Thread: Latest news on the Dong!

Originally Posted by chouchou

Being able to double dip would be wonderful.... We never know....

That's what I'm talkin about, I'd love to double dip!!

Originally Posted by DesertWolf

I would like to see the dong 24 to 48 Hrs before the IQD. As such I could do a quick double dip before the IMF cut it off. IMHO, I’d rather get the higher return off the IQD with the small aid of the Dong…

“In for a penny, in for a pound”!

DesertWolf

In the long run Wolf, your idea is better, but right now, I'd take either one of them going first just to set this thing off!!!

Originally Posted by DesertWolf

I would like to see the dong 24 to 48 Hrs before the IQD. As such I could do a quick double dip before the IMF cut it off. IMHO, I’d rather get the higher return off the IQD with the small aid of the Dong…

“In for a penny, in for a pound”!

DesertWolf

I dont thing we would even need that Long of a time frame.

Originally Posted by chouchou

Being able to double dip would be wonderful.... We never know....

Yeah, but if all keeps their eyes on it, we will. Remember what we did to BofA, lol.

Interest rates on Vietnamese dong loans edged up Monday for the third consecutive week, reflecting the tighter monetary conditions since the central bank raised banks' reserve requirements at the start of the month.

Six-month lending rates from four state-run banks, Vietnam's top lenders, edged up to 8.7-8.9 percent Monday from 8.6 percent last Monday and 7.5-8.0 percent on June 4.

State-owned bank dealers said rates on overnight dong loans firmed to 7.2-7.6 percent from 6.5-7.0 percent last Monday and 4.0-4.5 percent in the first week of the month.

The central bank tightened monetary policy by raising banks' compulsory reserves from June 1, aiming to rein in inflation.
Demand for funds is expected to increase as the year progresses. The economy grew 7.9 percent in the first five months, below the 8.5 percent growth target for 2007, which has prompted the government to call on ministries and other bodies to push for 9 percent expansion in the second half of the year.

Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc said last week that action should be taken to accelerate growth in the industrial and service sectors to help offset a slowdown in agricultural production.

Funding demand will continue strong in 2008, when Vietnam is looking for growth of up to 8.7 percent, according to a government order last week.

Partly private banks seem to have ample funds
Vietnam's sixth-largest lender, Sacombank, said January to May deposits soared 99 percent from a year earlier to VND35.6 trillion (US$2.2 billion) and loans in the same period reached VND19.3 trillion ($1.2 billion), or 83 percent higher than in the same period last year.

The central bank set the official exchange rate at VND16,124 per dollar on Monday, down 0.14 percent from the end of 2006.

The dong's value has fallen back in the past three weeks, since it climbed to 16,101 dong per dollar on May 24 after hitting the year's low of 16,150 on Jan. 20.

Vietnam, bright star of world economy: US businessmen
16:34' 20/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam is creating the most favourable conditions for foreign investors. Vietnam will be surely a trustworthy address for effective investment. That’s the strong message that was sent by the Vietnamese President to American investors at the “Financial investment in Vietnam” forum held in New York on June 19.

President Nguyen Minh Triet at the forum.

The Vietnamese President and his entourage attended the forum and witnessed the signing of many financial investment cooperation documents between Vietnamese and American companies.

The forum, held by the AIG insurance group, Credit Suisse financial group, and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), drew the attendance of senior officials of big groups in the US.

Mr Triet delivered a speech at the forum and hailed the efforts of the three organisers. In his speech, Mr Triet introduced Vietnam as a rapidly developing economy and said that Vietnamese people were hardworking and friendly. Vietnam needs capital to develop its economy and all foreign investors are welcome in the country.

On behalf of the Vietnamese state, the President delivered a message to American businessmen: “Vietnam is creating the most favourable conditions for American investors as well as foreign investors to do business in Vietnam. Vietnam will surely be a trustworthy address for effective investment.

“Today, talking about Vietnam is no longer talking about war, but a dynamic, promising and developing economy in Southeast Asia. Talking about Vietnam is talking about the more trustworthy investment environment, attractive investment-calling programmes and policies. The Vietnamese Government and related agencies always attach importance to the interests of investors. Go to Vietnam to see a friendly country, friendly people and you will want to invest more. Go to Vietnam to see with your own eyes what I’ve told you. Vietnam expects to welcome investment from American businesses,” Mr Triet emphasised.

“President Bush on his visit to Vietnam last year was impressed by Vietnamese people. In the talk with me, he said that he was surprised that Vietnamese people are so friendly and ho****able. Seeing the friendliness of Vietnamese people and good security in Vietnam, President Bush didn’t worry about stretching his body over the car door to wave his hands at Vietnamese people. Australian Prime Minister John Howard wore sportswear to run around Hoan Kiem Lake. That’s the image of today’s Vietnam and the Vietnam of the future,” President Triet added.


Mr Triet also praised the US people as open, dynamic and ho****able people and the US as a developed country with highly developed science and technology. “American investors will have many conditions to bring into play their advantages in Vietnam,” he said.

Jeffrey Shafer, Vice Chairman of Citigroup, on behalf of American financial investors, hailed the visit of President Triet to the US. The presence of Mr Triet at the forum is the clearest evidence for the attention of the Vietnamese government to investors. He also said that the visit would pave the way for international financial investors to strengthen their presence in Vietnam.

“Vietnam is expanding this market to the world and we believe that Vietnam will record impressive results. The Vietnamese government has made a strong commitment to supporting economic development. Vietnam is a rapidly developing and dynamic economy, a real player, and a bright star of the world economy. As a new star, Vietnam’s predicted growth rate this year is 8.5%. American financial investors are really impressed by Vietnam’s achievements,” Mr Shafer said.

“We, financial investors, are ready to go with Vietnam in the cause of development… We are proud to contribute to the development of Vietnam and participate in development programmes. Investors are wiling to invest more into the developing stock market of Vietnam,” he added.

Before going to the forum, President Triet witnessed the signing of many important cooperation agreements worth more than US$2 billion with American partners and other partners.

Specifically, the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank) signed four cooperation agreements worth $1.55 billion with Wachovia Bank, the UK’s Standard Chartered Bank, and Austria’s RZB Bank.

Tuan Nguyen (from New York)

VietNamNet Bridge

Vietnamese President visits New York Stock Exchange
09:57' 20/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet paid a visit to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at 11am, June 19 (New York time) and witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between the HCM City Securities Trading Centre and the NYSE.

President Triet writes some lines in the visitor’s book of the NYSE (Photo: AP)

New York is the first place that Mr Triet has been on his five-day visit to the US. This city is famous for the NYSE and the NASDAQ stock exchanges. New York is considered the capital of the world financial market and the NYSE is the heart of that capital. Two years ago, during his official visit to the US in June 2005, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai also paid a visit to the NYSE.

Also on June 19, representatives of Citigroup, led by its Chairman Chuck Prince, came to greet President Triet. During the meeting with the Vietnamese President, the Citigroup Chairman expressed his admiration of Vietnam’s outstanding development. He said that along with the development of the Vietnamese economy, the country’s investment environment had a lot of potential and that Citigroup wanted to participate in various fields of the Vietnamese economy.

After the meeting, under Mr Triet’s watch, Citigroup signed loan agreements worth more than US$400 million with the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) group, the Vietnam Shipping Lines Corporation (Vinalines), and the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Group (Vinacomin).

Specifically, EVN will borrow capital from Citigroup to develop business. This is a new development in banking and finance cooperation between Citigroup and EVN. The fields of cooperation include electric and telecom charge payment service through the bank, telecom services, forex trading and capital management, risk management, deposit investment and other payment services.

Meanwhile, Vinacomin selected Citigroup as the consultant for its first bond issuance in Vietnam. For Vinalines, the loan from Citigroup will be used to develop its flotilla and port projects. Under its development plan from now to 2010, Vinalines will double the number of its vessels and develop large-scale seaports so it needs huge sources of capital.

According to Jeffrey Shafer, Vice Chairman of Citigroup, who is in charge of global banking services, the Vietnamese economy is growing very rapidly and is integrating into the world market. Vietnamese companies, thus, will seek to increase foreign capital and foreign financial sources to raise their competitiveness. Citigroup is willing to assist Vietnamese companies in this significant period of development.

Also on June 19 in the morning, President Triet met with representatives of the Ford Foundation and overseas Vietnamese in Canada.

At the same time, the Vietnam-US business forum was held in New York. In the afternoon on June 19, Mr Triet visited the headquarters of the American textile-garments group, met with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and US financial investors.


American groups hail Vietnamese President's visit


The Washington Post, a major US newspaper, on June 19 ran a half-page letter submitted by 10 American groups, describing the visit as a milestone in the development of Vietnam-US ties.

The letter said that exports from the US to Vietnam had increased by 300 percent since the two countries signed the Bilateral Trade Agreement in 2000. Joining the World Trade Organisation earlier this year, Vietnam has became a full partner in the world business community.

In their letter, the American businessmen praised Vietnam's economic reform, describing it as having turned the country into one of the fastest growing economies and most promising markets in the world. Also in the June 19 edition, the Washington Post published President Triet's photo and flags of Vietnam and the US.

During the visit to the US by President Triet from June 19-23, CNN everyday will broadcast a video clip, "Vietnam: A New Horizon", highlighting achievements of the "Doi moi" (Renovation) process in Vietnam over the past 20 years in all fields.

Tuan Nguyen (from New York)

VietNamNet Bridge

The UK’s second wave of investment begins to rise
12:59' 19/06/2007 (GMT+7)

UK Ambassador to Vietnam Robert Gordon
VietNamNet Bridge - The second wave of investment of the UK in Vietnam with the participation of big corporations in financial services, oil and gas, software, mining and telecom has begun to appear, affirmed Robert Gordon, UK Ambassador to Vietnam in a talk with the press about the economic relations between Vietnam and the UK.

Talks with the UK Ambassador

With nearly four years in Vietnam, you have contributed to promote the ties between Vietnam and the UK in many areas. What fields are you satisfied with the most and what fields do the two countries need to promote in the future?

The relationships between Vietnam and the UK are more diversified. The UK has become one of the largest non-refundable aid providers for Vietnam. The signing of the 10-year development partnership agreement in 2006 is the peak in my term.

Along with opening opportunities when Vietnam becomes a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), challenges in sensitive areas of Vietnam are also very big. Those fields require special attention and we are assisting Vietnam to get this attention through the “Post-WTO” initiative/project.

Another new challenge that can make remarkable influences on Vietnam is the challenge that originates from climate change and the global warming phenomenon. We took climate change as the topic of the British Queen’s birthday party in Hanoi this June. We want to cooperate with Vietnam to raise awareness in this issue and to help Vietnam have suitable preparations.

New waves of investment from Japan, the US, and the Republic of Korea are now mentioned very often. As one of the biggest investors of the European Union in Vietnam, should we have much hope about a new wave of investment from the UK in the near future?

The UK is now an important investor in Vietnam. We are proud of what British famous companies such as Prudential, BP, Unilever, Tate & Lyle and others have performed in Vietnam.

With opportunities of the post-WTO period, Vietnam is being known more in Britain and we have seen the second wave of investment of the UK in Vietnam. This wave brings to Vietnam big companies operating in the areas of financial services, oil and gas, software, mining and telecom.

If those projects are successful, the volume of new investment capital of Britain in Vietnam may be very large.

Last year the UK’s import turnover from Vietnam was ten times higher than its export revenue to Vietnam. Does the country plan to balance its trade with Vietnam?

For the UK, actually, trade is as significant as supporting Vietnam’s economic development. By opening our market for Vietnamese goods, we are creating jobs for thousands of Vietnamese labourers.

The above trade deficit statistics doesn’t reflect the real picture of trade between the two countries because the re-export via the third countries needs to be considered. Trade deficits can be partly balanced by invisible incomes from services. I believe that there are many chances for British export goods to Vietnam.

To solve hindrances for the both sides in trade exchange, we are building the Joint Economic and Trade Committee between the two sides (Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his British counterpart Tony Blair expressed their great support to the establishment of this committee). The first meeting of this committee is slated for this year’s end.

Could you make a sketch of the trade picture between the two countries in the next five years?

By 2012, Vietnam will complete its WTO accession commitments. At that time, the economy of the two countries will integrate deeply and widely into the world economy. Other initiatives like the EU-ASEAN Free Trade Area will promote this process.

Vietnam’s goods will be very popular in the UK. Vietnam’s first big companies will open their offices in London. Vietnamese companies will list their stocks on the London Stock Exchange. Many British investors will buy stocks of newly equitised firms and banks of Vietnam. Vietnamese consumers will have more chances to have access to British financial and telecom services in Vietnam.

As a country which has per capita income at the medium level, Vietnam will be less dependent on preferential grants for large infrastructure and financial demands. We can see the first private-state partnerships that will provide funds for important projects like school and ho****al building in Vietnam.

(Source: Dau tu)
VietNamNet - The UK’s second wave of investment begins to rise

Will stock market suffer from IPO-induced ‘indigestion’?
17:02' 20/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The Government may ask giant state owned corporations and banks to reconsider the dates of their IPO (initial public offering), for fear that the stock market may suffer from “indigestion” if all of them make IPO at the same time.

Tran Bac Ha, Director General of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), has asked the Government to re-arrange the dates for the IPOs of important state owned corporations and banks scheduled to take place in the second half of the year.

According to Mr Ha, an overly high supply of shares may lead to the decrease of share prices, while creating losses for the state.

Share ‘indigestion’

The IPOs of a series of big state owned corporations at the same time may make the market stumble. The big state owned corporations include BIDV, which will have the expected chartered capital of VND14tril ($0.875bil). Though proposing the time rearrangement, Mr Ha said that BIDV would still carry out its IPO as previously planned.

When asked if the IPO of Vietnam Industrial and Commercial Bank (Incombank), also slated for the fourth quarter of the year, would have any bad impact on either big bank, Mr Ha said tersely: “The same quarter, but not the same month”.

With the tentative chartered capital of VND10tril, Vietcombank has submitted its equitisation plan to the Prime Minister. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Deputy Director General of Vietcombank, said that with the current condition of the stock market, it would be difficult to sell shares at high prices, but added that the situation might be different in August.

Huynh Nam Dung, Chairman of the Mekong Housing Development Bank (MHB), said that he had not received any instruction from the Prime Minister relating to the IPO delays; therefore, the bank was now still moving ahead with its previously set plan. He said that MHB might perform IPO in October.

Meanwhile, investors have heard that other state owned giants in telecommunications and brewing are also planning to make IPO in the upcoming months.

Le Ngoc Minh, Director of MobiFone, said that the company had not received any instructions on an IPO roadmap rearrangement. MobiFone previously planned to auction its shares in December at the latest. Meanwhile, Sabeco, a brewery and drink company, is having its assets valued, and its IPO plan is expected to be drawn up to be submitted to the Ministry of Industry and the Government by early August.

After the plan is approved, Sabeco will auction shares equivalent to 20% of chartered capital in the first phase, and sell another 20% in 2008. Another brewery company, Habeco, is planning to make IPO at the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter.

Dilemma

Economists give contradictory opinions regarding the massive IPO movement of state owned corporations.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, Head of the Macro Economic Management Division under the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM), said that banks should not make IPO at the same time, because the market would not be able to consume such a big volume of commodities, especially at this moment, while it is in a low period.

An economist said that the IPOs of several banks could be delayed, but Vietcombank could not delay its IPO, because the bank already issued convertible bonds in December 2005. Investors have been waiting two years for the right to become the bank’s shareholders.

Meanwhile, bankers seem to not agree with the suggestions to delay the IPOs. A bank director said that the high price of shares was not the only thing the bank wanted when making IPO. “If IPOs are delayed, the equitisation and bank restructuring process will be prolonged.”

How to arrange time for IPOs?

According to an official of the State Securities Commission (SSC), the organ still does not know how to best arrange the time for IPOs. He said that it was a very big issue, and it needed to be discussed by a lot of state management agencies.

“We put a series of enterprises into auction, while the State Bank of Vietnam is trying to tighten its monetary policy by limiting banks’ loans given for securities investment and requiring higher compulsory reserve ratio,” the official said.

Meanwhile, according to the official, no one can measure the demand for securities at this moment. The State Bank still cannot release figures on foreign portfolio investment and the public idle capital volume.

“What will we say, to delay or to continue IPO plans if we do not have any basis for our conclusion?” he questioned.

(Source: Tuoi tre)

Vietnam among emerging stars to challenge booming economies
17:47' 20/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam is among the emerging countries to challenge booming economies like Brazil, Russia, India and China, said a local newspaper.

"Goldman Sachs, the American investment bank that coined the term Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China), compiled a list of the "next 11" regions it thinks are snapping at Bric's heels - Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam," the Sunday Times reported.

The paper highlighted that Vietnam's economic growth is close to rivaling that of China and India, with projected expansion of 8 percent a year for the next five years. Its stock market is up a spectacular 500 percent since 2003 and 95 percent over the past year.

"Vietnam has a young, well-educated population, distinguishing it from some other emerging markets and indeed some western economies, providing it with a strong workforce," the paper quoted Mick Gilligan of Killik, an adviser, as saying.

The new JSM Indochina fund, listed on London 's Alternative Investment Market, is seeking 300 million GBP to invest in shopping centres and serviced apartments in Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi.

According to Goldman Sachs, Vietnam along with Mexico, the RoK and Turkey have the potential to become as important as China and India are now over the next 30 years.

The American investment bank pointed out that over the past three years, economic growth across the "next 11" regions has averaged 5.9 percent, the strongest in 15 years and more than double the 2.3 percent average in Europe.

(Source: VNA)

Vietnam crude oil output to miss target
Vietnam is expected to produce 16.8 million tons of crude oil this year against an initial target of 17.5 million tons, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Wednesday.

In the first six months, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) had produced 7.68 million tons, the newspaper quoted the head of the state-owned firm, Tran Ngoc Canh, as saying.

The lower output was due to certain factors like less-than-expected progress in buying an oil field in Kazakhstan and drilling in Malaysia being hit by bad weather.

Vietnam exported 16.6 million tons of crude oil valued at over US$8.3 billion last year, mainly to China, Singapore, Japan, Britain, and the US.

Source: Xinhua
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