Business

The World Bank and Vietnamese government have signed a credit agreement for $221.5 million to support the country’s Covid recovery via policy reforms. Lasting 30 years with a grace period of five years, and provided through the WB’s International Development Association, the $221.5-million credit encourages policy reforms under two pillars. …

Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index rose 0.8 percent to 1,488.88 points Monday, the highest in a month, but with plunging trading value. The index shot up in the last hour of trading to close nearly 12 points higher. Together with the Friday gain, it has risen almost 32 points, continuing to recover …

The Ministry of Finance has cut road tolls for passenger transport vehicles by 30 percent for the first six months of 2022 to help suffering operators. Goods transport vehicles such as trucks and tractors will get a 10 percent discount. It is one of 37 fees that will be slashed …

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, more and more low-price cafés are franchising and doing well. At 9.00 everyday a Napoli café franchisee on Dong Nai Road, District 10, HCMC is crowded. Its owner, Hoang, says: “We directly serve hundreds of customers a day. The number of customers making orders via apps …

Authorities have postponed the launch of a night street zone around Hue’s Imperial Citadel scheduled on January 1 on Covid-19 safety grounds. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had last week ordered a ban on large gatherings during the New Year and Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays amid the worsening pandemic …

Raw material and feedstock costs have risen this year, and with enterprises having to spend heavily on Covid-19 safety, prices have been rising across the board. A recent online survey by VnExpress of over 23,000 readers found inflation to be one of 10 economic changes in 2021 that affected them …

Colonel Tao Duc Thang is set to take over as chairman and CEO of military-owned telecom giant Viettel from Le Dang Dung, who retires on December 31. Thang, 48, who has been the deputy CEO since 2015, has an M.A. in electronics and communications and worked for Hanoi Phone Company …

A charter flight brought 226 Russian tourists to the central coastal Khanh Hoa Province on Sunday under an ongoing vaccine passport trial program. The first Russian tourists visiting the province since the country partially reopened its borders last month after nearly two years are staying at Vinpearl Resort Nha Trang, …

Japanese retailer Aeon plans to open an additional 100 of its MaxValu supermarkets in Vietnam by 2025 in the context of wet markets suffering difficulties following Covid outbreaks. A Nikkei Asia report said that Aeon, which has four MaxValu stores in Hanoi at present, would add bigger stores with 500 …

With steep falls in income a major impact of the pandemic in 2021, Vietnamese citizens have cut down spending on non-essential spending items. Trung Hieu, a freelancer in HCMC, has seen his 2021 savings reduced by half against previous years because of the impacts of the fourth Covid-19 wave. The …