News
SE Asia stocks: most markets set for losses in 2015, Vietnam outperforms
Southeast Asian stock markets ended down in thin trade on 31 December as investors stayed away ahead of holidays, with all markets posting losses in 2015 except for Vietnam. Singapore’s key Straits Times Index dipped 0.1 percent in mixed trade, with losses in most big caps offsetting gains in several blue ...
Red tape holds back Saigon canal boat tour: report
The operator of the only canal tour in Ho Chi Minh City has said that it is still building toilets and other tourist facilities and, in the meantime, cannot receive more than a hundred visitors a day. Phan Xuan Anh, chairman of tour operator Saigon Boat, ...
Softer loans won't quicken Vietnam coffee replanting
Cheaper credit extended to Vietnamese coffee growers for replanting part of the world’s biggest robusta production will not accelerate the process that has already been hindered by lengthy paperwork, traders and analysts said on 31 December. Vietnam aims to replace old coffee trees, now accounting for ...
Sugar posts 1st gain in 5 years as El Nino ends surplus
After four bitter years, sugar mills can look forward to sweeter prospects in 2016. Prices have rebounded 50% since reaching a seven-year low in August. Raw-sugar futures traded in New York posted a 5% gain for the year, their first annual advance since 2010. The market ...
Cambodians filling majority of hotel rooms this New Year’s
As the year-end festivities get into high gear, provincial tourism officials are reporting a sharp increase in Cambodians travelling to popular holiday spots across the country to ring in the New Year. The temple town of Siem Reap this year is seeing an increase in hotel ...
Anti-smuggling teams abolished: Commerce ministry
The government’s mobile task force teams, which aimed to clamp down on the country’s thriving illegal border trade, have been abolished, the Ministry of Commerce announced on 30 December. “All teams will stop, starting from today,” Than Win, the director of the Ministry of Commerce, told ...
Vietnam stalls policy that requires workers, employers to pay more for social security
Vietnam has delayed a new social insurance policy that aims to increase contributions to the country’s pension fund, following complaints from both businesses and workers. The policy, originally slated to take effect this January, is now waiting for further instructions from the labor ministry and relevant ...
Vietnam, partners look to sign Pacific-rim trade pact in February
The Vietnamese government expects to sign an agreement with 11 other nations in early February to finalize their negotiated terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, taking another step to turn one of the most ambitious trade pacts into reality. According to local media, Minister of Industry and Trade ...
Vietnam adds flesh to regulatory bones to court more investment
Vietnam has issued detailed regulations for foreign investors in 17 business sectors in a drive to improve the investment climate of a fast-growing country blighted by bureaucracy, but now seeing record inflows of foreign capital. The new list of sectors specifies foreign investment ratios, the scope ...
ASEAN bloc readies for integration
Significant changes are not expected with the formal launch of the ASEAN Community on 31 December as 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations still need more time to work out and adjust key issues for integration under the community’s three pillars: the ASEAN Political-Security Community, the ...
