The Market Control Department forecast May CPI will rise by between 1.8-2% due to the coming long holiday and higher world prices of commodities. Last month, this department also predicted April CPI would rise by between 1.6-1.8%.
Inflation will continue to be high for the near future due to impacts of economic and policy factors on the domestic economy, including the deregulation of electricity rates (slated to begin fluctuating under free market rules in June) and a minimum wage increase in May, said former State Bank of Vietnam Governor Cao Sy Kiem. The current bout of high inflation was ignited when the Vietnam dong was devalued by 9.3 percent against the US dollar in February, followed by hikes in petrol costs and electricity rates in March. Inflation was also spreading globally, especially in Asia, exerting great pressure on the Vietnamese economy.
Deputy Minister of Finance Do Hoang Anh Tuan said the recommendation is in light of the fact that the securities market has been on a downtrend since the beginning of this year.
According to Nguyen Hong Phuc, general director of Nha Viet Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, such changes of ownership were common in the first quarter of this year, though transaction details were often kept secret, especially if sellers were small businesses facing a shortage of capital. Since the second half of 2010, as the real estate market has taken a downturn, there are many such businesses.
Figures from the Ministry of Information and Communication revealed that Vietnamobile and Beeline networks were ranked at the bottom of market share lists. Vietnamobile had a 3.1 per cent mobile service market share and Beeline a mere 0.16 per cent by the end of last year.
A financial expert said that with solutions to stabilise the foreign exchange market, the VND/USD exchange rate will stabilise in the coming months, but interest rates may take more time to decrease.
The pepper price has increased by nearly VND50,000/kg, or 66 percent, compared with the beginning of the crop (mid-December last year). The price hike is partly due to the undersupply on the world market. At present, the export price of black pepper is US$4,456/ton, a year-on-year increase of over US$1,600, while white pepper has risen stronger (by more than US$3,000/ton) to approximately US$7,000/ton.
According to the SBV, gold deposit and lending activities in the past resulted in gold price unpredictability and fluctuations, leading to increased gold speculation and illegal imports, which negatively impacted the monetary and foreign exchange market and exchange rate. Moreover, credit organisations’ gold lending activities mainly focused on the non-production area, which is excluded from the State’s capital priorities.
The benchmark VN Index gained 3.61 points or 0.76% to 472.93. Volume fell 17% to 23.6 million shares traded for VND446.62 billion. Analysts cannot see a sustainable rally yet but they see opportunities of buying into the lows for long term investors. Short term risks are seen.
The market opened in the red with 2.3 million shares changed hands. Trading was more active, but this time sellers took control, no efforts to recover were seen. The only positive thing in today trade was higher volume.
Experts say GDRs are a merely derivative product and don’t affect directly domestic shares or interests of shareholders right here in Vietnam. On the other hand, listing on important stock exchanges through GDRs only helps to market Vietnamese companies to foreign investors. However, not all Vietnamese companies are financially strong enough to follow this route.
Commercial banks were requested to propose their specific plans for the roadmap to the central bank, the local media reported, noting that the new regulation will head up to refuse gold as a means of payment in the economy. Local media noted that the meeting didn’t mention any restriction on gold-trading transactions in the black market.
With a population of 500 million living in 27 member countries, its GDP accounting for 30 percent of the world’s, and its per capita purchasing power of US$32,700 per year, the EU market is always considered a potential one for businesses in many countries all over the world. Vietnam’s export earnings from the EU increased sharply, from US$5.621 billion in 2005, to US$15.446 billion (18 percent of the country’s total export revenue) in 2010.
The R&D centre complements the group’s manufacturing investment in the country. Since beginning local production in June 2009, Piaggio has sold more than 100,000 scooters in the Asian market.
In March, three Government bond auctions worth a total of VND15 trillion (US$717.7 million) were conducted, but just VND314 billion ($15 million) worth of bonds were sold. All were sold at a 10-year term with an interest rate of 11.5 per cent per year – the ceiling rate for Government bonds set by the Ministry of Finance during the last 18 months.
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