembly expected the country’s economy to grow by 4.5%, or reaching 234 trillion kip, this year.

As of May 2023, revenue collection reached over 15.1 trillion kip, representing 39% of the annual target set for this year, or up by 41% year on year.

Domestic revenue reached 11.8 trillion kip, 43% of the annual target, as revenue collection in the first half of the year is expected to reach 18.4 trillion kip, accounting for 48% of the annual plan.

“The government has attached attention to addressing fluctuating exchange rates and inflation and narrow the gap in exchange rates between banking system and non-banking system. These efforts included closing exchange shops and authorising commercial banks to open their own exchange kiosks like in other countries. Currently, the commercial banks are focusing on expanding their exchange kiosks and we are piloting authorising commercial banks to trade foreign currencies online through bank accounts and order that all transactions for settling goods or service purchase and investment capital must be made through a banking system,” said Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone.

Exports in the first half of the year reached 3.64 billion US dollars, increased by 4.74% year on year. Yet, the exports in the first six months are expected to be 4.27 billion US dollars, rising by 2.49%.

Imports in the previous months were estimated at 2.64 billion US dollars, representing an increase of 1.75%. As a result, the country is expected to record a trade surplus of 998.26 million US dollars.

The government has recorded a positive progress in reforming five strategic state enterprises namely Electricite du Laos, EDL Gen, Lao Airlines, Lao State Fuel, and Agro-Industrial Development and Service State Enterprise, according to the Minister of Planning and Investment Khamjane Vongphosy.

Source: Lao News Agency

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has cut regulatory interest rates for four consecutive times since the beginning of this year, in the context that world interest rates continue to rise and stay at a high level, Vietnam News Agency reported on Monday.

The central bank’s decisions clearly reflect its efforts to support economic growth through the credit channel.

At present, the interest rate level basically remains stable, with deposit and lending interest rates tending to decrease gradually. The average deposit interest rate of commercial banks is about 5.8% per year, down 0.7% compared to the end of 2022, while the average lending interest rate in Vietnamese dong is about 8.9% a year, down 1%.

The SBV’s decision to continue reducing regulatory interest rates establishes a reduction trend for the market in the coming time, thereby orienting credit institutions to take more drastic steps to reduce lending rates and accompany businesses and people to contribute to promoting economic growth and recovery, said SBV Standing Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu.

Dr. Can Van Luc, member of the National Advisory Council on Financial and Monetary Policies, said that the central bank’s move not only aims to assist banks and enterprises, and but also shows an increasingly clear sign of a shift in the monetary policy from being cautious to being loosened.

Source: Lao News Agency

The northern province of Phu Tho has risen to the third position among the northern midland and mountainous localities in economic growth speed, heard a recent meeting of the provincial Party Committee’s Standing Board to review the province’s socio-economic performance in the first half of the year and sketch out plan for the rest of 2023.

According to the provincial People’s Committee, despite difficulties in the domestic and international situation, in the first six months of this year, Phu Tho still posted high economic growth at 7.22%, ranking third among the 14 localities in the region and 16th out of the 63 cities and provinces nationwide.

In the first six months of this year, its industry sector expanded 10.11%, entering the top 10 localities of the nation in the field.

In the period, the locality completed 12 out of the 16 targets and exceeded the budget estimate assigned by the provincial People’s Council. The majority of public invested projects have been implemented with good progress, with the distribution level of public investment higher than the country’s average.

The provincial People’s Committee attributed the results to the province’s efforts to make breakthroughs in improving the local business environment right from the beginning of the year.

In the first half of the year, the locality saw 102 new and expanded projects. It has completed dossiers on the province’s master planning for the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050 to submit to the Prime Minister, while finalising dossiers on planning of Viet Tri city.

Alongside, the province has received 4.5 trillion VND (191.24 million USD) of State budget and allocated 4.22 trillion VND, or 93.7% of the plan, to 342 projects.

As of May 31, the disbursement rate of public investment capital was estimated at 37% of the assigned plan, higher than the national average.

Meanwhile, socio-cultural activities have been strengthened, and the administrative reform sped up and social security and order ensured.

Bui Minh Chau, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, said that 2023 is an important year in the implementation of Phu Tho’s socio-economic development plan in the 2021-2025 period. In the time to come, Phu Tho will focus on improving the local investment and business environment and mobilising resources for development.

At the same time, it will review all the projects with investment policy approved by the provincial Party Committee’s Standing Board, evaluating their feasibility and making suitable adjustments, he said.

The provincial leader underlined that Phu Tho will roll out measures to remove difficulties facing businesses and investors, prioritising domestic and local businesses.

Regarding land management activities, Chau asked the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment to review all activities of land allocation, land auction, and land use right conversion in the province over the years, ensuring that they are implemented in compliance with regulations, and resolutely handling violations if there is any.

Alongside, the locality will review the real estate facilities that have been handed over from the separation and merger of local administrative units. In the field of security and defence, the provincial leader requested local police to stay close to local residents and maintain control over the situation, thus settling all arising problems in a timely manner.

With these solutions, Phu Tho is striving to maintain an economic growth rate of at least 7.5% and per capita GRDP of 63 million VND, along with total social investment capital of 43.5 trillion VND. The locality also aims for a total state budget collection of 6.1 trillion VND. The province expects an urbanisation rate of at least 19.6%, together with 71% in the rate of trained and vocational workers. Phu Tho will also work to reduce the rate of poor households by 0.5%./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The period of strong volatility of the US dollar has ended, and the USD/VND exchange rate in the last six months of 2023 will remain stable, experts have forecast.

According to experts of Yuanta Vietnam Securities Company, the USD/VND exchange rate from the beginning of 2023 fluctuated around a range of +/- 1.9% at 23,240 – 23,630 VND per dollar, much more stable than in 2022 when the rate sometimes peaked at 24,692 VND per dollar, up 4.2% against the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s reference exchange rate.

As of the beginning of June, the USD/VND exchange rate decreased by about 0.52% compared to the start of 2023 thanks to the abundant supply of foreign currency from the trade balance surplus, disbursed FDI inflows, international tourism recovery and the weakening of the dollar.

According to the experts, there are a number of factors that positively support the exchange rate in the second half of this year.

First, Vietnam’s foreign exchange reserves have grown again. After strong fluctuations in the monetary market in 2022, the nation’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of 2022 reached about 90 billion USD. In the first five months of 2023, the SBV bought about 6 billion USD to add to foreign reserves.

Second, the country’s trade balance recorded a surplus in the first five months of this year. Although import-export turnover in the first five months of 2023 was low, the trade balance maintained a trade surplus of 9.8 billion USD, a sharp increase compared to 2021 and 2022.

Third, Vietnam’s tourism industry is recovering. After three years of being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of tourists to Vietnam in the first five months of 2023 rose 13 times compared to the same period in 2022 and equivalent to 63% compared to before the pandemic in 2019.

International tourists will recover faster in the near future, especially from China in the summer and early fourth quarter of 2023. This will also be a significant source of foreign currency for the country.

Fourth, FDI has shown more positive signals. Although accumulated FDI in the first five months of 2023 decreased slightly compared to the same period last year, the data in April and May 2023 showed more positive signals thanks to the gradually improving macro factors. Though more observations are needed, Yuanta holds a positive view on FDI inflows in the medium and long term, adding this is also a significant supporting factor for the dollar flowing into Vi?t Nam.

Fifth, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) may soon stop raising interest rates. Yuanta said though it is likely that the Fed will raise interest rates at least one more time this year, the tightening of interest rates has been loosened more and the period when the dollar was anchored at a high level as 2022 ended.

Sixth, Vietnam’s remittances are expected to continue to increase. In addition to the amount of remittances sent back to relatives that remains stable, Yuanta’s analysts expect the amount of remittances sent to invest in Vietnam will increase more when the domestic economy recovers, deposit interest rates remain at an attractive level and real estate is at low prices, while the economies in the EU and the US are recovering more slowly than in Vietnam.

With the above factors, Yuanta believes the period of strong exchange rate fluctuations in the second half of 2022 has ended and the exchange rate in the last six months of 2023 will continue to be stable and fluctuate in a range of +/- 3%, below the SBV’s prescribed range of +/- 5%.

However, Yuanta noted, a number of other factors that may put pressure on the exchange rate should be monitored, such as high inflation in developed countries, the reopening of China and the Fed’s longer-than-expected interest rate hike.

Sharing the same view, finance expert Dr. Can Van Luc said as the dollar devaluates and the US economy is forecast to have lower growth, it is likely that the Fed will not continue to raise interest rates until the end of this year, and other currencies, including the Vietnamese Dong, will appreciate again.

Luc predicted the USD/VND exchange rate for the whole of 2023 will be stable. /.

Source: Vietnam News Agency