Thread: Latest news on the Dong!

ill stick to my 10 mil and wait the 5 yrs.

Good Morning, High-Tech Vietnam

The Indochinese nation is fast emerging as the next Asian country to give China and India a run for global investors' money

by Lynn Tan
India and China may be the current hot favorites of global investors, but Vietnam is fast emerging as the next Asian country to give both countries a run for their money. It will take more time, however, before Vietnam can be on par with the economic powerhouses, according to a market observer.</B>




In an interview with ZDNet Asia, Hicham Abdessamad, vice president for global solutions services at Hitachi Data Systems, said: "There're many multinational suppliers and companies that have invested in Vietnam or are planning to invest in Vietnam to drive the demand, especially in the financial [and] telecommunications industries."
"[Vietnam] is sort of a hybrid between India and China," said Abdessamad, noting that China is more of a manufacturing powerhouse, while India's strength lies in its large pool of IT talent. Vietnam, he said, has "a little of both".
Vietnam's domain lie in areas that include data centers, IT manufacturing such as chips and computers, as well as software development. "[There are] lots of software development activities in Vietnam, not just [the outsourcing of] data center, as well as some manufacturing growth," Abdessamad said.
However, he noted that Vietnam still has a long way to go even though it is an emerging market and growing fast. "If I compare Vietnam to India, it's on the right track but it's definitely not where India is right now," he said.
Vietnam will probably need between five to seven years to be on par with India's standing in the region, Abdessamad said. He added that the country's growth will also "depend on how quickly [foreign] investments [pour] in and how quickly these companies open their plants and manufacturing facilities [in Vietnam]".
Vietnam grew 8.4 percent in 2005, overtaking India as Asia's second fastest-growing economy but trailing closely behind China's 10.2 percent. The Vietnamese tech market was also worth approximately US$800 million last year, and is expected to grow about 20 percent each year.
Intel, for instance, announced in February last year that it would invest US$300 million to build a semiconductor assembly and test facility in Ho Chi Minh City. The chipmaker expanded this investment to US$1 billion in November that same year when the company unveiled plans to increase the size of its plant from 150,000 square feet to 500,000 square feet.
According to Intel, the new Vietnam facility will be the largest single factory within the Intel assembly and test network. Construction of the plant was expected to have commenced in March this year and begin production in 2009. The chip giant added that as many as 4,000 people could be employed eventually to support the new plant.
Abdessamad said: "With Intel's investment, you're going to see some significant growth [in Vietnam] over the next [few] years. It's an emerging alternative to India and China [and] another option for a lot of companies now."
Provided by ZDNet Asia—Where Technology Means Business

Vietnam's growth rate to reach 8% in 2007-2008:
WB10:26' 08/04/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - The "East Asia and Pacific Update - Ten years after Asia's financial crisis" released by the World Bank (WB) on April 5 said that Vietnam's economic growth rate will reach 8% in 2007-08.

The bank said that two events dominated the economic landscape in the last six months, namely Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and a dramatic boom in the stock market. Both events pose policy challenges for the government in the short- and medium-term, with the stock market already having attracted substantial short-term attention.
The WB said Vietnam's stock market capitalisation surged from under US $0.5 billion in December 2005 to US $13.8 billion (or 22.7% of GDP) by December 2006, and then to a current level of US $24.4 billion. The number of listed firms rose from about 40 to nearly 200 at present. The stock price index shot up 144% in 2006 and has already seen an additional increase of 50% in the first two months of 2007. The market is set to expand further with 20 large state-owned enterprises scheduled to list in 2007. It is estimated that foreign stock holding is of the order of US $4 billion.
Vietnam's foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments, boosted by its WTO accession, surged to US $10.2 billion, well above its 2005 level of US $6.2 billion and surpassing the peak level of US $9 billion in 1996. FDI commitments for Vietnam for 2007 have already reached US $1.9 billion.
With tourism and remittances remaining buoyant the current account is expected to have recorded a surplus of 1 to 1.5% of GDP. Inflows of FDI and official development assistance (ODA) were also robust. ODA inflows reached US $1.8 billion while inflows of FDI, as recorded in the balance of payments, are estimated to have surpassed US $2 billion. Portfolio inflows also picked up in line with investment opportunities being offered by the growing domestic capital market. As a result, foreign exchange reserves have seen a rapid rise, reaching US $12 billion by end-December 2006 compared with US $8.6 billion at end-2005.
In 2006, Vietnam's GDP increased by 8.2% with industrial value added increasing by 9.8% and services 8.3%. Inflation declined through most of 2006 reaching 6.6% in December, and 6.5% in February 2007. The moderation in prices resulted from both food and non-food components. The government has announced its intention to move towards market-based pricing for petroleum products, steel, cement, coal, paper and fertilizer.
Regarding the economic situation in East Asia and the Pacific, the bank said that the Emerging East Asia's economic growth rate reached 8.1% in 2006 and will decrease to 7.3% and 7.0% in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
(Source: VNA)

Thursday, April 12, 2007 20:47:23 Vietnam (GMT+07) E-mail to a friend Print version Vietnam wants dong currency to be convertible



Vietnam, with a small but fast-expanding economy, wants the restricted Vietnamese dong to be convertible in the international market, a central bank official said on Thursday.

"We want the dong to become a convertible currency," Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Phung Khac Ke told reporters after a signing ceremony of a $35 million financing agreement with the World Bank to help Vietnam fight bird flu.

"The government has assigned the State Bank to work on this project," he said without giving further details or outlining a timetable for currency convertibility.

Vietnam's economy is projected to grow more than 8 percent this year. The country's gross domestic product expanded 8.17 percent last year to around $60 billion.

Asked if the central bank planned a further depreciation of the dong to support exports, Ke said: "Our policy in managing the dong is to aim for a stability and flexibility to support both exports and imports."

Vietnam had a trade deficit of $1.32 billion in the first quarter of this year, against a $60 million surplus after the first three months of 2006.

The World Bank last week forecast that Vietnam's trade deficit would jump 26.5 percent to $7.98 billion this year from 2006.

But it also forecast that the country's foreign currency reserves plus gold would be boosted to $16 billion this year from $12.5 billion last year and $8.6 billion in 2005.

Truong Van Phuoc, director of the central bank's Central Banking Department, said in March the central bank did not have any fixed outlook on the dong's movement against the dollar.

The central bank has allowed the dong to weaken so far this year just 0.07 percent against the dollar.

On Thursday the dong eased to 16,112 to the dollar, from 16,101 at the end of 2006.

Source: Reuters

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily

New Vietnam oil field estimated to hold 37 mln bbl


A new oilfield off Vietnam's southern coast is expected to hold proven and probable reserves of around 4.98 million tons of crude oil (37 million barrels), a government report said Friday.

Appraisals at the Phuong Dong oilfield in a block coded 15.2 also showed condensate reserves of around 0.73 million tons and 3.16 billion cubic meter of natural gas, the government report published on its Web site (www.vietnam.gov.vn) said.

The government ordered JVPC, the operator of the field, which is 46.5 percent owned by Nippon Oil Corp. of Japan, to conduct further tests at the field to determine the exact oil potential.

Other owners of the fields are ConocoPhillips' and PetroVietnam's exploration arm PVEP, which hold 36 percent and 17.5 percent interest, respectively.

Source: Reuters

Now that is News For a country with out alot of resourses. Also, where there is one, there is another.

Thanks chouchou, that is worth while News.

Oil is bubbling out of the stretches of beach fronts.

Gas pipe plan within Vietnam’s sovereignty: spokesman


Vietnam has said it has “indisputable sovereignty” over the Paracel and Spratly Islands and a gas pipeline it has planned to build with BP in this area is in line with international laws and practices.

The Chinese foreign ministry said Tuesday China claimed sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and that Vietnam had caused concern by agreeing with BP and its partners to build the gas pipeline.

But the spokesman of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, Le Dzung, said Wednesday Vietnam had sufficient historical evidence and legal basis to confirm its sovereignty over both islands, whose names in Vietnamese are Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, respectively.

Dzung said Vietnam’s operations on its islands and territorial waters, including plot divisions, exploration and exploitation of oil and gas were “completely normal.”

They were “in line with Vietnamese law as well as international laws and practices, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2002 Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea,” Dzung said.

He added that the partnership since 2000 between the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group and BP “is within Vietnam’s exclusive economic area and continental shelf, and is within Vietnam's sovereignty.”

The Spratly Islands, a string of rocky outcrops in Vietnam’s East Sea, are suspected of containing large oil and gas deposits.

The $2 billion pipeline will bring gas from two new fields to Vietnam's south coast, though details are still being worked out.

The new fields to be connected with the planned pipeline are near fields from which BP and partners already produce gas that is shipped by an existing pipeline onshore for power generation.

Source: TTXVN

Any truth to Wells Fargo selling the dong and if so at what rate?

Sorry if already posted
Article from OCT. 2006

Vietnamese State Bank Governor Le Duc Thuy Wednesday admitted that there were problems with the nation’s polymer bills, but stressed that they were not due to the printing technology.
Talking with local reporters Tuesday morning, Thuy said such errors, like the missing period while writing ‘10,000’ on the VND10,000 bill, should not have occurred.

“We admit responsibility for those mistakes and have gained experience to better the upcoming publishing of a new series of currency, ensuring the unity of polymer money quality,” he said.

Regarding the difference in sizes of the polymer bills of the same denomination, Thuy stressed this was still within the permissible level for technical errors according to the money printing standards.

“It was not due to printing error,” he said, adding the cotton-paper notes in circulation also had allowable errors.

Asked about a VND500,000 polymer bill found not to have the pattern printed with optically variable ink (OVI) as regulated, the National Money Printing Factory affirmed that this note incurred an error during the printing process.

“However, this was an isolated case, not due to the mistake of the whole system or technology,” Thuy said.

The bank governor also highlighted the durability of thepolymer currency, affirming that the polymer notes would never be smeared if being kept in ordinary condition.

Asked about the possible higher charges when Vietnam relies on only a supplier of paper for printing polymer currency, Thuy said that company pledged to supply adequate quantity of paper for Vietnam with agreed prices.

“But suppose it breaches the commitment and asks us to pay higher prices for its money printing paper we are able to reprint the cotton-paper money without changing the production line,” he said.

“We already had a plan to prepare for all possible contingencies and reported it to the government.”

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily