Banking & Finance

The custom sector’s contribution to State budget revenue in the first seven months of this year totaled more than VND260 trillion ($11.16 billion), a 12.7 per cent increase year-on-year and representing 74.2 per cent of the annual estimate.

Along with the recovery of the stock market overall, banking stocks have also been regaining ground in recent times. Figures from FiinTrade show that second-quarter after-tax profits at 23 of the 27 trading banks rose 33.4 per cent year-on-year on average.

Data from Vietnam Securities Depository shows that the number of new stock market account openings fell dramatically in July, to nearly 199,000, down 57 per cent compared to June. Liquidity in the market also fell sharply. The average trading value on HoSE, HNX, and UPCOM was down 24.1 per cent against June and 45.7 per cent year-on-year.

According to the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), transactions on the derivatives market fell sharply in July against June, while open interest (OI) for futures contracts was up 0.72 per cent. The proportion of foreign investor transactions also rose slightly compared to June, accounting for 1.38 per cent of total trading volumes.

Deputy Minister of Finance Vo Thanh Hung told a government press conference on August 3 that based on the market situation, the Ministry will propose cuts to VAT and excise taxes to help reduce gasoline prices.

According to the Ministry of Finance, ten out of eleven groups of main consumer goods and services saw prices increase July and this will maintain pressure on inflation control over the remainder of the year. Some factors, however, ease that pressure, such as the supply of consumer goods being abundant along with ongoing and planned fiscal policies.