Jan 30, 2012

Vietnam - Excellent students turning into “fighting cocks”?


VietNamNet Bridge – The excellent students, who join provincial selected teams to attend national competitions, understand that they have to “lay a bet” on their future.

What’s behind the title of national excellent student?



It would be wonderful if they can win good prizes at the national competitions for excellent students or can be selected for the national teams for international Olympiads. However, if they cannot win high prizes, they will have to return to daily school hours and have to prepare intensively for the university entrance exams. Especially, they would have start everything from the very beginning, with the lack of knowledge and live skills.

One month before the national competition is considered the “sprinting period” for the students who join the competition. They have been gathered in teams to receive special training to prepare for the competition.

In general, prestigious teachers in Hanoi are invited to provinces to provide some teaching hours to upgrade the quality of the teams. Of course, it is very costly and difficult to invite the teachers. Sometimes, all the members of the team have to leave for Hanoi, because the teachers cannot arrange their time to travel long distances to provinces.

T, the head of the physics team of Nam Dinh province, said that he once led the provincial selected team to Hanoi. “We successfully invited two teachers to train the team. We had to pay 1-1.5 million dong per each teaching shift which lasts 2 hours,” he said.

“In general, we contact the teachers through phones and discuss the timetable. After that, we lead students to Hanoi,” he explained.

Meanwhile, a teacher of the Hung Vuong High School in Phu Tho province, revealed that the school has to pay 2-3 million dong teaching shift. He said that it would be more costly to ask teachers to go to provinces. In order to save money, the school brings its students to Hanoi. Especially, the students of both Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc provinces learn with the same teachers. As such, the expenses would be halved, because each province would bear 50 percent.

Students have been whispering in each others’ ears that there are only 5-7 experienced teachers who specialize in training “fighting cocks” for the competition. Meanwhile, all provinces want to invite the prestigious teachers. Therefore, provinces have to compete with each other to invite the teachers.

A teacher of the Hung Vuong High revealed that in order to have money to pay to teachers, the school has called for the contribution from students’ parents. “We are also trying to call for the donation from businessmen, and ask for the help from the provincial’s society for study encouragement,” he said.

Students trained as “fighting cocks”

When asked about the timetable, M, a member of the Ha Nam provincial team, said that he does not have to go to school every day for the last month, because he has to gather his strength on the national competition.

“We only have to learn with the team, from 7 am to 10.30 am in the morning, and 2-4 pm in the afternoon. I feel very tired and worried. However, I still have to go to evening classes, because I have to prepare for the worst. If I cannot win prizes, I will have to attend the university entrance exams,” he said.

The students from Hai Phong said that they have been exempted from some subjects such as history or geography, and the only thing they have to do now is to prepare for the national competition. However, one of them complained that he feels worried about the final exams. If he continues being absent at many lessons, he would lack necessary knowledge.

Analysts have commented that the students can be described as the fighting cocks which have been trained specifically for a special battle field. And they need to win to deserve the money spent for them.


Source: Tien phong



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Vietnam - Preserving language a must, say experts


VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese language has been developing very quickly along with the development of the country but many strange and complicated words and phrases being used by young people nowadays have altered the language, says Associate Professor Ha Quang Nang. 


He agrees that the country's open doors also mean opening the mother tongue to new vocabulary through the borrowing and combining of words from other languages to create new words and phrases, which grows and modernises the language. 

"The growing Vietnamese vocabulary has helped increase communication in the fields of economics, trade, and scientific research," says Nang, adding that these words make Vietnamese more meaningful. 

However, apart from these new phrases, there are many others that have a vague meaning, or even mean absolutely nothing, in Vietnamese. "Some Vietnamese researchers have said our Vietnamese will face a crisis in our lifetime," says Nang. 

He pointed out that many people fail to use the proper Vietnamese structure when speaking, or use many English words at schools or in daily life. Sometimes English words are paired with Vietnamese in advertisements. 

Many shops hang billboards that are written half in Vietnamese and half in English, causing confusion among people, but more importantly, damaging Vietnamese, he says. 

As a result, many young people don't really understand all of the Vietnamese words they read or say. 

"The ‘disorder' and ‘pollution' of Vietnamese reflects the disrespect of the mother tongue which has caused a loss in our traditional, moral, philosophy and national cultural characteristics," says Nang. 

In response to Nang's ideas, teacher Tran Quang Dai of the Tran Phu Secondary School in the central province of Ha Tinh says that to help the country's solid development and integration into the world, Vietnamese people should try their best to improve their Vietnamese and protect it. 

Dai says he does his best to teach Vietnamese correctly and tries to encourage his students to improve their Vietnamese through their writing and speaking. 

"All teachers should be ashamed to use complicated and nonsense Vietnamese words," says Dai. 

His sister's family, who has been living in Germany for more than two decades, has tried their best to preserve Vietnamese at home. 

Dai says his sister makes her entire family to speak Vietnamese at home and anywhere they socialise with other Vietnamese people. 

"She often asks me to send her Vietnamese text books she can use to teach her children. She said we are Vietnamese so we should know how to speak Vietnamese," he says. 

As a result, Nang's two nephews, aged 22 and 20, speak Vietnamese very well in addition to their German language skills. 

"My parents are very proud of them and say that our Vietnamese origin will never be lost," he says. 

President Ho Chi Minh once said "Vietnamese is our long-standing and invaluable national asset." 

"Vietnamese is an important factor contributing to the nation's principle, national characteristics and cultural quintessence," he said. 

The president always paid attention to preserving Vietnamese and educating people in speaking and writing Vietnamese and using a larger and more contemporary vocabulary. 

Many teachers and linguistic researchers have followed the president's words. Teacher Hoang Xuan Tam, 70, is an example. 

Despite having invested more than 50 years in researching and preserving Vietnamese, Tam said he is still an ‘illiterate' in Vietnamese because it is so comprehensive. 

"I have to check the dictionary very carefully before teaching any new words to my students," said Tam. 

Vietnamese researcher Nguyen Duy Xuan has launched the website nguyenduyxuan.net to call on people to preserve the Vietnamese soul. 

The site aims to encourage people to exchange views on how to use Vietnamese correctly and effectively. 

"I hope to receive effective responses from teachers, students and readers to contribute their ideas to protecting and preserving our Vietnamese," he says.

VietNamNet/VNA

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Vietnam - Investments in hotels bring high profits, but require high patience


VietNamNet Bridge – While other real estate developers complain about the bad business performance in 2011, hotel owners had a bountiful crop.


Hotel developers enjoy business prosperity

VnMedia has quoted the report of Savills, a real estate service provider, as saying that the total supply in the hotel market has decreased by three percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 in comparison with the previous year (7150 rooms from 47 hotels). The report also said that the market has been performing better than the previous quarter. Especially, 3-star hotels had very high occupancy rate of 68 percent.

The average capacity of the market increased by 11 percentage points in the fourth quarter to 62 percent, while the hotel room rate stayed unchanged at 1.73 million dong a night.

The turnover for every hotel room in the market reached 1,082,000 dong in the fourth quarter of 2011, an increase of 22 percent over the previous quarter. However, this represented a 15 percent decrease in comparison with the same period of the last year.

The report has pointed out that the revenue per room of 3-star hotels increased mostly sharply by 43 percent, followed by the increase of 4-star hotel room, at 17 percent, and 5-star hotel room at 15 percent.

According to Do Thu Hang, a senior executive of Savills Vietnam, Hanoi received 13.5 million travelers in 2011, including 1.9 million foreign travelers, an increase of 11 percent over the same period of 2010. Meanwhile, it was estimated that 11.7 million domestic travelers came to Hanoi, up by 10 percent.

The increase in the number of travelers to Hanoi has made experts believe that the hotel market would grow considerably in the next quarters, especially when domestic and foreign airlines are considering opening new air routes. The national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines, for example, is planning to provide the flights on Hanoi – London route, while Jetstar Pacific is planning to open the Hanoi – Singapore, and Qatar Airways Hanoi – Doha.

Most of the hotel projects now under execution are located in the west of Hanoi, including Tu Liem district. The projects are expected to provide 3400 hotel rooms in the future, or 50 percent of the total supply. Most of the hotels have large scale which target businessmen. Meanwhile, most of the 3-4-star hotels are located in the central area which target travelers.

It is expected that in 2012, about 1020 hotel rooms would join the market. These include 830 5-star hotel rooms and 190 3-star hotel rooms.

High patience required

As hotel development is considered the business which can bring high profits, a lot of investors have decided to inject money in the field. They foresee that with the increasingly high number of tourists to Vietnam and the number of Viet Kieu returning to the homeland, the demand for hotel rooms would be very high.

However, experts have pointed out that the investments in hotels would require huge capital and high patience. They said that investors have to find the places on advantageous positions, which really costs a lot of money. Meanwhile, the bank loan interest rates are sky high. Therefore, hotel investors would not be able to take back capital soon, like apartment or office developers.

A local newspaper has quoted the owner of a four star hotel with 100 rooms in district 1 of HCM City as saying that investors would only get back the investment capital after 20-30 years, if they want to build a four star hotel, and the hotel room occupancy rate is always at 70 percent.

According to him, the land plots on the big roads in district 1 which could be used for hotels, are priced at 12-15 taels of gold per square meter. As such, a 100 square meter land plot on Ly Tu Trong Street is offering to sell at 50 billion dong.

The hotel owner himself has to spend 300 billion dong to build 120 4-star hotel rooms.


Source: VnMedia



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Vietnam - The 10 records of real estate firms in 2011


VietNamNet Bridge – Here are the list of 10 real estate firms which made the records in their fields in 2011.


Sixty nine shares out of the 694 shares now being listed on the stock market are belonging to real estate firms. 



HAG: the enterprise which has the biggest profit

Though Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group HAG has been operating in different business fields, but real estate investments have brought the highest turnover and profit to the company. The finance report of HAG shows that the profit in the first nine months of 2011 of the holding company reached 903 billion dong. This is the highest profit a listed real estate company obtained.

VIC: the enterprise with the biggest total assets

The total assets of Vincom (VIC) have reached 33,289 billion dong, according to the third-quarter finance report of the company. This is the company with the biggest total assets on the bourse.

However, the profit VIC gained in the first nine months of 2011 was 575 billion dong only, a modest level if compared with the stockholder equity of 6254 billion dong.

After VIC and VPL merge into each other to form up VIngroup, the stockholder equity of the new group will be over 10 trillion dong to become the enterprise with the biggest capitalization value on the burse. VIC is also the share with the highest market price at 99,500 dong per share.

VIC: the enterprise with the sharpest profit increase

In the first nine months of 2011, VIC obtained the profit of 575 billion dong, an increase of 202.84 percent over the same period of the last year. The sharp increase in the profit of the company has been explained by the fact that the last year’s profit was very low.

The enterprise, which specializes in developing high grade real estate projects, are now running many big projects.

The finance report of the company showed that the inventory level of VIC has reached 10,131 billion dong, a five time increase over the same period of the last year. 

IDV: the share that sees the biggest price increase

Of the 69 real estate shares being listed on the two bourses, only two saw the price increasing in 2011. Meanwhile, other shares saw the prices decreasing by 53 percent on average. 

Meanwhile, IDV share of the Vinh Phuc Infrastructure Company increased by 28 percent in prices in 2011. However, IDV is just a small enterprise which had the trading volume of 1000 shares per trading session.

RCL: the enterprise with the highest EPS

The Cho Lon Real Estate Company is the enterprise with the highest EPS ratio in the first nine months of 2011, at 4911 dong.

ITC: the enterprise that incurred biggest loss

By the end of the third quarter of 2011, six enterprises had reported loss, accounting for 8.7 percent of total enterprises. In the third quarter alone, 14 enterprises reported loss, or 20.29 percent. 

ITC was the enterprise with the biggest loss of 81 billion dong

PVR: the enterprise with the lowest turnover

PVR’s total turnover by the end of the third quarter of 2011 was modest, at 1.89 billion dong, while the stockholder equity was 581billion dong, and the total assets were 1082 billion dong.

VNI: the enterprise with the lowest capitalization value

VNI is considered the tiny enterprise on the bourse. With the current price of 3900 dong per share, and the 10.36 million shares put into transactions, the total capitalization value is 40,4 billion dong. The figure is much lower than the company’s chartered capital of 100.36 billion dong.

HQC: the enterprise with the sharpest share price decrease

Hoang Quan Real Estate’s share lost 88 percent its value when the share price dropped from 38,600 dong per share in early 2011 to 4700 dong in late 2011.


Hoang Huy



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Vietnam - Vietnam to offer tax refunds for tourists



The Vietnamese government has decided to pilot a value-added-tax refund scheme for foreign visitors in July in an attempt to boost sales of local products.

Foreigners who make purchases in Vietnam and leave the country via Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi or Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City will receive VAT reimbursements, according to statement on the government’s website.

The goods are required to be brand new and not on the list of prohibited items. A valid invoice with a value of at least VND2 million (US$95) and a tax claim statement are required.

Commercial banks selected to handle the tax repayments are allowed to charge a service fee of up to 15 percent of the refund value. The refund will be made in Vietnam dong and can be converted to other currencies accordingly.

The pilot program will last from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2014. Retailers must register with the authorities to join the scheme, the government said in the statement.

Thanh Nien



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Vietnam - Key projects inaugurated in southern Ca Mau



Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on January 30 witnessed the inauguration of key projects in the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

The newly completed projects are the Ca Mau fertiliser plant, Dam Cung Bridge and a memorial complex to President Ho Chi Minh.

The Ca Mau fertiliser plant officially turned out its first products on the same day, after 40 months of construction.

The plant, built at a cost of US$780 million, is a part of the complex of Ca Mau Gas-Electricity-Fertiliser. It is a key national project and is expected to ensure a stable supply of fertiliser for the country by 2025.

The plant has a capacity of 800,000 tons of urea fertiliser a year, meeting about 40 percent of the country’s demand.

The plant is the final component of the Ca Mau Gas-Electricity-Fertiliser complex, contributing to generating a combined industrial value of over 34 trillion dong and nearly 1,200 jobs.

Prime Minister Dung stressed the significance of the plant to the country’s agricultural sector. He asked Ca Mau province, Vietnam Oil and Gas Group and the Management Board of the industrial complex to continue to care for local people’s lives, especially the more than 1,400 households which had to relocate to make way for the fertiliser plant.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Dam Cung Bridge, PM Dung said the bridge is very important to the province and the southwestern region as it links the south and the north of the province and is the last point to access Ho Chi Minh Highway from the southernmost parts of the country.

The bridge has a length of 668 metres and a width of 12m. It was built at a cost of over 350 billion dong ($16.6 million).

Meanwhile, a memorial complex to President Ho Chi Minh was inaugurated as a place for local people, especially young people, to learn about revolutionary tradition.

The complex includes a worship room, a movie house, and a showroom of documents, photos and objects relating to President Ho Chi Minh.

VNA



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Vietnam - VietJet lures travelers from 40-hour bus rides with budget Hanoi flights



VietJet Aviation Joint-Stock Co., the budget carrier that began flights in Vietnam last month, may double its fleet to six planes by the end of the year as it lures passengers from bus trips taking as long as 40 hours.

The carrier’s 122-seat Airbus SAS A320s are 90 percent full on its first route, Ho Chi Minh City-Hanoi, said Chief Operating Officer Pritam Singh.

The average fare including taxes is 1.03 million dong ($49) one way, according to the airline. That’s about 25 percent less than the cheapest ticket offered on Vietnam Airlines’ website.

VietJet also intends to challenge the state-owned carrier on international services as soon as the third quarter as an economic growth rate that the government expects to reach 6 percent this year spurs travel demand. The number of Vietnamese living in poverty declined to about 11 percent in 2010 from 58 percent in 1993, based on U.S. government figures.

“The market for a budget carrier has to be developed, but it’s there -- if they have enough capital and run a good marketing campaign,” said Paul Stoll, who helped set up the Vietnam Tourism Association and is the chief executive officer of Celadon International Hotel Management Joint-Stock Co. Still, “it will be tough.”

Two-Hour Flight

On the Ho Chi Minh City-Hanoi route, a VietJet flight takes about two hours compared with 30 to 42 hours by rail and 34 to 40 hours by bus. A one-way rail trip in mid-February costs 486,000 dong for a hard seat, according to the website of the Hanoi train station. The cheapest ticket on a bus operated by Vinamotor Investment Joint-Stock Co. is about 400,000 dong.

“Many people think an airplane has to be expensive, and that a bus will be much cheaper,” said Singh on Jan. 27 by phone. “We are trying to reach out to this segment, to introduce the idea of using an airline instead.”

VietJet also intends to start services by April to Danang, the biggest city in central Vietnam. A Danang-Ho Chi Minh City bus trip takes about 18 hours, according to bus operator Phuong Trang Investment Joint-Stock Co.

The carrier, a unit of Hanoi-based Sovico Holdings, flies from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City three times a day. Other operators on the route include Jetstar Pacific Airlines Joint- Stock Aviation Co., a Vietnam Airlines-Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN) venture, and closely held Mekong Aviation Joint-Stock Co. As the carrier expands overseas, possible destinations may include Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok, Singh said.

The airline, which has leased planes from Kuwait-based Aviation Lease & Finance Co., expects to be profitable by 2014 and it may list on Ho Chi Minh City’s stock exchange within the next few years, Singh said. Losses before the carrier breaks even are expected to exceed $10 million, he said.

Bloomberg



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Vietnam - US dollar supply at banks in surplus



During the adjacent days of Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, Vietnam's forex market did not witness many changes. The forex rate on the free market was close to the official forex rate at banking system, the local newspaper Saigon Giai Phong reported.

From middle of January 2012, the US dollar trading situation at banks as well as on the free market has slowed markedly.

Particularly, on January 18, US dollar selling price at commercial banks suddenly slipped to 21,000 dong each, down by 106-116 dong/US dollar from a day earlier. The US dollar price on the free market also dropped to below 21,000 dong each.

Notably, also on January 18, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s transaction office raised US dollar buying price to 20,850 dong each, up 230 dong from previous days. Facing this situation, some people said that the central bank is buying US dollar for reserve.

In the two following days on January 19 and 20, the quoted US dollar prices at banks continued to fall further by 20 dong in both buying and selling prices.

Leader of a large bank said that the US dollar supply at banks is in surplus and the demand of customers is not very high. The negligible gap between US dollar price on the free market and US dollar price quoted at banks is a strange phenomenon compared to the previous years as the US dollar demand during adjacent days of Lunar New Year (Tet) often surged sharply and the central bank always had to struggle to run the forex rate.

In 2011, the central bank took the initiative and flexibility in operating the forex rate. The continuous adjustments of the interbank forex rate, applying the foreign currency interest rate cap and tightening the foreign currency trading activities have reduced the foreign currency speculation. The strict sanctions for violations of illegal foreign currency transactions are also contributing to reducing the dollarization phenomenon in the economy.

On the other hand, the supply of foreign currency in the economy has also been more abundant thanks to the amount of inward remittances in 2011 was up to $9 billion and other foreign currency flows such as foreign direct investment (FDI) and official development assistance (ODA) still remained positive. Meanwhile, the country’s trade deficit in 2011 was only about $9.8 billion, down 22% compared to 2010.

This is a relatively positive signal on the forex market this year.

VietBiz24



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Vietnam - Cash supply via ATM system surges to nearly 60tr dong in Jan



As calculated by Smartlink Card Services Joint Stock Co, the demand for cash withdrawal transactions via ATM system surged sharply during the days prior to Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, according to the local newspaper Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon (Saigon Economic Times Online).

Especially, in 10 peak days of January 2012 (from January 9 to 18), banks provided cash to each other averagely by over 200 billion dong per day.

Notably, in the first days of two weeks prior to Tet, banks provided cash to each other averagely over 300 billion dong per day, four-fold increase against normal days during the year. The total amount of cash provided to each other by banks in January 2012 is estimated at 5.4 trillion dong.

As estimated, the total amount of cash provided to each other by banks accounted for only 10% of the cash supply via ATM system of banks nationwide. Thus, according to Smartlink, the total cash supply through the ATM system of banks in January 2012 is estimated at nearly 60 trillion dong.

Smartlink is currently running clearing information processes system amongst 35 member banks, airlines, telecommunications and large enterprises, switching systems and international card organizations in Vietnam.

VietBiz24



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Vietnam - SBV to withdraw over 80tr dong via OMO this week



As per the maturity plan, this week, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the country's central bank will withdraw over 80 trillion dong from commercial banks via open market operations (OMO).

Particularly, according to the loan term, in the first week after the long week Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday (from January 30 to February 3, 2012), 66.219 trillion dong that was pumped in the week between January 9 and 13 for 21-day term by the central bank will be matured, which means that commercial banks will have to pay this amount of money to the central bank.

In addition, 13.857 trillion dong that the central bank also lent to commercial banks via OMO in the week between January 16 and 20 will be also matured.

Totally, the central bank will withdraw over 80 trillion dong from commercial banks.

This will be significant pressure for commercial banks who borrowed capital via OMO and maybe the central bank will continue to inject capital on OMO, despite the technical nature, to reschedule loans for some banks and avoid causing difficulties in liquidity issue.

In the last week of the year, the central bank pumped total 78.857 trillion dong on OMO while withdrawing 46.441 trillion dong, leading to a net injection of 32.416 trillion dong.

Thus, in the last two weeks of 2011, the central bank made a net injection of 71.065 trillion dong.

VietBiz24



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Vietnam - Vietnam’s stock market attractive to investors: Forbes



With its extremely cheap stocks on offer, Vietnam, rather than Indonesia, will be a great place to invest in this year, according to Forbes Magazine.

In an article recently published on Forbes Online, Peter Cohan recalls his visit to Singapore in January 2012 where he met with a hedge fund manager having invested in many Asian companies for years.

The hedge fund manager said that Indonesia used to be a great place to do business, but the best opportunity in the region in 2012 is to invest in Vietnam.

He studied the Vietnamese stock market and found 20 stocks with Price/Earnings (P/E) ratios of 2, cash flow growth of 14, and dividend yields of at least 12.

Cohan explained that a stock is cheap if its cash flow – the money left over after paying expenses – is growing faster than the P/E ratio.

A stock is a reasonable value if the ratio between a stock’s P/E and its earnings growth or Price/Earnings to Growth (PEG) is 1.0 or below. By that measure, stocks in Vietnam are very cheap at 0.14 – dividing the P/E of 2 by the cash flow growth of 14.

In addition, Vietnamese stocks offer a very high dividend yield.

Their 12 per cent yield is extremely high – particularly compared to the sub-1 per cent rates that we are used to earning on our bank accounts, Cohan noted.

According to Cohan, the downward trend in the Vietnamese stock market in 2011 offers the chance for private equity investors to buy stakes in some of the country’s biggest companies and the purchase is benefitting investors.

Cohan concluded that there are opportunities for businesses to invest in the banking, food and beverage industries in Vietnam, as its population increasingly moves from the lower to middle class income level and banks and food companies are willing to meet their demands.

VOV



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