Thứ Năm, 31 tháng 12, 2015

Viet Nam becomes attractive destination for Russian tourists



According to the Russian Association of Tour Operators (ATOR), the number of Russian tourists to Viet Nam rose 3.8 percent in November, compared to the previous month.



Together with Viet Nam, Thailand and India also recorded substantial surge in number of Russian holiday-makers.



According to the ATOR, the three countries are among 10 countries seeing the highest rates of tour searching and booking by Russians in November.



Nearly 24,000 Russian tourists arrived in Viet Nam in October, posting a year-on-year surge of 60 percent.




Viet Nam becomes attractive destination for Russian tourists

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Hung King worship important to Viet Nam’s spiritual life



Le Hong Ly, Head of the Institute of Cultural Studies under the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences, said the worship of Hung Kings has become a national symbol gathering communities and ethnic groups living across Viet Nam.


It has also been a symbol for community unity in all places in the world where Vietnamese people live, said Ly.


As an intangible world cultural heritage, the values of the Hung King worship rituals should be promoted, said Ta Ngoc Tan, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, asking for State management in preserving the cultural heritage.


Nguyen The Hung, Head of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Cultural Heritage Department, said the Hung King worship rituals play an especially important role in the formation and development of Viet Nam’s cultural characteristics and identity.


It also helps build up the traditional national cultural value system and the Hung King worship rituals have been and will continue to be the fulcrum of the national unity bloc.


Truong Quoc Binh from the National Culture and Art Institute said the Hung King worship rituals, which develop from the traditional ancestor worship rituals, have been a foundation for unity, love and mutual assistance, and spiritual and cultural features indispensable in modern society.


Binh said on the path of reform and world integration, the Vietnamese people need to continue to preserve and promote precious cultural values and the outstanding global values of the Hung King worship rituals in modern life.


The worship of Hung Kings was included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritages in 2012.




Hung King worship important to Viet Nam’s spiritual life

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Art programmes to be staged in Ha Noi to salute New Year



The annual Countdown Party will kick off at Ly Thai To Flower Garden at 8 pm, bringing together local artists from across the country as well as international DJs.


With music and light systems, songs and dances, the out-door event will be arranged into two themes: Cheering 2016 and Youth Welcoming New Year 2016.


Also at 8:00pm the same day and lasting until 0:15 on January 1, 2016, the ‘Thang Long – Ha Noi Spirit’ programme will be staged at August Revolution Square in front of the Ha Noi Opera House.


The event will feature songs honouring the Party, land and people of Ha Noi as well as an exciting display of music and lights by popular bands and DJs.


Hanoians can also go to an arts programme to be held by the Thang Long Song and Dance Theatre at Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc square from 9:00pm, December 31 to 0:30 the next day.


In addition to melodies on Ha Noi and the spring, the show will also include contemporary dances by the Carmen and Sine dance troupes with the support of DJ Trang Moon.




Art programmes to be staged in Ha Noi to salute New Year

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Closing ceremony of National Tourism Year 2015 – Thanh Hoa



(Photo: thanhhoa.gov.vn)


The closing ceremony had the attendance of Mr. Hoang Tuan Anh, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Head of the Steering Board of National Tourism Year 2015; Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thien, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism; relevant leaders of ministries, sectors and localities, visitors and local people.


Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Hoang Tuan Anh highly appreciated contributions of Thanh Hoa and other localities to the success of National Tourism Year 2015. With the theme “Networking World Heritage”, Thanh Hoa Province and other localities cooperated to develop tourism products, attractive destinations and promote special values of cultural heritage in tourism development.


Minister Hoang Tuan Anh suggested in the coming time, Thanh Hoa and other localities should continue to raise public awareness of tourism development, improve effectiveness of destination management, human resources training and service quality; attract strategic investors to develop high-quality tourism products and services…


During the National Tourism Year 2015, 61 large-scale events were organized in Thanh Hoa and other localities.


In 2015, the number of tourists staying overnight at provinces and cities having heritage sites increase averagely 11% over 2014; tourism receipts increased over 13%. Thanh Hoa Province welcomed over 5.5 million tourist arrivals in 2015, increasing by 21.8% over 2014, of which, international arrivals were 127,000, increasing by 26,2%; total tourism receipts reached VND 5,180 billion, up 40.4%.


The event is also an opportunity to promote the beauty of Thanh Hoa’s landscapes and people as well as to enhance linkage in tourism development between Thanh Hoa Province and other localities, utilize tourism potentials and attract tourists…


National Tourism Year 2016 – Phu Quoc – Mekong Delta will be held in Kien Giang Province with the theme “Exploring Southern Land”.


Thu Thuy




Closing ceremony of National Tourism Year 2015 – Thanh Hoa

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Thứ Hai, 28 tháng 12, 2015

Vietnam ministry rejects rumor of car spanrices surging next year


The Ministry of Finance has denied rumors that retail prices of automobiles will be hiked significantly at the beginning of next year given a new taxation regime, local media reported.


At many dealerships, salespeople have told their customers that a special consumption tax mechanism, which will take effect on January 1, 2016, will trigger a retail price hike of 15-30 percent, news website VietNamNet said.


The rumor has led to a rise in sales of imported automobiles at many dealerships, especially those in Vietnam’s biggest cities Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.


Those who have planned to buy a car are rushing to realize their intention before possibly having to pay the extra amount caused by the new taxation regime.


However, one expert from the Ministry of Finance told VietNamNet that there will be no such price surge.


Regulations on the new taxation regime including very specific guidelines from the finance ministry have been cascaded to all automotive businesses, he said.


Given the new special consumption tax rate, the retail price of imported cars, or CBUs, from the start of 2016 will only be 1.2-5 percent higher the wholesale price, excluding value-added tax, he added.


Automobiles that are built thoroughly in one country and then shipped to other nations are called CBUs.


All of the information is mentioned in Circular 195/2015/TT-BTC guiding the implementation of Government Decree No. 108/2015/ND-CP dated October 28, 2015 and providing detailed regulations and guidelines for the application of the new special consumption tax, he told VietNamNet.


In Article 5 of the section specifying the calculation of the new tax rate in the circular, the Ministry of Finance presented an example of a CBU with a wholesale price of US$20,000.


With an import duty of 70 percent, a special consumption tax rate of 45 percent, and an official foreign exchange rate of VND22,500 to the U.S. dollar, the wholesale price of the CBU in Vietnam will be at VND1.165 billion (US$51,260).


According to an expert from the Ministry of Finance, with the new tax regime, the retail prices of the majority of CBUs will be 1.2-3 percent higher than the wholesale prices for cars with a small engine capacity, and 4-5 percent more expensive for vehicles with a bigger engine capacity.


This will not lead to a 15-30 percent retail price surge as rumored, he added.


In a press conference in October this year, Pham Dinh Thi, head of the Tax Policy Department under the finance ministry, said the price of small imported cars may go down sharply in the next four years given the adjustment in taxes levied on them following the commitments of Vietnam to join multiple regional and international free trade agreements.


The price drop applicable to imported cars with an engine capacity smaller than one liter is due to the exemption of import tax and a dip in special consumption tax, according to news website VnExpress, which cited calculations by the department.


The prices of such small cars may plunge 42 percent compared to the current rates, Thi said.


As seen in the roadmap on excise tax reduction for imported cars with nine seats or fewer, the special consumption tax rates will drop from 45 percent to 40 percent, 30 percent and 20 percent by June 2016 to 2017-end, 2018, and 2019, for vehicles with engines of one liter and below.


The rates for 1-to-1.5-liter cars will also drop from 45 percent to 40 percent, 35 percent and 25 percent from June 2016 to 2017-end, 2018, and 2019, respectively.


Meanwhile, the duties slapped on 1.5-to-2-liter automobiles will be cut from 45 percent to 40 percent, falling to 30 percent by 2018 and 2019.


According to the Vietnam Association of Automobile Manufacturers (VAMA), total sales in the first 11 months reached 215,517 vehicles, up 57 percent over the same period last year.


Particularly in November, turnover rose 86 percent year on year.


The VAMA forecast that total sales would meet or exceed the record level of 220,000 vehicles sold by the end of this year.


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Vietnam ministry rejects rumor of car spanrices surging next year

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Vietnam’s foreign caspanital sees double-digit sspanike in 2015


Double-digit growth has been forecast for both committed and disbursed foreign direct investment (FDI) by the end of 2015, according to new figures released by the General Statistics Office.


Total newly-registered and additional FDI in Vietnam has reached US$22.76 billion so far this year, up 12.5 percent ​​compared with 2014, the GSO said.


As of December 15, the Southeast Asian country had attracted 2,013 FDI projects with a combined registered capital of $15.58 billion, a 26.8 percent rise in terms of volume but down 0.4 percent in value against the same period last year.


Meanwhile, disbursed FDI is estimated to be $14.5 billion, up 17.4 percent over the previous year.


Processing and manufacturing are the largest contributors with investment totaling $15.23 billion, accounting for 66.9 percent of the registered capital.


They are followed by electricity and gas with $2.81 billion (12.4 percent), real estate with $2.39 billion (10.5 percent), and other industries with $2.32 billion (10.2 percent).


Ho Chi Minh City takes the lead among 48 localities in attracting new FDI, with a registered capital of $2.81 billion, making up 18 percent of the total.


The southern economic hub is followed by the southern province of Tra Vinh with $2.52 billion (16.2 percent), the southern province of Binh Duong with $2.46 billion (15.8 percent), and its neighbor Dong Nai Province with $1.47 billion (9.4 percent).


Of the 58 countries and territories that have carried out new investment projects in Vietnam this year, South Korea is the biggest with $2.68 billion, accounting for 17.2 percent of the total newly-registered capital.


Followers are Malaysia with $2.45 billion (15.7 percent), Japan with $1.28 billion (8.2 percent), the United Kingdom with $1.26 billion (8.1 percent), and Singapore with $1.03 billion (6.6 percent).


Earlier this month, Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh told Bloomberg that FDI disbursement would reach about $14 billion by the end of the year, an annual surge of 12 percent.


Bloomberg quoted Minister Vinh as saying that total capital commitments in 2015 are also forecast to be higher than the previous year"s figure of $21.9 billion.


“Our improving investment environment and trade agreements help attract more companies to move from China and other regional countries to Vietnam,” Vinh told Bloomberg.


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Vietnam’s foreign caspanital sees double-digit sspanike in 2015

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Vietnam to set negative interest for dollar despanosits: cbank governor


The State Bank of Vietnam may slash interest on deposits in U.S. dollars to even below the current rate of zero to continue its de-dollarization drive, particularly after the FED rate hike, the central bank’s governor has said.


On December 17, the SBV abolished the cap on individual dollar deposit rates after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade, but Governor Nguyen Van Binh said more measures will be taken to de-dollarize the economy.


FED raised the range of its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.25 percent and 0.50 percent, according to Reuters.


“We respect the right to keep foreign currencies of the public and businesses, but when it comes to doing transactions in Vietnam, the dong must be used,” he told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper in an interview published Monday.


“The ultimate goal of [our] de-dollarization plan is that everyone has to withdraw the Vietnamese dong for use, even though they have a legal source of foreign currencies.”


Binh said the measures to be taken with the U.S. dollar will be similar to what the central bank has done to discourage local residents from keeping and using gold in the last few years.


“People used to be able to enjoy an interest rate for their gold savings, but they currently have to pay fees to keep their precious metal at credit institutions,” he said.


Vietnamese banks have stopped mobilizing gold deposits since late 2012, and began charging ‘gold keeping fees’ the following year.


“We may do the same with savings in dollars in the coming time,” Binh said.


Prior to the removal of the cap on individual dollar deposit rates, the central bank also scrapped the ceiling for dollar deposits offered by banks to organizations and companies.


“We do not rule out the possibility that a negative interest rate will be applied to both of the deposits,” Binh said.


This means that instead of paying interest to depositors, lenders will charge them for dollar-denominated savings, according to the governor.


The U.S. dollar is currently able to be traded in Vietnam within a band of VND21,233 and VND22,547, following the latest forex rate adjustment by the State Bank of Vietnam in August.


Despite the zero interest rate for dollar deposits, the greenback is still being exchanged near its ceiling, which the SBV governor attributed to ‘psychological factors.’


“The coming measures will all target such factors, and once there is no longer dollar hoarding in the economy, the interest rate for dollar deposits can be increased,” Binh asserted.


The governor added the central bank is taking steps to apply a new management mechanism to the interbank trading band, which determines the official dollar/dong exchange rate.


The trading band for VND-USD transactions is currently set at three percent, which Binh said “still allows dollar speculators to make profits.”


“But in the future we will consider changing the interbank rate frequently, even on a daily basis, so there are risks for those speculating on the foreign currency,” he said.


“The dollar you buy today will bring losses the following day, when the central bank changes the interbank trading rate, so it is more risky for the hoarders.”


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Vietnam to set negative interest for dollar despanosits: cbank governor

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