MASCOPEX

HCMC – The Ministry of Health today, October 4, reported 5,383 Covid-19 cases, making today the third consecutive day the country has had less than 6,000 new cases a day.

The new cases included one imported case and 5,382 domestic infections in 37 cities and provinces, up 15 cases over yesterday.

Specifically, HCMC again took the lead in the case number today, at 2,490, followed by Binh Duong with 1,210 cases and Dong Nai with 701 cases.

In addition, An Giang had 222 cases and Soc Trang confirmed 118 cases. Other localities reported less than 100 cases each.

Thus, HCMC’s Covid-19 tally in the ongoing fourth Covid-19 wave has reached 400,003, or roughly half of the country’s total. Today, 27,683 Covid-19 patients were released from hospitals, raising the country’s Covid-19 recoveries in the current outbreak to 716,301.

Meanwhile, 130 more Covid-19 deaths were confirmed today, including 93 in HCMC, 20 in Binh Duong, five each in Long An and Dong Nai, three in An Giang, and one each in Ca Mau, Vinh Long, Danang and Tien Giang.

The exodus of migrant workers continues 

In related news, some Mekong Delta provinces, such as An Giang and Kien Giang, have decided to quarantine residents returning from HCMC and adjacent provinces at home if they have got two Covid-19 vaccine shots and test negative for Covid-19.

An Giang Chairman Nguyen Thanh Binh said some 30,000 people returned to the province over the past three days and 100 of them tested positive for Covid-19.

The province has converted schools into centralized quarantine centers but failed to meet the demand. The huge number of returnees has also put pressure on the province’s budget as the province must provide meals for these people.

The solution of quarantining returnees at their homes will help prevent cross infection as centralized quarantine centers have been overloaded.

Meanwhile, Kien Giang has detected 35 Covid-19 cases among nearly 20,000 people returning to the province over the past three days.

The province’s vice chairwoman Nguyen Thanh Nhan said if the returnees test negative for Covid-19, they will be instructed to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days.

Dong Thap Province has decided to conduct Covid-19 tests on and quarantine the returnees at no charge.

People who have yet to be vaccinated against Covid-19 will be put under centralized quarantine for 14 days, while the quarantine period for those having received one and two shots is three and seven days, respectively. After the concentrated quarantine period, they will monitor their health at home for another 14 days.

In another development, the central province of Phu Yen will apply anti-pandemic measures in line with the prime minister’s Directive 19, which is less stringent than Directives 15 and 16, from 0 a.m. on October 5 as the province has put the pandemic under control.

Since September 20, Phu Yen has recorded no locally-infected Covid-19 cases. The province has practiced social distancing under Directive 15 since September 6 after deploying anti-pandemic measures in accordance with Directive 16 from July 23.

(english.thesaigontimes.com)

HCMC – The Ministry of Planning and Investment has projected the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2021 at 3%-3.5%, down 0.5 percentage points from the rate forecast in September.

At a press briefing on October 2, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong said the forecast was made based on the country’s socioeconomic performance in the January-September period and the prospects in the rest of the year, the local media reported.

To reach a growth rate of 3% or 3.5% this year, the country’s GDP growth this quarter would have to hit 7.06% or 8.84%, respectively, Phuong said.

Vietnam used to achieve a GDP growth of over 7% in the past. However, the economic growth in the last quarter will depend much on the deployment of a plan to adapt safely and flexibly to the Covid-19 pandemic and control it effectively.

To reach the growth target, enterprises must be allowed to resume their operations, Phuong noted, adding that laborers should be facilitated to return to work so that enterprises can operate in the new normal.

In addition, the smooth circulation of goods should be ensured. In the recovery period, it will be a great success if enterprises can recover 80% of their capacity, the deputy minister said.

At a regular Cabinet meeting on October 2, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stressed that the economic growth this year would largely depend on the production and business recovery this quarter and the ability to adapt to the pandemic in the coming periods.

Therefore, the Government leader asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to quickly complete a plan to help the economy recover and develop in the new normal.

The ministry must submit the plan to the competent agencies for issuance this month.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) late last month forecast Vietnam’s GDP growth for this year at 3.8%, while the World Bank predicted the country’s growth rate at 4.8%.

However, international organizations remain optimistic about Vietnam’s economic growth outlook. ADB believed that Vietnam’s economy would recover and expand 6.5% in 2022 if the pandemic is brought under control late this year and 70% of its population is vaccinated against Covid-19 by the second quarter of next year.

(english.thesaigontimes.com)

Foreign-invested firms dominate rankings of best workplaces, but Vietnamese peers are more conspicuous in the top 20.

Vietnamese dairy giant Vinamilk remained the best company to work in the country for the second year in a row as per the 2018 "Best Places to Work" survey, which listed the 100 best workplaces in Vietnam. 

Vinamilk was followed by Vietcombank, Nestle, Samsung Vina Electronics and Vietnamese telco giant Viettel. This continued Vietnamese firms’ dominance of the top five, while the number of local firms in the top 20 went up from six the previous year to eight last year.  

The survey results were released Wednesday by local career network service Anphabe and U.S.-based market research firm Nielsen.

In its sixth year, the survey was the largest ever conducted, collecting feedback from a pool of 75,481 respondents working in 24 different sectors. Rankings were based on salary levels, bonuses, welfare and work-life balance for employees.

Once again, multinational giant Unilever failed to show up in the top 100 listing.(See the complete top 100 in 2018 here)

Many Vietnamese firms on the list also improved their rankings last year, including Techcombank (16th to 9th), Vietnam's largest private conglomerate Vingroup (31st to 23rd), PNJ (51st to 27th), and budget carrier Vietjet Air (70th to 62nd).

Overall, there were 27 local firms in the top 100 list.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will lend $100 million to Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) towards extending credit to SMEs.

The long-term financial package provided by IFC, a World Bank affiliate, will comprise $57.16 million from its own capital, and another $42.84 million raised from other sponsors through the corporation’s Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program.

OCB aims to use at least 50 percent of this loan to finance women-owned or managed SMEs, with support from the World Bank’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi).

We-Fi is a multi-government and bank partnership aimed at unlock financing for women-led/owned businesses in developing countries.

An IFC announcement Wednesday morning said it would also provide consultancy services alongside the finance package, facilitating OCB in providing loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

In addition, the IFC will help the local bank develop supply chain financing, which involves lending to SMEs without collateral.  

According to the IFC, SMEs account for 98 percent of total enterprises in Vietnam. This is the main source of job creation in Vietnam, employing more than half of the workforce and contributing about 40 percent of the country's GDP.

However, about 60 percent of SMEs face a shortage of capital, which the credit institution estimates at $21 billion. Access to finance, according to IFC, is the key to unlocking the potential of SMEs.

According to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), only 30 percent of SMEs in Vietnam have access to loans from the formal sector, with the rest having to use their own funds or depend on unregulated, informal loans.