Economy and commerce
Vietnam a top investor in Cambodia
Vietnam was among Cambodia’s top five investors as of last April with US$3.2 billion in 171 projects. It is also Cambodia’s third largest trade partner with bilateral trade topping $3.3 billion as of 2015, Vietnamese Commercial Counselor Nguyen Bao said. Keep reading ...
Vietnam moves closer to market economy
Vietnam was striving to perfect the market economy and committed to creating the most favourable conditions for foreign investors, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said at the Vietnam Global Investment Forum on 30 September. With improvements in the business climate, infrastructure and the financial markets, Vietnam ...
Vietnam's trade ministry now wants 150 percent tax on luxury cars
Only one month after the Ministry of Finance proposed increasing luxury taxes on cars with large engines to up to 75 percent, trade officials now say the maximum tax rate should be raised to 150 percent to restrict the use of expensive, fuel-hungry vehicles. Keep reading ...
Thailand slips in competitiveness survey
Thailand has slipped one place on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and is now ranked 32nd out of 140 economies analysed in a survey released by the World Economic Forum on 30 September. This year’s results reversed the uptrend that the Kingdom had been on in previous ...
Bid to give Thailand property market a lift
The Finance Ministry proposes to cut the transfer and mortgage fee to 0.01 per cent of the appraised value for a period of six months to one year as part of the government’s stimulus measures for the property sector. The ministry also plans to relax lending conditions ...
Rising anger in Thailand's boom-to-bust northeast
The rural heartland of Thailand’s deposed leader Yingluck Shinawatra and her exiled billionaire brother Thaksin is hurting as a result of the military government’s economic policies, stirring discontent and the threat of protests. The removal of generous agricultural subsidies has left rice farmers in northeast Thailand ...
Unions balk at floated figure
Garment worker unions on 30 September decried a preliminary, government-suggested increase to the minimum wage as being far too close to what they perceive as a lowball offer from employers. As tripartite wage talks continue, unions said officials from the government’s Labour Advisory Committee had on 29 ...
Lao central bank to stop direct lending
The Bank of Laos has proposed the postponement of direct lending to new state investment projects as part of measures to safeguard the banking and financial system of the country, according to the central bank governor. Mr Somphao Phaysith made the proposal at a meeting between ...
ANZ Bank receives Myanmar licence just ahead of deadline
The Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group has become the last of nine foreign banks to receive a branch licence to operate in Myanmar. The Central Bank of Myanmar’s licencing committee announced it had awarded a licence to ANZ on 29 September, just days ahead ...
Vietnam GDP grows 6.8% in 3Q
Vietnam’s economy grew 6.8% in the third quarter, up from 6.1% and 6.5% in the first and second quarters, respectively, the government said on 29 September. Keep reading ...
