Study to build low-interest credit packages for social housing buyers
On the evening of May 17, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting to remove obstacles and promote the development of social housing, implementing the project “Investing in building at least 1 million social housing apartments for low-income people and industrial park workers in the period of 2021-2030”.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Accordingly, the Prime Minister requested that the State Bank study, build, and provide credit packages for social housing buyers, expand the credit package, extend the loan term to 10-15 years, and offer preferential interest rates 3-5% lower than usual commercial loans. In addition, the State Bank will take the lead in coordinating with relevant ministries to guide commercial banks to facilitate collateral and lending procedures for enterprises implementing social housing projects.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment will coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank to urgently report to the Prime Minister on supplementing the state budget capital for social housing lending through the Social Policy Bank in the period of 2024-2025.
The Ministry of Finance will study the establishment of a Social Housing Fund and propose it before June 30, 2024. It will also guide localities to issue social housing bonds.
Global gold prices soar, while domestic gold prices remain stagnant
On the morning of May 18, the global gold price stood at $2,414 per ounce, surging by $37 per ounce compared to the previous day. Meanwhile, domestic gold bar and gold ring prices remained unchanged.
Saigon Jewelry Company listed the SJC gold price at 87.5-90 million VND/tael (buy-sell).
Phu Quy Gold Jewelry Company quoted the SJC gold bar price at 87.4-89.5 million VND/tael.
Bao Tin Minh Chau Jewelry Company listed the SJC gold bar price at 87.45-89.5 million VND/tael.
Gold ring prices of various brands hovered around 76 million VND/tael.
SJC gold bar price stagnates around 90 million VND/tael
Domestic gold prices have remained stagnant following a series of measures by the State Bank regarding gold auctions. Notably, yesterday, the State Bank announced an inspection of gold trading activities of credit institutions and enterprises over the past four years.
This inspection comes amid continuously rising gold prices, with the SJC gold bar price even hitting a record high of 92 million VND/tael last weekend.
Nearly 5,000 employees leave The Gioi Di Dong
Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG) experienced robust personnel growth before 2022. The peak number of employees was on September 30, 2022, with more than 80,230 people. However, this number stagnated in 2022 and sharply declined in 2023.
By December 31, 2022, MWG had over 65,400 employees, a reduction of 14,817 staff members. The company also closed 200 stores.
In the first quarter of this year, the number of employees further decreased by more than 4,850. Currently, MWG has approximately over 60,560 employees.
Thus, from September 30, 2022, to March 31, 2024, The Gioi Di Dong has reduced its workforce by 24.5%, equivalent to 19,670 people.
The Gioi Di Dong continues to cut over 4,850 employees in the first quarter of 2024.
Regarding this information, Mr. Nguyen Duc Tai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MWG, stated that the majority of employees who left did so voluntarily, and the company did not lay off or have any policy of reducing staff. Employees felt that their income was no longer suitable and chose to leave.
“This decline is happening everywhere. Ineffective things will be reduced, from low to high, following the strategy of reducing quantity and increasing quality set at the beginning of the year,” said Mr. Tai.
One locality has more than 100 public investment projects with 0% disbursement
The Ministry of Finance sent a document to the People’s Committees of provinces and cities, publicly disclosing the projects with 0% disbursement of the 2024 capital investment plan funded by the central budget (domestic source) managed by localities.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the total plan for the central budget capital by sector and field managed by localities is VND 82,243 billion. By the end of March, the projects had disbursed only VND 8,634 billion, reaching 10.5% of the assigned capital plan.
This rate is lower than the country’s average disbursement rate (12%). As of April 30, there were still many projects with a disbursement rate of 0% compared to the plan assigned by the Prime Minister.
316 projects and sub-projects of 48 localities have a disbursement rate of 0%.
Specifically, 316 projects and sub-projects of 48 localities have a disbursement rate of 0%. The localities with the most un-disbursed projects are Dien Bien, Son La, Hoa Binh, Quang Tri, and Bac Kan. Dien Bien has 105 projects with 0% disbursement, the highest in the country, with a total un-disbursed capital of VND 343 billion. Son La has 22 projects, with a total capital of VND 258 billion. Hoa Binh has 18 projects, with a total capital of VND 65 billion.
According to the report, Hanoi is the locality with the highest remaining budget, with VND 4,640 billion for two projects. One of these projects is the construction of a high-speed road system under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, with an investment plan of up to VND 4,190 billion.
Nine provinces and cities with export turnover of over $10 billion revealed
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, although the country’s export turnover in 2023 decreased by 4.6% compared to 2022, many localities still achieved an export turnover of over $10 billion.
Notably, Ho Chi Minh City had the highest export turnover, with more than $42 billion. Among the nine localities with an export turnover of $10 billion or more, only Hai Phong and Bac Giang achieved positive growth in 2023.
Many of Vietnam’s export items in 2023 witnessed a sharp decline, leading to a decrease in export turnover.
Last year, Bac Ninh achieved an export turnover of $39.3 billion, down 12.8% compared to 2022. Binh Duong’s export turnover exceeded $30.6 billion, while Hai Phong reached more than $26.79 billion, up 7.4% compared to 2022. The increase of $1.84 billion in export turnover helped Hai Phong surpass Thai Nguyen to rank fourth in the ranking of localities with the highest export turnover in the country.
Thai Nguyen ranked fifth with an export turnover of $25.68 billion. Next was Bac Giang, with an export turnover of over $24.49 billion, up 8.3% compared to 2022, equivalent to an increase of nearly $1.9 billion.
The following localities in the ranking were Dong Nai, Hanoi, and Phu Tho, with export turnovers of over $21.6 billion, $16.65 billion, and $10.57 billion, respectively.
Which ‘big players’ bought more than 27,000 taels of SJC gold bars at the auction?
Before the SJC gold bar auction on May 16, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) had successfully organized three auctions.
In all three auctions, Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC) won the bid for 2,000 taels per auction.
Thus, SJC has won bids for 6,000 taels of SJC gold bars out of a total of 14,900 taels successfully auctioned in the first three sessions.
In the two most recent auctions, on May 14 and 16, the minimum bidding volume for one member was 5 lots (equivalent to 500 taels), which is lower than the previous two auctions. The maximum bidding volume for one member was 40 lots (equivalent to 4,000 taels), which is higher than in the previous auctions.
Both auctions saw the participation of three “big players” in the gold business: SJC, DOJI, and PNJ.
BOT investors threaten to sue the Vietnam Road Administration
Despite being proposed for a bailout due to business losses, the investor of the BOT Thai Ha Bridge project (Thai Binh province) continues to call for help and states that it will sue the Vietnam Road Administration and the Road Management Unit 1 (under the Vietnam Road Administration) for irresponsibility, causing heavy losses to the enterprise.
Talking to Tien Phong newspaper, a representative of BOT Cau Thai Ha Joint Stock Company said that they are coordinating with legal consultants to sue the Vietnam Road Administration and Road Management Unit 1. The lawsuit is about the issuance of construction permits for temporary intersections into the road connecting the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway with the Cau Gie-Ninh Binh expressway (belonging to the BOT Thai Ha Bridge project), which is inconsistent with the contract and causes damage to the investor.
BOT Thai Ha Bridge project.
According to the enterprise’s representative, on May 31, 2021, Road Management Unit 1 issued a construction permit for a temporary intersection into the road connecting the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway with the Cau Gie-Ninh Binh expressway at Km31+00 without any discussion or agreement with the enterprise. Up to now, the Thai Ha Industrial Park has been completed and leased. However, for almost three years, this situation has not been resolved, causing frustration for the investing enterprise.
The BOT Thai Ha project is one of eight BOT projects that are losing money, and the Ministry of Transport is proposing support to rescue them. According to the Ministry, since the start of toll collection (from January 2019) until now, the average revenue of BOT Thai Ha has reached only about 17% compared to the forecast in the contract, and the financial plan has been broken as the revenue is not enough to cover the management and operation costs.
