Topic: 2022

Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company report paints a rosy picture for Vietnam’s digital economy.

Total capital from foreign investors reached $22.46 billion in the first ten months of the year.

At a discussion session on October 27 regarding the results of the socio-economic development plan in 2022 and the proposed plan for 2023, National Assembly (NA) deputies lauded the 2022 results but also expressed concern about high but unsustainable economic growth. They also proposed a host of solutions, such as exploiting the strengths of free trade agreements (FTAs) to expand and diversify export markets.

The fall of 276 points during September has resulted in a decline in the VN-Index of 500 points since the beginning of the year; one of the largest in the world. Not only domestic individual investors lost and withdrew funds, with many foreign funds also reporting record losses.

The Ministry of Finance has said it is developing a Decree on preferential tax rates to implement a series of FTAs in the 2022-2027 period, with some tax lines to come down to 0 per cent under a roadmap. An analyst from the Australian Economic Reform Program (Aus4ReForm) said that its participation in many bilateral and multilateral agreements with major economies in the world means Vietnam has become one of the most open countries in the region and the world.

The number of international visitors arriving in Vietnam by air reached 4.9 million in the third quarter of the year, a 35-fold increase over the same period last year when most of Vietnam was in lockdown, and equal to 49.8 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. VnDirect has forecast that visitor numbers will reach 12.5 million in 2022, equal to 88.5 per cent of the pre-pandemic number. The recent market decline has resulted in the price of many stocks falling, with attractive valuations and strong growth expectations meaning now is a good time to accumulate aviation stocks.

Vietnam’s aviation transport market has entered the low season and passenger numbers have fallen for two months in succession.

Ho Chi Minh City’s budget revenue in 2023 has been forecast at about VND496 trillion ($20.6 billion). This figure is overwhelming for a city that has only recently overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Ministry of Finance, the city’s budget revenue in 2022 is estimated at VND427 trillion ($17.7 billion); the highest on record since the pandemic began.

As of the end of September, customer deposit balances at 32 leading securities companies had reached nearly VND67 trillion ($2.69 billion), down by more than VND3 trillion ($120 million) compared to the end of the second quarter. This shows that the amount of money withdrawn from the stock market is not significant and individual investors still consider securities an attractive investment channel compared to other channels such as gold, virtual currencies, bank savings, and real estate.

Addressing the OECD Asia Roundtable on Corporate Governance in 2022, organized by the State Securities Commission in cooperation with the OECD on October 20 and 21 in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said, “Vietnam has made many advances in corporate governance, helping to increase capital raising via the stock market by nearly 30 per cent each year. However, stronger measures are still needed to improve corporate governance at Vietnamese enterprises.”