The Ministry of Finance has rejected the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) proposal to continue reducing the registration fees for new domestically-produced cars by 50%.

Before the latest withdrawal of Vinsmart, Japanese giants like Panasonic, Toshiba, and Sharp also dropped out of the Vietnamese television market.

The COVID-19 pandemic in the last half of 2020 saw Vietnamese people download and use more phone applications than in 2019, according to the Mobile Application 2021 report from Appota Group.

Several construction firms have reported a drop in profits in the first quarter of this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising material prices.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF)'s Price Management Department will actively set up scenarios for managing prices of essential goods according to the market performance, but still ensuring inflation control as targeted, said director of the department Nguyen Anh Tuan.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is working to promote the distribution of farm products amid the fourth outbreak of COVID-19 in Vietnam as well as to establish a resilient agriculture sector.

Fruit and vegetable exporters should improve their processing technologies, especially in the post-harvest and packaging stages, to preserve their products longer and enhance their value, experts said.

Vietnam’s stock market is expected to continue to grow, helped by strong economic growth and increasing local liquidity. The positive outlook will attract foreign investors back to the market, according to HSBC.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the process of digital transformation in businesses, experts said, and has urged companies to consider their own resources and conditions to ensure and increase efficiency.

Local credit institutions are enjoying a rise in bancassurance activities with more exclusive deals coming, according to industry insiders.