Lift of travel ban

Three fans from Thanh Hoa are finding a room near the stadium (Photo: SGGP) On the way, two groups of fans with nearly 10 people were caught asking locals about renting hotels and accommodation. However, they hardly found a hotel room near the stadium where the match will take place, so they then drove the car to continue searching. Mr. Quan – a fan from Thanh Hoa Province who has just arrived in Viet Tri City after 5 hours of driving - said that he took his family members to Phu Tho to watch U23 Vietnam play the semi-finals. Because it is still early, he wanted to rent a hotel or motel room to rest. He moaned no more rooms near the stadium as he wanted a room near the yard to walk to the stadium.  He planned when the match finished, he and his family members went back to the hotel for sleeping and in the next day, they will visit some places before returning to Thanh Hoa. Mr. Quan bought a few glasses of sugarcane juice to fuel up before continuing to search for a hotel to … [Read more...] about SEA Games 31: ticket sold out, no room near stadium before men’s football final

"Even in the very tough environment we are seeing, our employees have maintained a high quality and reliable service for our customers and this is helping us deliver stellar performance year after year," said Jens Lottner, CEO of Techcombank. Last year, the bank continued to reduce costs while focusing on building deposits in its current accounts and savings accounts (CASA), which Lottner described as a "stable and cheap" source of funding. Techcombank’s CASA ratio, which reflects the percentage of the bank’s total deposits that are CASA, jumped from 46.1 percent in 2020 to 50.5 percent last year, on its way to the bank’s target of 55 percent by 2025. Techcombank’s net interest margin (NIM), a measure of the difference between the interest received by the bank and the amount paid out to lenders, also increased 69 basis points to 5.6 percent during the year. "Together, these improving metrics, along with our effective cost management, translated into an excellent profit before tax … [Read more...] about Techcombank eyes seat at top Southeast Asian banking table

The bank is collecting feedback on its draft circular to replace the current version with stricter conditions for receiving short-term foreign loans to ensure a national debt limit. The draft will allow Vietnamese businesses to access short-term foreign loans for paying debt, but not for potentially risky purposes like trading stock and real estate. This is because once the stock and real estate market grows way above its intrinsic value, there would be a high chance of creating an asset bubble, causing economic instability. The central bank plans to ban the use of short-term foreign loans to buy projects or stakes in them, since mergers and acquisitions involve long-term investment and commitment. It also plans to ban companies using short-term foreign loans to acquire projects or stakes in projects, as mergers and acquisitions are long-term activities. Short-term loans could result in liquidity risks if used for medium- and long-term purposes, it explained. Companies may … [Read more...] about Central bank limits foreign loans for trading stock, real estate

The deal value in Vietnam by Japanese investors last year was more than triple the figure of 2020. Why has there been a sharp increase in Japanese mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals? Masataka “Sam” Yoshida, head of the Cross-border Division of RECOF Corporation and CEO of RECOF Vietnam Co., Ltd This rise was due to an exceptional deal done by SMBC Consumer Finance, in the amount of nearly $1.38 billion, which acquired FE Credit from VP Bank. In fact, there have been several relatively big deals by Japanese investors ranging from $50-100 million every two years during the last 10 years – however, this one was by far the largest. Apart from this one, we recognise that most of the Japanese-related deals were around $5-30 million in size, which did not show any big difference from before 2020. What is M&A activity like so far in 2022 for Japanese groups here? Despite the aforementioned mega deal by SMBC, most Japanese investors had to wait until travel … [Read more...] about Japanese M&A in Vietnam on a steady track to bigger deals

Tourists at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia (Photo: khmertimeskh.com) Phnom Penh (VNA) - Tourists who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be exempted from quarantine when entering Cambodia, according to the national press agency of Cambodia AKP . AKP quoted Prime Minister Hun Sen as saying at a meeting on May 17 with the Samdech Techo Young Volunteer Doctors Association (TYDA) that Cambodia welcomes all visitors, but people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 must still be quarantined for seven days. The PM emphasised that Cambodia has overcome the epidemic waves caused by variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus such as Alpha, Delta and Omicron, but has not yet conquered COVID-19. Cambodia is devoting all of its efforts to pushing the COVID-19 vaccination programme, so unvaccinated travellers cannot enter without quarantine. Travellers who have been immunized against COVID-19 do not need to be quarantined and are not required to take rapid or … [Read more...] about Unvaccinated tourists not exempted from quarantine upon arrival in Cambodia

The sidewalks encircling several hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have been turned into parking lots for motorbikes and trading areas for street vendors, leaving little to no space for pedestrians. Although the municipal Department of Transport requested that the People’s Committees of Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, and 11, where many large hospitals are located, crack down on the sidewalk encroachment, the issue has remained rampant as of Wednesday. Some sidewalk occupiers even put up barriers to stop pedestrians from walking through their parking lots, which can be seen on the sidewalks of Nguyen Chi Thanh and Thuan Kieu Streets near Cho Ray Hospital and along Ly Thuong Kiet Street near Hung Vuong Hospital, both in District 5. As a result, pedestrians are forced to walk on the roadway, endangering themselves and others. “There is no footpath because the sidewalks are full of motorbikes so I have to go on the roadway,” said Nguyen Tan Vinh, a resident of District 5. A … [Read more...] about Parking service operators, street vendors encroach on sidewalks near hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City

A visitor uses a remote guide app on her mobile at the National Fine Arts Museum. —VNS Photo Le Huong The tourism sector must apply digital transformation to secure sustainable development, according to dozens of participants at a forum on the topic held in Ha Noi on May 18. Titled "Green Light for Tourism to Take Off Part 2: Digital Transformation: Diving Force for Sustainable Development", the forum gathered dozens of experts from State management agencies, tourism authorities, localities, and IT. The first part of the forum held in March focused on opening doors to international tourists. Hoang Quang Phong, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce Industry, said at the end of 2018, the Prime Minister issued Decision No 1671/QD-TTg approving the “Master plan on applying informatics technology in the tourism field for 2018-2020, with orientation to 2025.” “Informatics technology has been applied in various tourism companies, especially hotels, resorts and big … [Read more...] about Forum held on digital transformation for sustainable tourism