Business News

Viet Nam's GDP expanded 3.32 percent in January-March period, the second growth rate in the last 12 years, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported Wednesday. The Vietnamese economy is expected to grow by 6.3 percent this year, the World Bank said in its taking stock report themed "Harnessing the potential of the service sector for growth" released on March 13.

After strong rebound in 2022 driven by pent-up demand, the local car market has been gloomy for the year to date, which is expected to linger until the year-end. Do Tien Dung, chairman of the Board of Directors at Hang Xanh Motors Service JSC (Haxaco), said that the company counted $3.04 million in profit in Q1 last year.

Foreign direct investment in the southern province of Dong Nai surpassed 500 million USD in the first quarter this year, nearly tripling that in the same period last year, according to the management board of the provincial industrial parks.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), foreign direct investment (FDI) stood at $5.45 billion in the first quarter of 2023, equivalent to just 61 per cent on-year. The reason is said to be the lack of billion-dollar projects, with the $1.32 billion Lego investment making up 41 per cent of FDI in the first quarter last year.

The global landscape for 2022 was volatile and uncertain, weighed down by slowing growth and falling demand, persistent inflationary pressures and more aggressive monetary tightening, as well as heightened geopolitical tensions. This continues to be a double risk to global macroeconomic performance in 2023, as well as to Vietnam as a highly open economy.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc, deputy head of the National Steering Committee for Prevention of Smuggling, Counterfeit Goods and Trade Fraud (National Steering Committee 389), has signed a decision setting up an interdisciplinary team for combating the smuggling of goods by air.

The current laws and regulations stated that only corrupt assets can be confiscated, so during legal procedures, the authorised agencies will need to prove that the assets in question are indeed illegally obtained, Bình noted, and the asset recovery rate can be improved once the authorities’ capabilities in proving the assets’ legal/illegal nature are enhanced.

During the week of March 13, 36 businesses investing in wind energy and transitional solar power – projects that failed to reach commercial viability on schedule to receive set discounted rates for 20 years – submitted a proposal to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to improve the power generation pricing structure.