Outstanding credit officials and micro entrepreneurs nationwide will receive the “Citi Micro-Entrepreneurs” award which was funded by the US’s Citibank in Vietnam.

Vietnam exported US$2.34 billion worth of seafood products in the first seven months of this year, an increase of 17.7 percent over the same period last year, according to a report from the General Statistics Office.

The Vietnam Construction, Building Materials and Interior Decoration Exhibition (Viconstruct) will be held at Vietnam Exhibition and Fair Center in Hanoi on August 11-15, according to Vietnam Association for Building Materials.

The Steering Committee for north-western region in coordination with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Nationalities Committee and the people’s committees in the north-western region held a press briefing in Hanoi on August 6 to introduce an investment promotion forum.

According to data revealed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), FDI inflow into Vietnam in July reached US$45.2 billion, up 3.7 times against the same period last year while the import surplus decreased sharply in June and July.

The Department for Management of the Quality of Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishery Products on August 5 worked with a delegation of Russian importers to boost businesses between the countries.

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced the preliminary decision on the anti-dumping investigation on bed springs imported from China, South Africa and Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Although Vietnam is currently experiencing one of the highest inflation rates in Asia, the country is still enjoying relatively high consumer confidence, ranking 9th in Nielsen’s Global Consumer Confidence survey.

According to the Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, it is necessary to reduce production costs by cutting down on the amount of materials consumed. This means that it is important to upgrade equipment and technologies gradually in order to reduce the average consumption of materials.

The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) has petitioned the Government to waive export tariffs or readjust the taxes on rice mainly due to the decreasing prices of goods in the local and global markets, which are causing great losses to farmers.

The Ministry of Finance on August 4 raised the export tariff of steel from the current 10 percent to 20 percent in a bid to curb increasing exportation by local steel makers.

The Minister of Industry and Trade, Vu Huy Hoang, has issued regulations on the operation of markets located near the borderline and border gates as well as in border gate economic zones.

Asiamoney magazine has awarded the Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) Best Cash Manager of 2008 in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said it has applied automatic import licensing to a number of goods.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will continue to help the Ministry of Justice's National Registration Agency of Secured Transactions (MOJ-NRAST) increase access to finance in Vietnam through improved and secured lending.

Banks’ peak deposit interest rate has dropped from 19 percent to 18 percent since late July, according to a report from the State Bank of Vietnam.

Vietnam will export approximately 400,000 tonnes of rice in August and the rice export volume is expected to reach nearly 3.5 million tonnes by the end of the third quarter, according to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA).

Vietnam exported 58,000 tonnes of pepper in the first seven months of this year, earning US$202 million, according to a report from the General Statistics Office.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked ministries, agencies, localities, economic groups and State corporations to intensify efforts to curb inflation.

Binh Dinh province, part of the key central economic zone, is seeking to fully exploit potential to attract investors, said Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Vu Hoang Ha.

Many foreign-invested automobile assembling businesses have decided to increase the price of cars by US$100- 2,000/unit as of August 2008.

The trade deficit in the past 7 months reached US$15.01 billion, equal to 40.7 percent of the country’s total exports or nearly 2.4 times higher than the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Vietnam has enjoyed some advantages but exposed many shortcomings in managing the economy after 18 months of integration into the World Trade Organisation, the director of Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) Dinh Van An said at a seminar on August 1.

Each Vietnamese has been spending an average of VND886,000 a month this year, doubling last year’s figure, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported, attributing this to high inflation and a growing demand for consumer goods and services.

The macro-economy has shown positive signs after the Government’s solutions to curb inflation were put in place. However, economists say that it is too early to be optimistic about the stability of the economy, particularly following the Government’s decision to raise petrol prices.

Representatives from the Thai embassy announced on August 1 that the 2008 Thailand Exhibition will be held at the Cultural Friendship Palace in Hanoi from August 7-10.

The General Statistics Office says the country’s electronics products and computer components exports hit US$1.44 billion in seven months, a year-on-year increase of 29 percent.

Vietnam earned US$490 million from exporting 81,000 tonnes of cashew in the first seven months of this year, up 2.2 percent in volume and nearly 50 percent in value from a year earlier, the General Office of Statistics reported.

HCM City is seeking investment in high-tech, environmentally friendly projects to meet development demands in the next two years, according to the city’s Planning and Investment Department.

The Middle East and African regions have potential for developing economic, trade and industrial cooperation with Vietnam, according to an official of the Ministry of Trade and Industry at a seminar on trade and relations with the Middle East and Africa on July 31.