Thread: Exchange Rate Change Article

Exchange rates are key economic challenge:
UN

VNECONOMY updated: 20/04/2007


Vneconomy - Vietnam Economic Times


Managing exchange rates is the leading challenge facing Asia-Pacific economies this year, according to a survey issued by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) yesterday.

Jonathan Pincus, senior country economist for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said it was very difficult to manage these rates which have an enormous impact on import-export balances. Viet Nam needed a flexible system of exchange rate management, he said, in order to fit in with the rest of the region and world.

The UNESCAP survey also predicted a growth rate in 2007 of 7.4 per cent in developing economies in the region, slightly off 2006’s rate of 7.9 per cent.

The survey also predicted that inflation would be less this year in developing countries in the region, at 3.8 per cent.

In its survey report, UNESCAP singled out gender inequality as a signal matter having a great cost on regional growth and prosperity.

Pham Lan Huong, deputy director of the Ministry of Trade’s Department for Trade Policy and International Integration Studies, said the Asia-Pacific region was losing US$24-42 billion per year due to restrictions on the access of women to educational opportunities and employment.

UNESCAP suggested free universal primary education, more local schools, more WCs for schoolgirls, and long-term education programmes for women as ways to encourage parents to send daughters to school.

It urged an end to regulations that limited the ability of women to own assets or hold certain occupations, as well as providing free meals and mobile health services for school children and pregnant women.

India, Malaysia and Indonesia, each with religious and cultural traditions of male dominance, were considered to have the greatest gender inequality in education and employment, while Viet Nam was less impacted by this problem, Huong said.

Viet Nam ranked the second in the region after New Zealand in the percentage of women sitting in the nation’s governing parliamentary body, with women constituting 27 per cent of National Assembly members, said Pincus.

Source: Vietnam New

Vietnam wants dong currency to be convertible

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily
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

Regional business leaders to join major Vietnam conference

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung
More than 400 regional business people will convene at a landmark conference on Vietnam's economic take-off on April 23 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily
The Asia News Network (ANN), a co-organizer, said in a statement that the conference on "Vietnam: Modernization & Regional Integration" would address investment opportunities and challenges in Vietnam – one of the world's fastest emerging economies.

Billed as this year's biggest business forum in Vietnam, it would be inaugurated by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung with participation from his key economic ministers and international business people.

The international conference is organized by Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam News and ANN, an alliance of 16 leading newspapers in 14 Asian countries. It will take place at the Sheraton Saigon Hotel.

“The leaders of Vietnam have given the forum the highest importance as their economy further integrated into and play a part in the development of the region," said Pana Janviroj, executive director of Asia News Network in Bangkok.

"Regional business people are aware of opportunities in Vietnam and want to hear first hand from top leaders of Vietnam," said Pana, who is also president of The Nation.

ANN said Vietnam was undergoing unprecedented changes in terms of economic development since the government adopted a doi moi (renovation) policy in 1986. The policy was aimed at increasing economic openness and structural reforms.

The country, which has a population of more than 80 million, had an annual growth rate of over 7 percent in the past decade. It joined the World Trade Organization in January.

Speakers at the conference will include Asia Development Bank director (Vietnam) Ayumi Konishi; Don Lam, chairman of VinaCapital, the country's leading investment bank; and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd vice-president of corporate planning and development Nasarudin M. Idris.

Ministerial speakers at the conference include Vo Hong Phuc, Minister for Planning and Investment; Vu Khoan, former Deputy Prime Minister; Hoang Trung Hai, Minister for Energy; and Nguyen Thien Nhan, Minister for Education and Training.

International sponsors include Vina Capital, HSBC, Holcim and Vietnam Airlines.

Source: Jakarta Post

New oilfield believed to hold 5 million tonnes of oil

Nhan Dan ---Business

T he Japan-Vietnam Petroleum Co. Ltd. (JVPC) has reported that a new oilfield off Vietnam’s southern coast may hold a reserve of around 4.98 million tonnes of crude oil (37 million barrels).

The JVPC’s appraisals at the Phuong Dong oilfield in Block 15.2, which provided a probability of 50% also showed condensate reserves 0.73 million tonnes of condensate and 3.16 billion cu.m of natural gas.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung, on behalf of the PM, has ratified the appraisals.

He also ordered the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and the JVPC, which is 46.5% owned by Nippon Oil Exploration Limited of Japan, to conduct further tests at the field to determine the exact oil potential. (VNA)

Many thanks Neno...things are looking brighter these days

Patty