Binh Ha Livestock Investment Co. has got the go-ahead from the government of Binh Dinh Province to implement a cow farming project worth VND3.6 trillion (US$165.4 million) in the province. A major shareholder of Binh Ha is Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company, which has already partnered with a number of companies to develop a chain specializing in producing beef and milk in and outside Vietnam, according to the provincial Investment Promotion Center. Binh Ha plans to raise up to 100,000 cows on 5,080 hectares in Van Canh, Hoai Nhon, An Lao and Hoai An districts of the province. This will be the biggest livestock project in the central…
WB funds public transport development
HCMC – The World Bank (WB) has approved a loan of US$124 million for HCMC to carry out a project to improve public transportation in HCMC. The WB said in a statement on June 1 that it would finance developing a bus rapid transit lane of 23 kilometers on Vo Van Kiet and Mai Chi Tho roads to connect An Lac, southwest of HCMC, and Rach Chiec in the northeast. There will be some 28 stops on the bus route as part of the project. Once completed, the service will be able to serve up to 28,300 passengers a day with a focus on facilitating the transport of women, children and people…
Many small enterprises hit the wall
For the first four months of this year, 3,249 small enterprises have closed their business, and 19,000 others temporarily stopped operations, a survey conducted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has found. Most of the companies had under 10 billion VND (480,000 USD) of registered capital. The number of enterprises temporarily stopping operation increased by 4.5 percent, though the number of enterprises closing fell 0.8 percent compared with last year. “The development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is very important for any economy and if SMEs can’t develop, the Vietnamese economy will find it hard to grow in a sustainable way,” Nguyen Hoang, president and CEO…
Ho Chi Minh City maintains positive economic growth
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest economic hub, recorded a positive economic growth rate in May and throughout the first five months of 2015, a conference heard on May 28. According to the municipal People’s Committee, total retail sales of goods and services are estimated at over 54.3 trillion VND (2.49 billion USD) for May and more than 267 trillion VND (12.28 billion USD) for the January-May period, up by 10.8 percent compared to the same period last year. The city’s Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3 percent in May against the previous month. This month, the export turnover is estimated at 2.57 billion USD and import turnover at 2.67…
Consumer confidence in Vietnam continues growing
The consumer confidence index in Vietnam increased six points against last quarter, according to Nielsen’s consumer confidence index report for the first quarter of 2015 released on May 20. Vietnam’s consumer confidence index rose from 106 to 112 points. It is the third consecutive increase and the country’s highest score since 2010, making Vietnam the sixth optimistic nation in the world. The report showed the continued trend of changing spending habits towards saving more money among Vietnamese consumers, with 86 percent of the interviewees saying they did so during the past 12 months. More than half (56 percent) of the interviewees cited the reason for the cut in spending as…
Industrial output up 12 percent in early 2015
(Photo: VNA) Annual Vietnamese factory production increased 12 percent within the first two months of 2015, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Increased output was seen in nearly all sectors; the processing-manufacturing and electricity generation-distribution sectors grew between 12-14 percent from the same period last year. Notably, seafood processing recorded a production growth of almost 21 percent. February alone saw a 7 percent increase in industrial production index, despite a nine-day Lunar New Year holiday. (vietnamplus2015年3月10日)