Vietnam predicts GDP growth rate of 6.7 pct

An apparent recovery trend that the national economy has shown in the past eight months provides experts with the grounds to predict that Vietnam will achieve a GDP growth rate of 6.7 percent and rein in inflation to below 8 percent this year.

According to the General Statistics Office, the country raked in US$44.5 billion in export earnings in the past eight months, representing a year-on-year increase of 19.7 percent and a three-fold rise over the yearly plan.

In the review period, the country attained an industrial production value of over $504 trillion, showing a year on year rise of 13.7 percent which surpassed the yearly plan.

Seeing those positive signs and the recovery of the global economy, many cabinet members at their August meeting predicted that the country’s GDP would reach 7.18 percent in the third quarter.

They forecast that it would grow at 6.7 percent for the whole year, surpassing the 6.5 percent goal targeted by the National Assembly.

There is a favourable development in the CPI, as it rose just 0.23 percent in August over July, constituting a low growth rate in the fifth consecutive month. It rose just 5.08 percent compared with December, 2009.

If CPI growth is maintained at this speed and grows 0.7 percent a month from now to the end of this year, it is forecasted not to exceed 8 percent as set early this year.

Experts say in this difficult circumstance, reining in inflation is significant as it will enable policymakers to take bolder steps in managing the macro economy and make the life of people, especially low-income earners, more stable.

To fulfill the yearly growth targets and deal with elements that can drive prices up in the remaining months of the year, including natural disasters, diseases, and fluctuations in the world market, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has in the cabinet’s August meeting asked relevant ministries, sectors and localities to continue providing businesses with the best conditions they can to boost their production and exports and lure more local and foreign investment.

He also asked relevant agencies to intensify the management of prices, bank loan interest rates and the foreign exchange rate and make adjustments suitable for actual needs.

 

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Outstanding Vietnamese businesses honored

Two hundred outstanding businesses received the Sao Vang Dat Viet (Vietnam Gold Star) Award at a ceremony held in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong congratulated the awarded businesses, acknowledging and honoring their contributions to the country’s development.

He said he believed that Vietnamese entrepreneurs would further develop, making more contributions to the country and honoring Vietnam’s reputation in the world.

Vietnam is facing both opportunities and challenges in the context of integration and economic development, he said, urging the business circle to be active and creative and unite together.

On behalf of the government, Deputy PM Trong commended the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Vietnam Youth Federation, for their creative activities and organization of the award ceremony annually.

Since the annual event began in 2003, as many as 1,327 Vietnamese businesses have been honored.

The 200 businesses selected this year all had stable growth rates. Their combined turnover exceeded VND475 trillion (US$24.4 billion). They collectively contributed nearly VND44 trillion to the State budget, earned after-tax profits of more than VND48 trillion and created over 390,000 new jobs.

Top ten 2010 Vietnam Gold Star Awards go to FPT Telecom Joint Stock Co, Truong Hai Auto Corp, HANAKA Group, Tien Phong Plastic Joint Stock Co, PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corp, Thai Nguyen Steel Joint Stock Co, Vietnam Garments Joint Stock Co, Trung Nguyen Coffee Group, Vietinbank and Vietnam Rubber Industry Group.

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Algeria: huge potential for Vietnamese farm products

Algeria is seen as a huge potential market for Vietnamese agricultural exports as almost all of its key farm products shipped to Algeria are not grown in the African country.

According to the Vietnamese Commercial Counsellor in Algeria, Nguyen Van Mui , Algeria is one of the African countries that has a large demand for food and foodstuffs because its agricultural production and food processing industry cannot meet domestic demands.

At present, 75 percent of food and foodstuffs consumed in Algeria are imported, mainly grain, wheat, milk, sugar, coffee, tea, dried vegetables and meat.

Algeria needs to import almost US$400 million worth of agricultural products annually from Vietnam but the Southeast Asian country is only able to meet 22-25 percent of this figure, said Mui.

Vietnam ’s export turnover to Algeria reached over $83 million in 2008 and $94 million in 2009, of which agricultural products accounted for 80 percent.

Large amounts of rice and coffee are exported to Algeria, where Vietnam holds a 25 percent share of Algeria’s coffee market with an export turnover of nearly $49 million and 70 percent of the country’s rice with a record $23.8 million worth shipped last year.

In addition, Algeria imports many other commodities from Vietnam, including pepper worth $1.3 million, which accounts for 60 percent of Algeria’s market share and copra at $1.6 million. Vietnam is now the second biggest exporter of copra to Algeria .

According to recent surveys, processed Vietnamese products such as roasted and instant coffee, parboiled rice, rice paper, dry noodles, spices and ground pepper also see an opportunity to enter this market.

In order to speed up the export of goods to Algeria, Mui has advised Vietnamese exporters to take part in trade fairs in Algeria to study the market and meet potential partners, including the Alger International Fair in June and the International Agricultural Exhibition in November each year.

 

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Viettel reduces roaming charge in Laos, Cambodia

Viettel’s subscribers who use Unitel in Laos and Metfone in Cambodia will be offered a 60 percent discount to US$0.10  per minute when using roaming services.

The roaming service allows Viettel’s subscribers to use their own mobile phone number with services such as SMS, GPRS, EDGE and EG Data in foreign countries.

Under this policy, Viettel’s roaming subscribers using Unitel and Metfone will enjoy a 70 percent lower charge. The reduction is also its next step in improving the preferential roaming charge policy in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Hoang Son, director of Viettel Telecom said that with its investment expansion to Haiti, Mozambique, Myanmar and African countries, Viettel’s roaming subscribers within Viettel’s networks will continue to enjoy more benefits in the future.

After nine months of operation, Viettel’s subscribers have so far roamed to 305 mobile networks of 118 countries and territories worldwide.

In addition to phone and SMS service, Viettel’s roaming subscribers can use GPRS to 160 networks of 83 countries and 3G service to 87 networks of 59 countries. Particularly, roaming users also receive incoming SMS free of charge.

Viettel is Vietnam’s only service provider to allow prepaid roaming subscribers to make phone calls and send SMS and vice versa to 33 networks of 29 countries and territories.

 

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Outstanding Vietnamese businesses honoured

Two hundred outstanding businesses received the Sao Vang Dat Viet
(Vietnam Gold Star) Award at a ceremony held in Ho Chi Minh City on
September 2.

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong
congratulated the awarded businesses, acknowledging and honouring their
contributions to the country’s development.

He said he believed
that Vietnamese entrepreneurs would further develop, making more
contributions to the country and honouring Vietnam’s reputation in
the world.

Vietnam is facing both opportunities and
challenges in the context of integration and economic development, he
said, urging the business circle to be active and creative and unite
together.

On behalf of the government, Deputy PM Trong
commended the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Vietnam Youth
Federation, for their creative activities and organisation of the award
ceremony annually

Since the annual event began in 2003, as many as 1,327 Vietnamese businesses have been honoured.

The 200 businesses selected this year all had stable growth rates.
Their combined turnover exceeded 475 trillion VND. They collectively
contributed nearly 44 trillion VND to the State budget, earned after-tax
profits of more than 48 trillion VND and created over 390,000 new jobs.

Top ten 2010 Vietnam Gold Star Awards go to FPT Telecom
Joint Stock Company, Truong Hai Auto Corporation, HANAKA Group, Tien
Phong Plastic Joint Stock Company, PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock
Corporation, Thai Nguyen Steel Joint Stock Company, Vietnam Garments
Joint Stock Company, Trung Nguyen Coffee Group, Vietinbank and Vietnam
Rubber Industry Group./.

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Bids roll in for Carrefour's S.E. Asian stores

Photo: AFP

SINGAPORE - British and Japanese retail giants along with local operators are in an auction battle to take over the Southeast Asian business of French supermarket chain Carrefour, reports said Thursday.

Britain's Tesco is among more than 10 bidders for Carrefour's assets in the region, which total 61 stores in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, the Financial Times said.

Singapore-based retail group Dairy Farm and French retailer Casino are also in the bidding, but US titan Wal-Mart has not entered the race, the FT said.

Company executives from Carrefour Singapore and Dairy Farm were not immediately available to comment.

Japan's Aeon group also declined to comment on a report in the Nikkei business daily that it hoped to expand into Southeast Asia via the Carrefour auction to make up for sluggish consumer demand at home.

Aeon acquired Carrefour's Japanese operations in 2005, five years after Carrefour entered Japan.

The French retail giant on Tuesday said it made a net profit of 82 million euros (US$104 million) in the first half, after a loss in the same period of 2009.

At the results announcement, Carrefour chief executive Lars Olofsson refused to comment on the group's plans in Asia amid speculation that he wants to raise money to fund an ambitious revamp of hypermarkets in Europe.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that another Singapore retailer, NTUC FairPrice, as well as Malaysia-based private equity group Navis Capital had placed bids for Carrefour assets in the two countries.

NTUC FairPrice is interested in Carrefour's two branches in Singapore, but they are likely to be sold together with the Malaysian assets, Dow Jones quoted a person familiar with the situation as saying.

Malaysia's deputy trade minister Mukhriz Mahathir said last month that Carrefour was believed to be looking to divest its business in the country, where it has 19 stores.

Carrefour also has 40 outlets in Thailand.

Tesco, the world's third-biggest retailer behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour, has also declined to comment on the Asian auction. The British group has been steadily expanding in the region, notably through smaller "express" stores.

Carrefour's website says international markets account for 57 percent of the group's total sales and that future growth will likely come from China, Indonesia, Brazil, Poland and Turkey.

The FT said Carrefour has no intention of abandoning China, which accounts for 70 percent of the group's stores in Asia. It also plans to remain in Indonesia and Taiwan, the newspaper said.

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India tells Google, Skype to set up local servers

Photo: AFP

NEW DELHI - India told Google and Skype on Wednesday that they must set up servers in the country to allow law enforcers to screen traffic, as it widened its security offensive on Internet communications firms.

The government has already told the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, Research in Motion (RIM), that it must set up a server in India to allow security forces to intercept the phone's encrypted messaging system.

"We have made this clear to other companies" that they must do the same, Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said.

He added that notices were being dispatched to Google, which uses powerful encryption technology for its Gmail email service, and Skype, the Internet phone provider.

"All people who operate communication services in India should have a server in India," Pillai told a news conference. "This applies to all."

The government's statements came two days after it gave BlackBerry a two-month window to provide a way to read the smartphone's corporate email and messenger chatting services, or face a shutdown of the core functions of the phone.

Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia, a key BlackBerry rival, has already acceded to the government's demands, announcing this week it would set up a server in India by early November to give security forces access to data carried by its smartphones.

India's government, battling multiple insurgencies in areas from Kashmir in the northwest to the remote northeast, is worried that militants could use encrypted services to coordinate attacks.

"It is basically a debate between public security versus the privacy of citizens," Nareshchandra Singh, principal research analyst at Gartner global consultancy, told AFP.

"It is my belief that the upper hand is with security rather than privacy and the government will have to draw a fine line," Singh said.

Home ministry officials say Skype, which uses Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) technology to send calls over the Internet, poses a difficulty for the domestic intelligence services.

"It is very difficult to track communications on VOIP, especially if the servers are not within India," Gartner's Singh said.

BlackBerry's reprieve came after the government said the smartphone's Canadian maker had made proposals to give security forces "lawful access" to messages carried on the handsets.

The government began testing RIMs monitoring proposals on Wednesday to assess their effectiveness.

"Discussions with BlackBerry are still continuing. We have given them 60 days' time" to find a complete solution to government demands for access, Home Secretary Pillai said.

India, which has the world's fastest-growing number of mobile users, is a key market for BlackBerry, which has 1.1 million customers in the country.

BlackBerry has become a global market leader in the smartphone sector thanks to its heavy encryption, and analysts say any compromise with the Indian government could damage its popularity with its high-profile clientele.

RIM is already facing threats to its dominance in the smartphone segment from other feature-rich rivals globally, such as Apple.

But its reputedly impenetrable data protection has also raised a chorus of security concerns from governments in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The Times of India reported Wednesday that the reprieve for BlackBerry resulted from the flood of international visitors expected for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next month, as well as US President Barack Obama's planned visit in November, rather than any breakthrough in talks with the company.

The blackout of BlackBerry's core features would have disrupted communications for the two events, the newspaper said, adding there would be more talks with RIM before Obama's visit.

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