BÀ RỊA-VŨNG TÀU ATTRACTS HIGH-TECH, ECO-FRIENDLY PROJECTS
Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province is attracting high-tech and environmentally friendly industrial projects, with a focus on enhancing productivity, product quality, and sustainability. It is committed to selecting investments that feature clean technologies, low labour intensity and high added value. This approach has led to the establishment of several advanced industrial facilities, including the Hòa Phát Container Manufacturing Plant in Phú Mỹ City.
GOVERNMENT PROPOSES 2% VAT REDUCTION ON SELECT GOODS AND SERVICES UNTIL 2026
The Government has proposed a 2 per cent reduction in the value-added tax (VAT) for goods and services currently taxed at 10 per cent, lowering the rate to 8 per cent. The proposal, which recommends maintaining this VAT reduction until December 31, 2026, was presented by Minister of Finance Nguyễn Văn Thắng during the ongoing National Assembly (NA) session.
VN-INDEX BREAKS THROUGH 1,300 POINTS
Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index rose for a third straight session on May 14, closing above the 1,300-point mark for the first time in a month, led by strong gains in banking and brokerage shares. The index ended up 1.16%, or 16.3 points, to 1,309.73 points, with 189 stocks advancing and 122 others declining. Trading volume and value improved 12.6% and 14.4% over the previous session, respectively, with 1.07 billion shares worth VND27.3 trillion changing hands.
VIỆT NAM FORECAST TO BECOME WORLD’S SECOND-LARGEST RICE IMPORTER BY 2025–26
Việt Nam is projected to become the world’s second – largest rice importer in 2025-26, coming only after the Philippines, as the country must ramp up imports to meet export demand amid falls in domestic production, according to the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
EXPORTERS SPEED UP DIVERSE STRATEGIES
Vietnamese manufacturing enterprises are capitalising on pivotal opportunities to chart methodical, long-term growth strategies across both traditional and emerging markets. At the government’s regular monthly meeting on May 6, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang acknowledged that the current US path towards retaliatory export tariffs caught most economies off guard and immediately impacted global investor and business sentiment.
FDI INFLOW INTO VIETNAM REACHES 13.82 BILLION USD
Vietnam secured nearly 13.82 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first four months of 2025, marking a year-on-year surge of 39.9%, according to the Ministry of Finance’s Foreign Investment Agency.
FDI INTO REAL ESTATE SECTOR SURGES IN Q1
New foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals in Vietnam’s real estate sector totaled nearly US$10.98 billion in the first quarter of this year, up by 34.7% versus the year-ago period. FDI disbursements reached an estimated US$4.96 billion between January and March, an uptick of 7.2%, showed data from the Ministry of Finance.
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION SEES RAPID GROWTH IN FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF 2025
In the first four months of this year, the index of industrial production (IIP) was estimated to increase by 8.4 per cent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office. This is also the second-highest growth rate recorded since 2021. The main contributor to this overall growth was the manufacturing and processing sector, which grew by 10.1 per cent, contributing 8.5 percentage points.
