Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Economicactivities gradually resuming
The news site noted that Vietnam has announced aphased plan to reopen the economy ensuring pandemic prevention in line withhealth authorities.
It reported that approximately two-thirds ofindustries in Ho Chi Minh City have reopened. The number of businesses inexport processing zones and industrial parks in Ho Chi Minh City resumingoperations has reached approximately 66 percent while at HCM City’s SaigonHi-Tech park the rate is 74 percent.
Intel and Samsung are targeting to resume full operationsof their factories in HCM City by the end of November, which may ease somedisruption to supply chains.
Domestic flights are gradually resuming along withinterprovincial road and rail travel though passengers have to be fullyvaccinated to travel. Several localities have also reopened tourist sites in abid to attract domestic tourists.
The government is also developing a roadmap to fullyopen up to international visitors by June 2022. The plan will be implemented inphases with a pilot programme for fully vaccinated international tourists toPhu Quoc island in November 2021. This is expected to be followed by Nha Trang,Ha Long, Hoi An, and Da Lat in December.
The government has issued a resolution on pandemiccontrol giving guidance on four levels of transmission risk – low, moderate,high, and extremely high. The criteria based in the resolution are expected tobe rolled out throughout the country which should make it easier for businessesto resume operations.
Apart from this, the government has introducedseveral measures to help businesses and individuals recover from COVID-19.These include land rent cuts, deferring tax and land payments, one-time paymentsfor employees, and easing of some restrictions on foreign workers.
According to the news site, Vietnam’s marketfundamentals remain strong and its economy appears resilient to overcome therecent disruption to production due to the pandemic. There are already signsthat things are improving.
From October until the end of this year, 35 milliondoses of the COVID-19 vaccine are expected to be distributed throughout thecountry. While Vietnam had a slow start in vaccinating its population, as perNikkei’s COVID-19 Recovery Index, Vietnam was among the top 10 percent ofcountries administering the most vaccine doses daily per capita.
In addition, Vietnam is also developing its ownhomegrown COVID-19 vaccines, which should be ready for use sometime next year. Thiswould reduce Vietnam’s need to depend on foreign vaccines ensuring enoughsupply for the local population and also possibly export to other markets.
Recoveryprospects
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) of TheEconomist said the Vietnamese economy will recover swiftly in 2022, followingthe lifting of most coronavirus-related restrictions from late 2021.
Export-oriented manufacturing will continue to bethe most important engine of economic growth.
Recent announcements made by foreign investors onadditional investment to expand production in Vietnam reflect their trust inVietnam’s prospects for economic recovery, reported the Dau tu (InvestmentReview) newspaper.
The Swiss company Nestle said it is pouring anadditional over 130 million USD, raising its total investment in Vietnam to 730million USD to carry out a number of its projects in the next two years.
Alongside Nestle, other foreign firms have committedto maintaining operations in Vietnam despite the fourth wave of COVID-19outbreaks that have forced various localities to apply stringent preventivemeasures.
Tetra Pak of Sweden has confirmed that it will pump5 million EUR (5.86 million USD) to expand its existing 120-million-EUR plantin Binh Duong southern province.
The investment demonstrates the company’s trust inVietnam’s strong economic recovery after the pandemic, according to ManagingDirector and President at Tetra Pak Vietnam Eliseo Barcas.
In particular, the LG Display project in Hai Phongnorthern port city has received additional investment twice this year, with 750million USD in February and 1.4 billion USD in August.
Earlier this month, authorities in the northernprovince of Quang Ninh presented an investment registration certificate to a365.6 million USD project of Jinko Solar Vietnam Co. Ltd., an affiliate of theJinko Solar Holding Co. Ltd. The firm channeled nearly 500 million USD into aproject in the province in March.
Despite current challenges triggered by thepandemic, Japanese firms in Vietnam are working to adapt and improve theirproduction system in the new situation, said Chief Representative of the JapanExternal Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Hanoi Nakajima Takeo.
For his part, Alain Cany, Chairman of the EuropeanChamber of Commerce (EuroCham) in Vietnam, said the European business communityis determined to stand side by side with the Vietnamese Government in thistough time and believes that the Government will successfully bring COVID-19under control like it did before.
As they have showed their determination to maintainoperations in Vietnam, most foreign investors hope that the Government willpromptly devise a clear plan for reopening and economic recovery, or elsecurrent investment plans will be delayed and newcomers cannot enter the countryto study investment possibilities.
Despite COVID-19 impacts, foreign direct investment(FDI) inflows into Vietnam during the first nine months of this year rose 4.4percent year on year to 22.15 billion USD, reported the Foreign InvestmentAgency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
The total imports-exports value of the FDI sector inthe first eight months of the year also surged 31.2 percent to 297.43 billionUSD, with exports accounting for 156.64 billion USD./.
VNA
