April international arrivals in Vietnam soared to 2.4 times that of March and 5.2 per cent higher than the same period last year thanks to the country’s tourism reopening, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO). In the first four months of the year, the number of foreigners arriving in Vietnam neared 192,400, an annual rise of 184.7 per cent. Of the total, 88.6 per cent came by air, increasing close to four times from 2021, while arrivals by road and sea were down by 10.5 and 58.7 per cent, respectively. Tourism revenue from lodging-food and transport services…
Author: Asia News Network
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused much economic and social hardship, including an increase in domestic violence compounded by limited mobility and social isolation. As some women are forced to lock themselves up at home with their abusers, they are socially fragile and experience conflict and have a limited ability to overcome their situation. This ultimately means that they are in a condition of significant risk to both physical wellbeing and mental fortitude. In addition to the pandemic, fundamental challenges to gender equality persist in Malaysia, where women are loaded with the double burden of employment and housework. With affordable childcare…
The number of newly established firms in Vietnam reached an all-time high of around 15,000 last month, with total registered capital of 164.1 trillion dong ($7.1 billion), according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). The number of re-opened firms was 7,034, up 22.4 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, 5,391 firms temporarily ceased operation, 3,762 were in the dissolution process, and 1,227 completed dissolution procedures. In total, the number of firms entering the market was double the number of those withdrawing from the market in April. Vietnam saw 49,591 newly-formed firms in the first four months of 2022, with total registered capital…
Inflation in the Philippines likely sizzled and jumped above the upper end of central bank Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) two-to-four per cent target range of manageable price hikes last month. All 22 April inflation forecasts collected by Philippine Daily Inquirer last week were above the four per cent posted in March. The Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) consumer price index (CPI) report for last month will be out on May 5. In Philippine Daily Inquirer’s poll, China Bank’s Domini Velasquez, Goldman Sachs Economics Research, and ING’s Nicholas Antonio Mapa had the highest headline inflation forecast of 4.8 per cent year-on-year…
South Korean refiner GS Caltex on May 1 said it has teamed up with Posco International, the trading unit of steel giant Posco, to make a big push into the burgeoning biofuel market amid growing calls for emissions cuts globally. Under the deal, the two firms seek to build an extensive biofuel value chain combining GS Caltex’s manufacturing technology and Posco International’s refinery infrastructure. As the first step, the two firms agreed to build a biodiesel plant along with refinery facilities in Indonesia, paving the way for their business expansion for next-generation biofuels such as aircraft fuel based on renewable…
Amid the global geopolitical tensions and rising oil prices, Malaysia’s transition into the endemic phase and the re-opening of international borders are shoring up consumer sentiment. This is reflected by the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) Consumer Sentiments Index (CSI), which rose 11.7 points quarter-on-quarter to 108.9 in the first quarter of this year, again breaching the 100-point optimism level it last did two quarters ago. All components that comprise the latest CSI performed better than in the fourth quarter of last year, with expected employment leading the improvement, followed by current income and financial outlook. “Consumers’ assessment of…
A Vietjet flight from Hanoi took off for New Delhi on the afternoon of April 30, officially restarting direct flights between the Vietnamese and Indian capitals after a hiatus of more than two years. Vietjet managing director Dinh Viet Phuong said that a series of direct flights to India – a country of 1.4 billion people – restarting after the pandemic, along with other international routes, “proves” Vietjet’s efforts and commitment to bring flying opportunities to everyone, becoming a bridge for cultural, socio-economic exchange activities between countries. On April 29, the route from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) to New…
The Philippine government and implementing agencies of infrastructure projects to be jointly rolled out with the private sector can no longer be haled into court once disputes arise. “Acts and decisions of regulators shall not be subject to arbitration,” read Section 12.22, on dispute resolution between contracting parties, under the revised implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law published last week. The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) and the Makati Business Club (MBC) earlier opposed scrapping arbitration as a means to settle disputes arising from public-private partnership (PPP) projects. For one, the FEF had argued that arbitration…
Laos registered record two-way trade of $1.100 billion, including exports of $600 million and imports worth approximately $500 million, in March, resulting in a trade surplus of $100 million. The main exports included gold, gold bars, paper and paper products, copper ore, wood pulp, waste paper, rubber, cassava, banana, clothing, fertilisers and sugar. The main imports included inland vehicles (other than motorcycles and tractors), diesel, mechanical equipment (other than motor vehicles), auto parts (including tires, windshields and chains), iron and steel products, plastic products, petrol and premium petrol, wastes from the food industry, chemical products, and tractors. The main exports…
Singaporeans must be prepared for more economic challenges in the year ahead even as the Government does all it can to cushion the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, especially on the cost of living, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on May 1. “The fundamental solution . . . is to make ourselves more productive, to transform our businesses, to grow our economy, to uplift everyone,” he noted. “Then our incomes can go up, and that can more than make up for higher prices of energy and food. Then we can all become better off in real terms.” Lee was…