Vietnam News Today (Dec. 27): Vietnam in World's Top 16 with Richest Biodiversity

Foreign trade - a bright spot in the overall picture of the national economy in 2022.

Vietnam’s 2022 trade turnover exceeds US$730 billion

Vietnam is set to fetch US$732 billion in foreign trade this year, representing an annual rise of 10%, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry at a year-end meeting in Hanoi on December 26.

This is the first time the country’s import-export turnover has surpassed the US$700 billion mark.

Of the total, exports are projected to rise 10.5% to bring in US$371.5 billion. Among the export items, 39 commodities earned more than US$1 billion each, and nine commodities recorded more than US$10 billion each.

Meanwhile, Vietnam spent US$360.5 billion on imports, an increase of 8.5%. As a result, the local economy enjoyed a trade surplus of approximately US$11 billion, marking the seven years in a row that it has produced a trade surplus.

However, the export structure remains unbalanced, with the group of processed industrial products making up more than 86% of the total export turnover.

In addition, about 74% of the export value was generated by FDI businesses, while the export capacity of domestic enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises, is low, cited VOV.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said exports began to fall in the fourth quarter due to the global shrinking market, falling orders, rising competition, and rising input costs.

The diversification of markets for some products, such as vegetables and fruits, is still slow, as it does not meet the requirements of standards and quality, or businesses have yet to make good use of FTAs Vietnam has signed with its partners.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu warned 2023 would be a difficult year as the global economy is predicted to fall into a technical recession, leading to a decrease in purchasing power and consumption globally. Furthermore, trading partners are set to tighten import-export regulations, requiring Vietnamese businesses to develop appropriate response scenarios.

Sharing the view, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said the game would be more rigorous and competitive. However, he said the trade sector has still set the target of raising the total export turnover by about 6% compared to this year.

Vietnam in world's top 16 with richest biodiversity

Vietnam is ranked 16th out of the 25 countries with the richest biodiversity in the world, as more than 11,000 species have been discovered in the country.

Of the species, there are about 6,000 benthic, 2,038 fish, 225 marine shrimp, 15 sea snake, 12 marine mammal, five sea turtle, 43 water bird, 653 seaweed, 657 zooplankton, 94 mangrove plants, 14 seagrasses, and about 400 coral species.

These species live in more than 20 typical ecosystem types, have high biological productivity, and determine the entire primary productivity of the whole sea, according to VNA.

For effective marine conservation, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been consulting the Government to issue support policies, and invest in essential infrastructure items of the marine protected areas.

According to the ministry, it is also necessary to have policies to support the implementation of co-management in the protection of aquatic resources.

Birds are seen at Tram Chim National Park in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap - the world's 2,000th Ramsar site. Photo: VNA

Government's support is also needed to help fishermen working in marine protected areas to shift their livelihood to environmentally-friendly ones.

Vietnam and Malaysia to cooperate in referee development

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) on December 26 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on referee and youth football development.

During the signing ceremony, Tran Anh Tu, vice president of the VFF, noted that over recent years football cooperation between the two countries has yielded positive results through football exchange activities.

Representatives of Vietnam Football Federation and Football Association of Malaysia sign a Memorandum of Understanding on referee and youth football development in Hanoi. Photo: Vietnamnet

Most notably, the two sides have sent teams of all ages to participate in international youth tournaments, while Malaysia have also introduced outstanding referees to manage important matches in the V.League 1, VOV reported.

The signing of the MoU is expected to contribute to make a positive impact on both Vietnamese and Malaysian football through specific cooperation programmes, said Tu.

The MoU is also expected to bring about a range of positive results in professional works, especially in sharing management experience in national professional football leagues.

Vietnam responds well to global changes in 2022

2022 has been a year of uncertainty for the world, including Vietnam. However, flexible policies applied by Vietnam have helped it stabilize the exchange rate and inflation rate.

The serious crisis the world has fallen into in 2022 is the result of a property bubble after the Covid-19 pandemic, tensions in Ukraine, the US-China economic conflict, the closure of the Chinese economy and the US decision to raise interest rates from 0-0.25 percent to 3.75-4 percent to fight inflation.

Many currencies have depreciated. The greenback at times appreciated by 20 percent in comparison with six major currencies. The pound depreciated by 22 percent, while the Euro gained 15.3 percent, and the Japanese yen lost 30 percent of its value at one point. Other currencies lost 40-60 percent of their value, which led to the flight of foreign capital.

Photo: VNN

The inflation rate has reached a record high in many countries. Some EU countries have reported inflation rates of over 20 percent. The rate was 11.1 percent in October in the UK, a 41-year high, while it was 10.7 percent in the EU. The US saw inflation go up to 9.1 percent at one point.

The UK reported a crisis in the bond market and China in the real estate market, cited VNN.

The situation has been controlled well in Vietnam. The inflation rate was 4.37 percent in November. The dollar price quoted by Vietcombank increased by only 8 percent, while the GDP in Q3 was 13.67 percent.

However, the stock market fell sharply with the VN Index falling from 1,520 points in early April to 873 points on November 16 before it bounced back to 1,080 points on December 2.

The real estate market was quiet. Many real estate shares saw prices plunge by 80-90 percent. The corporate bond market was nearly frozen. Some enterprises had to spend VND152 trillion to buy back bonds before maturity.

The government and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) applied flexibility to control the exchange rate and inflation rate, while making efforts to maintain the growth momentum to avoid shocks like the one seen in 2009 (when Vietnam had to adjust the exchange rate by 9 percent which led to high inflation).

SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said Vietnam has pursued a monetary policy which aims to control inflation, stabilize the macroeconomy, and ensure safety for the entire system as well as monetary and forex markets.

On October 17, SBV raised the USD/VND trading band from +/-3% to +/-5%.

Regarding the interest rate, SBV made adjustments twice on September 23 and October 25, raising the rediscount interest rates from 2.5 percent to 4.5 percent, and refinancing rates from 4 percent to 6 percent per annum.

Early Tet visits to officers, soldiers on DK1 platforms

The Naval Region 2 High Command on December 26 sent two delegations to visit officers and soldiers on duty on DK1 platforms, ships on duty, and agencies and units stationed in Con Dao district of the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau, on the occasion of the approaching lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

Soldiers carry gifts and goods onto the ships. Photo: VNA

Representatives from the Defence and Security Education Centre of Vietnam National University HCM City, the club “For Homeland Sea and Islands”, and 58 reporters from press agencies nationwide also joined the delegations, which was led by Colonel Pham Quyet Tien and Colonel Nguyen Viet Anh, Vice Commander and Deputy Chief of Staff of the High Command.

The ships Truong Sa 10 and Truong Sa 21 of the High Command are carrying more than 500 gift packages and other goods provided by the Ministry of Defence, the Navy Force, the Navy Region 2 High Command, and those donated by businesses, organisations, and individuals, VNA reported.

The journeys are scheduled to last 13-15 days.

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