Rubber is one of Vietnam's key export items to the Cambodian market
Despite this growth, the country ran a trade deficit of USS354.4 million with the neighbouring country throughout the reviewed period.
One of the main reasons behind the trade deficit was increases in import turnover of six main products from the Cambodian market compared to the same period from last year, with imports of cashew nuts and rubber witnessing the highest rises.
Furthermore, the country also spent approximately US$1.83 billion on importing cashew nuts from Cambodia in the first eight months of the year, representing a 7.1-fold increase on-year. In addition, Vietnamese rubber imports from the neighbouring country stood at 5.3 times higher compared to the figure from the same period last year, hitting US$821.8 million.
Vietnamese registered investment in Cambodia reached over US$2.85 billion, primarily in agriculture, including cashew and rubber planting.
Vietnamese businesses also invested in Cambodia as a means of taking advantage of cheap labour costs and favourable conditions in terms of land, climate, and incentives, before also exporting their products back to the nation.
As a means of balancing the trade value with Cambodia, the country is striving to promote processing as a means of improving the added value of export goods, increasing yields and quality of cashew and rubber, whilst also seeking to expand export markets for cashew nuts and rubber products.
Close attention should therefore be paid to strictly controlling the import of these goods in order to ensure origin rules whilst simultaneously intensifying inspection of commodities exported to the country through Cambodia.
Vietnam advised to attract more FDI to boost economic growth
Despite a decrease in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Vietnam in recent months due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economists assessed Vietnam remains attractive to foreign investors and needs to take advantage of FDI attraction opportunities to boost economic growth, reported VNA.
Illustrative image (Source: VNA)
According to The Australia Financial Review, Vietnam is likely to remain foreign investors’ favoured destination. Though rapidly rising Delta COVID-19 infections have hit manufacturing in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s commercial hub, the big-picture story of Vietnam being a favoured destination for foreign investment is not expected to change, the daily newspaper said. Even as forecasts are trimmed, economists have faith the nation will bounce back.
“In recent decades, Vietnam has excelled in reeling in the big fish in electronics, footwear and clothing,” it said. “Low labour costs, reliable infrastructure and a smooth bureaucratic process have attracted the likes of Samsung, Foxconn, Nike, Adidas, Gap and Levis.”
As of September 20, FDI inflows into Vietnam increased by 4.4 percent year-on-year to 22.15 billion USD, reported the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
In the period, 12.5 billion USD was poured into 1,212 newly-licensed projects, up 20.6 percent in value but the number of projects was down 37.8 percent over the same period last year. Meanwhile, 6.6 billion USD was added into 678 underway projects, a year-on-year rise of 25.6 percent in capital but down 15.8 percent in project number. Foreign investors also invested nearly 3.2 billion USD to share purchase deals, down 43.8 percent compared to the same period last year.
The agency attributed the decreases in the numbers of new and expanded projects to the travel restrictions and long quarantine policy, which made it hard for foreign investors to make surveys for their planned projects. Lockdown and travel restriction measures also affected operations of FDI firms.
Nguyen Van Toan, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, stated that due to serious impact of the pandemic, many FDI enterprises faced difficulties in production and business activities. However, these difficulties are only temporary and the possibility of foreign investors moving their supply chain out of Vietnam is very small.
Moving a factory out of one country to set up another in other country is very complicated. Therefore, in the immediate future, FDI enterprises have not yet moved out of Vietnam, but they may have to push some orders to other production facilities to avoid supply chain disruption, Toan added.
Trinh Van Quang, Vina CPK Project Development Manager, said that Vietnam is still considered a country benefiting from the wave of investment shift. This once again confirms that Vietnam's investment environment is really attractive to FDI investors, not just because of the advantage of cheap labour and low rental costs compared to other countries in the region.
HCM City prepares for reopening after September 30
The downward trend in new COVID-19 infections and a high ratio of vaccination have been among good signals creating the momentum for Ho Chi Minh City to reopen its economy after September 30 as planned, reported VNA.
A view of HCM City (Photo: VNA)
According to the city Department of Health, as of September 26 morning, 9.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been injected, with 6.8 million people, or 94.5 percent of local residents over 18 years old receiving the first shots and 2.6 million others getting full two shots.
Meanwhile, the ratio of new infections in red and orange zones detected through mass testing has declined from 3.7 percent to 1.1 percent after six testing drives. In the seventh testing drive from September 20, the ratio was 0.3 percent.
Defining health care strategy as one of key factor for the re-opening plan, Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, Vice Director of the city Health Department said after vaccination reaches full coverage, the city will focus on managing COVID-19 patients in the community, while strengthening the treatment system, and conducting testing on high-risk groups.
Currently, HCM City has 90 COVID-19 treatment facilities, with 3,280 beds for critical patients, he said.
At the same time, the city is building 11 strategies for the ‘new normal’ period, including those on health care, social welfare, and business production.
Secretary of the city Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen affirmed that it’s time for the city to make necessary preparations for living safely with the virus.
“Green card” has been piloted in a number of localities hosting a large number of businesses, including District 7, Cu Chi and Can Gio district, as well as export processing zones and the High-Tech Park since September 16.
Lam Dinh Thang, Director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications said that the COVID-19 “green card” is a tool to manage people meeting all safety criteria against COVID-19, which is part of the city’s plan on partly opening and a suitable step towards the new normal situation after September 30.
Currently, the city Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control has issued 15 sets of safety criteria for seven sectors in preparation for reopening. People who want to engage in production, business, travel, shopping and social activities must hold the COVID-19 “green card”.
The city Department of Transport has also designed a plan to receive labourers from other localities, while a number of major wholesale markets in District 7 and Cu Chi and Can Gio district have opened again, work at many construction sites have resumed and tens of thousands of shippers have returned to work, showing that life in the city is generally returning to “the new normal”./.