DongTalk Website

[k98nights]

Thanks k98knights, I was looking for this site.

Most welcome... I keep the financial dong forum updated almost daily (some weekends I skip a day). The regular news forum gets updated about once a week.

[Luigi1]

Is Blaino full of it or what? VND at .50 cents for two days. Why can't we see the rate or cash in?

11-27-2012 Intel Guru Blaino THE VND HAS BEEN SITTING AT 2.08 TO THE USD OFF AND ON ALL DAY TODAY AND YESTERDAY. THAT MEANS THAT LAST WEEK YOU GOT 20,755 VND TO ONE USD. NOW YOU GET 2.08516 VND TO ONE USD OR ABOUT 48 CENTS AND CHANGE FOR EACH VND. WAY BETTER THAN IQD FOR INCREASE IN VALUE!!! [the end has come in the form of post 2 of 2....wow, that was fun!!]

[ALBUNDY]

BUSINESSES GOT BANKRUPTED; BUSINESSMEN turn into hired workers, gardeners

 

 

 

07/05/2013     14:00

 

 

 

VietNamNet Bridge – A lot bosses have become hired workers in the  economic crisis, many businessmen have become penniless, and many millionaires  have returned to their home villages to work on the rice fields.

 

Getting home after a hard working

 

day, Nguyen Vinh Quang in Hai Ba Trung  district in Hanoi, had dinner in a hurry, because he needed to take a short  sleep before he got up early the next morning and went to work.

 

 

Quang,  now a construction worker, was a director of a construction company 3 months  ago. He was so proud of becoming a director of a company with 20 workers.  However, his business collapsed in the economic recession, and the director has  become a hired worker.

 

 

The business was set up by Quang and his wife 3  years ago, after a long period of working hard and saving money. At first, Quang  needed 20 workers to handle the contracts he got.

 

 

However, the number of workers then was cut to 10 because of fewer orders. Finally, Quang had to declared the bankruptcy because his partners did not pay debts. He has no job and had no money to pay to workers, even though he had sold the assets of the company.

 

 

Bui Tien Minh was once the director of a law office on Tran Duy  Hung Street. But he isn’t now. Minh has just closed down the family run firm and  gone working for others.

 

“Fewer contracts have come since mid 2012, while  partners have left us. Meanwhile, I had to pay VND10 million a month for the  office rent and tens of millions of dong to workers,” Minh said, explaining why  he had to close down the office.

 

“The clients now try to cut down  expenses; therefore, they tend to cut down expenses on legal services. They  would say goodbye to use cheaper services, even if they sign contracts with you  already,” he complained.

 

Now Minh has to be satisfied with his new job at  another private law firm, while his wife works for a printing company in  Hanoi.
The local people in the northern province of Hung Yen all know the  stories about a famous couple who now work as the gardeners in the  locality.

 

 

In the morning, when the clock alarms at 5 am, Tran Van Dam  wakes his wife up, then have breakfast and go working. Their “office” now is a  500 square meter orchard, where they grow oranges.

 

The couple of  gardeners have been well known in the locality because they were never the  gardeners before, and they had never done such as work until the day they moved  there.

 

 

Previously, Dam was the director of a company which distributed  building materials, His wife, Lan, after finishing the Finance University,  became the assistant to him at the company.

 

However, since the business  performed badly, the company got dissolved.
“I signed a contract with a  company on supplying bricks to its ongoing project. I put all my capital into  the affair. However, the company could not make payment for the products. In  early 2012, the company declared bankruptcy, while I never can claim the money  back,” he explained.

 

 

Since the relatives and banks refused to provide  loans, Dam could not resume his business. They decided to return to the home  village and become farmers.

 

“I have never done farming before. The work  is really too hard for me,” Dam complained.
 

THE LINK : http://dongtalk.com/2013/05/08/businesses-got-bankrupted-businessmen-turn-into-hired-workers-gardeners/

 

 

Vietnamese labor force is cheap or expensive?

 

13/05/2013     08:00

 

VietNamNet Bridge – The Richest has put Vietnam into the list of the five  markets with the cheapest labor cost in the world with $0.39 per hour. However,  the actual labor cost could be higher.

 

 

The salary and the income

 

With the average pay of $0.39 per hour as reported by The Richest, every  Vietnamese worker receives VND1.687 million a month for a 8-hour working day and  26 working days a month. The level is equal to the minimum wage being applied in  the region 4 (VND1.650 million).

 

The Region 4 is the remote and underdeveloped area. Meanwhile, the other  regions (1,2 and 3) have the minimum wages of VND2.35 million a month.

 

However, the pay mechanism in Vietnam is quite complicated. There exist the  big differences between the minimum wage and basic wage and the laborers’ income.

 

Minimum wage is understood as the floor wage set up to protect the laborers  in disadvantageous conditions. It has been referred to when calculating the  social insurance premiums enterprises and laborers have to pay.

 

Basic wage is calculated by the product of the minimum wage and the  coefficient, plus allowances (lunch fee, petrol for motorbikes and telecom  fees…).

 

Meanwhile, income means the total sum of money a laborer can receive from the  employers, which comprises of the wages, extra income from extra working hours,  allowances.

 

As such, in fact, the enterprises in Vietnam have to pay to their workers  higher than the level reported by The Richest.

The latest report of the Vietnam Labor Union released after a survey in 10  cities and provinces in June and July 2012 showed that the average total income  of every laborer was VND3.623 million a month.

 

The actual income of laborers in Region 1 (big cities) was VND4.232 million a  month. The figures were VND3.787 million in Region 2, VND3.495 million in Region  3 and VND3.001 million in Region 4.

 

The average wage paid to Vietnamese laborers is on the rise. The Ministry of  Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is now consulting relevant  ministries on the plan to increase the minimum wage from now to 2017. It is  expected that the average minimum wage would increase by 15-23 percent per  annum.

 

Every time when the minimum wage increases, the labor cost would increases  accordingly.

 

 

Vietnam pays heavy price for cheap labor force

 

Le Xuan Thanh, Deputy Head of the Labor and Wage Policy Department under  MOLISA, noted that the low labor cost policy pursued by Vietnam in the last many  years helped much in attracting investment.

 

However, the wage ground has been continuously heightened since 1993 with 11  adjustments made. This shows that the policy on maintaining the low wages to  attract foreign investment to Vietnam may fail.

 

In principle, in order to ensure the benefits for both businesses and  workers, the wage increase should be proportional to the productivity. However,  in Vietnam, while the wage increases by 10 percent every year, the productivity  increases by 3.5-5 percent only. This has prompted businesses to cut down their  labor force.

 

The 2012 annual report of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)  has pointed out that the labor force at businesses has decreased sharply.

 

VCCI’s Secretary General Pham Thi Thu Hang said in 2002-2007, every dong paid  to workers could bring 18 dong in turnover. Meanwhile, in 2008-2009, the figure  dropped to 16 dong.

 

 

THE LINK : http://dongtalk.com/

 

 

 

Import-export companies seeking to force dollar interest rates down

 

12/05/2013    11:00

 

 

VietNamNet Bridge – Importers and exporters have urged the State Bank of  Vietnam to slash the dollar interest rates further to 5 percent per annum. A  senior executive of the central bank once promised to find the way to force the  rates to 4-5 percent.

 

 

 

 

A report of the State Bank of Vietnam showed that since late January, the  mobilized capital has increased again. By April 23, the deposits had increased  by 5.34 percent in comparison with the end of 2012, or 50 percent higher than  that of the same period of the last year.

 

The report pointed out that the dong mobilized capital has been increasing  more rapidly than the foreign currency deposits. This, in the eyes of the State  Bank, comes in line with the bank’s plan to encourage businesses to purchase  foreign currencies from banks instead of borrowing from banks. This also shows  the increase in the people’s confidence on the banking system.

 

The State Bank of Vietnam has affirmed that the foreign currency market has  been going on a right track. By April 25, the average buy price had increased by  0.4 percent in comparison with the beginning of the year. The stabilized  exchange rate and the dollar mobilized capital decrease are the good signs for  the macro economy.

 

However, analysts have found that the slowdown has put a hard pressure on the  dollar credit. Though the State Bank has tightened the dollar lending by  restricting the subjects that can borrow in foreign currencies, the demand for  dollar loans remains high, especially from export companies.

 

The director of a joint stock bank said in previous years, the lent capital  in dollars was always higher than the deposits. However, the gap has been  narrowed because of the decrease in the dollar loan demand.

 

Nevertheless, the sharp fall in the dollar mobilized capital has hindered the  growth of dollar lending. Banks now hurry to mobilize more dollar capital by  dodging the laws and attracting deposits at the interest rates higher than the  ceiling rate stipulated by the central bank.

 

The current ceiling interest rates are 0.5 percent for the institutional  clients and 2 percent for individual depositors. However, if banks really need  capital, they would be willing to pay 3-4 percent per annum. The high deposit  interest rates still can bring profits to banks, if they lend at 5-6 percent per  annum.

 

In general, banks now lend dollars at the interest rates of 7-8.5 percent per  annum, while only a few rice, coffee and rubber export companies can borrow at 5  percent per annum.

 

mport and export companies believe that when the national economy has shown  positive signs, the imports and exports have bounced back, the exchange rate has  been stabilized and the foreign currency reserves have increased significantly,  it’s now the right time to slash the dollar interest rates.

 

Dao Hong Chau, Deputy General Director of Eximbank, said the bank now lends  at 3.2-3.5 percent only to big and loyal clients, and 5-6 percent per annum to  small and medium import-export companies.

 

Meanwhile, the foreign banks in Vietnam can lend at 2-3 percent per annum  only. They can borrow dollars at low interest rates from foreign finance  institutions and then re-lend to domestic enterprises at the rates of 5 percent  and lower. This means that in order to compete with them, domestic banks need to  offer more competitive interest rates.

 

 

 

 

THE LINK : http://dongtalk.com/

 

 

 

               Central bank cuts key interest rates

 

 

13/05/2013 | 10:19:00

 

The State Bank of Vietnam has cut key interest rates by 1 percent, applicable since May 13.

Under the decision, the refinancing and discount rates will be lowered to 7 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the overnight rate in the inter-banking electronic payment will be reduced to 8 percent from the current 9 percent.

The maximum rate on short-term Vietnamese dong loans for agriculture, rural development, exports, supporting industries, small- and medium-sized enterprises and hi-tech businesses will be brought down to 11 percent per year instead of the current 12 percent.

Earlier on March 25, the central bank also cuts benchmark rates by 1 percent to support businesses. Accordingly, the refinancing and rediscount rates were lowered to 8 percent and 6 percent from 9 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the overnight inter-bank rate was cut down to 9 percent.

The move was made after the General Statistics Office had reported that March’s consumer price index decreased by 0.19 percent against the previous month.-

 

 

 

THE LINK : http://en.vietnamplus.vn/Home/Central-bank-cuts-key-interest-rates/20135/34365.vnplus

 

 

Vietnam’s central bank imports gold to bolster official reserves 

 

 

Monday, May 06, 2013 05:30:00

   

 

Vietnam’s central bank said it imported gold to make up for a reduction in reserves from sales to local commercial banks.

The purchases were equivalent to the amount sold at the auctions, the State Bank of Vietnam said in a statement on its website today, without giving details. The bank sold 367,000 taels in 13 auctions held from March 28 through May 3, it said. A tael is about 1.2 ounces. The auctions were held mainly to supply gold to banks that need to return about 20 metric tons to depositors by the end of June, the statement said.

 

The central bank in October ordered lenders to stop taking gold deposits from customers starting June 30. The bank needs to control the gold market to stabilize the dong, the country’s currency, Governor Nguyen Van Binh said in an interview posted on the government’s website on May 5.

 

“Previously, each year the amount of gold imported into Vietnam was about 100 tons, which would require a foreign- currency amount of about $4.4 billion,” the bank said in today’s statement. “Therefore that had very strong impact on the increase in the dong-dollar exchange rate, causing macroeconomic instability.”

 

The gap between domestic and international gold prices is still large because supply and demand are still imbalanced in the short term, the bank said.

 

Cash gold traded at $1,472.13 an ounce by 9:47 a.m. London time. The price in Vietnam was 41.82 million dong per tael, according to data on the Saigon Jewelery Co.’s website. Dong traded little changed at 20,936 to a dollar.

 

 

THE LINK : http://www.thanhniennews.com/index/pages/20130507-%20vietnam-central-bank-imports-gold-to-bolster-official-reserves.aspx

[DanielM]

...

Edited January 4, 2014 by DanielM

[blueskyline]

I got a Rumor ....I know they come a Dime a Dozen but here goes ....I had a conversation with a Co-worker . He is an Electrician .We got on a conversation about world events and wars . He then told me he was a Vietnam Veteran  (Much Respect To the Armed Forces and Veterans ). He started speaking of his job during the war . He was a bomb technician . He spoke of what devices he would arm in the field and what these devices would cause .( This is where it gets interesting) He said for a period of time in Vietnam his platoon was given a special assignment to protect some Civilian Engineers . These Engineers were taking samples from the soil in a few areas . He said that he would listen to them talk about their work at night when they where in their tents . As time went on they started having conversation with my Co worker . They spoke of the relationship between the United States and Vietnam . They said The United States would not be friends right now . But in time would be Friends . The Engineers then told my Co worker " There Is More Oil In Vietnam Than there is in the Middle East  , We Will Become Friends Again In The Future And Never Need The Middle Easts Oil Again ". After That Engineers finished their research my Co worker said it was his job to set up and detonate bombs in the areas of study to remove all evidence of the research engineers being there . These words are from his lips to my ears . It was a pleasure listening to him to hear his experiences during the war . Thank You for reading . Lets see if Time Tells Us There Is More Oil In Vietnam Territory Than there is The Middle East . And Yes ..............I Purchased Dong Also ..... Thanks Again or Reading 

[Gypsygirl11]

Well, its been a year since anyone posted - Any news on the DONG? I just purchased a little more and am curious. Somewhere I read they just came out with a commemorative $100.00.

[gregp]

Blueskyline, one year later i read your post. Now that's interesting. Time will tell.

[Gypsygirl11]

Helloooo, anybody out there have Dong info? Lets talk about some DONG ! lol

[gregp]

On Thursday, August 04, 2016 at 2:13 PM, Gypsygirl11 said:

Helloooo, anybody out there have Dong info? Lets talk about some DONG ! lol

It's a long shot!

[Gypsygirl11]

Dang it Greg ... not what I want to hear. I just read somewhere that they bought a huge fleet of airplanes.

[blueskyline]

Vietcombank will issue new shares to Singapore wealth fund if deal goes through

GIC is in talks to own a stake of at least 7 per cent in Vietcombank, sources with knowledge of the matter said yesterday, in what would be the Singapore wealth fund's second major investment in Vietnam this year.

Vietcombank will issue new shares to GIC should the deal go through, the sources said.

A successful stake sale in Vietnam's biggest lender by value would be a vote of confidence in the country's banking sector, once ridden with bad debts.

Vietcombank has been planning to issue new shares equivalent to 10 per cent of existing stock to foreign investors. That would total more than US$600 million (S$805 million) based on current value.

The stake offered to GIC is at a discount to market prices, the sources said, declining to be more specific.

 

 

The deal would need the approval of Vietnam's central bank, which is Vietcombank's biggest shareholder.

A GIC spokesman declined to comment, while Vietcombank did not reply to a request for comment.

With a 7 per cent share, GIC would be the third-biggest investor after the State Bank of Vietnam, which owns a 77 per cent stake, and Japan's Mizuho Bank, which holds a 15 per cent share, said the sources, who declined to be identified.

In March, GIC bought additional shares to own more than 5 per cent in leading Vietnamese food producer Masan Group.

Vietcombank has said it expected a deal with a foreign investor this year.

Vietcombank's net profit in the first half of this year jumped an estimated 39 per cent from a year earlier on strong credit growth and lower provisions for bad debts.

Moody's Investors Service said Vietcombank's retail business will grow due to a strong funding franchise and client base.

Vietnamese banks have enjoyed solid credit growth backed by a rebounding economy, while bad debts in the banking system have fallen from historic highs in 2012.

Bad debts rose to as much as 17.2 per cent of total credit in 2012. The ratio improved to 2.55 per cent last year, central bank data shows.

But reforms in the sector have been hampered by complicated cross-holdings and a 30 per cent foreign ownership cap.

REUTERS

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 06, 2016, with the headline 'GIC 'eyeing 7% stake in Vietnam's biggest bank by value''. Print Edition | Subscribe

TOPICS: 

• GIC
• VIETNAM
• VIETCOMBANK

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[Gypsygirl11]

That's right blueskyline ... I saw this one too. Singapore must know something, right?

[millionaire in training]

Did Adam close down Dong Talk? I can't seem to get on it. I get a warning that the site is infected. Does anyone know anything about that?

[Adam Montana]

dongtalk.com is no more.

I'll add some new categories here for "Other Currencies"

[Adam Montana]

lol! Nevermind, this already IS a category for "other currencies"