PG Bank changes name; transactions from 400 million VND must be reported

PG Bank changes its name.

On November 20th, the Board of Directors of Petrolimex Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PG Bank) announced the decision to change its commercial name to Prosperity and Development Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PGBank). The bank's currently used abbreviated name, PG Bank, will be changed to PGBank (according to Dan Tri newspaper).

- From December 1st, transactions exceeding 400 million VND must be reported.

According to Decision 11/2023 of the Prime Minister , from December 1st, transactions valued at 400 million VND or more must be reported to the State Bank of Vietnam. This decision stipulates that large-value transactions must be reported to the State Bank of Vietnam as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 25 of the Law on Prevention and Combat of Money Laundering (according to Tien Phong newspaper).

- The Ministry of Finance does not support the proposal from major automakers.

The Ministry of Finance has submitted a proposal to the Government regarding the draft Decree amending and supplementing several articles of Government Decree No. 26/2023/ND-CP on export tariffs, preferential import tariffs, list of goods and absolute tax rates, mixed tax rates, and import taxes outside the tariff quota. In this proposal, the Ministry of Finance does not support the two proposals from Toyota and Ford because "there are already many policies to support the domestic automobile manufacturing and assembly industry." (See more)

- Spending $2.7 billion importing soybean meal, refusing to reduce tariffs to 0%.

In its submission to the Government regarding the draft Decree amending and supplementing several articles of Decree No. 26/2023/ND-CP, the Ministry of Finance disagreed with the proposed reduction of import tax on soybean meal from 2% to 0%. According to the Ministry of Finance, soybean meal is a product of the soybean oil pressing process. This item is one of the important raw materials for animal feed production. In 2022, Vietnam spent $2.7 billion to import approximately 5 million tons of soybean meal. (See more)

kho dau tuong 1607.jpg — Soybean meal is an important ingredient in animal feed production (Illustrative image).

- 'Urgent' postponement of fuel price adjustment.

On November 21st, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued urgent document No. 8239 to the Departments of Industry and Trade of provinces and cities, key enterprises, and petroleum distributors to announce a change in the fuel price adjustment period from 10 days to 7 days, to be applied every Thursday, according to Decree No. 80 recently issued. Accordingly, the first price adjustment period under the new regulations will be on November 23rd (according to Tien Phong newspaper).

- China agrees to sell electricity to Vietnam via the Lao Cai route.

The National Power System Dispatch Center (A0) under the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) has just released a report on the operating methods for November and the remaining months of 2023. Regarding electricity imports, A0 stated that the possibility of purchasing electricity from China in the remaining months of the year is updated according to the latest negotiations from the Electricity Trading Company. Accordingly, China has agreed to sell electricity to Vietnam via Lao Cai with a total output of 90 and 93 million kWh in November and December 2023 respectively (approximately 3 million kWh/day), and there is no plan to confirm electricity sales via Ha Giang in 2023 (according to Tuoi Tre newspaper).

- The Ministry of Finance explains the requirement to issue invoices for each fuel sale.

On November 21st, the Ministry of Finance announced that the Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019/QH14, promulgated on June 13, 2019, and effective from July 1, 2020, except for the provisions on electronic invoices and documents, which will take effect from July 1, 2022. To implement the above regulations, tax authorities have coordinated with relevant units, with the support and cooperation of the people and the business community, and from July 1, 2022, all businesses and organizations nationwide have been issuing electronic invoices. (See more)

- Depositing nearly 7.8 million billion VND of temporarily idle funds, earning over a billion USD in bank interest.

From 2017 to October 31, 2023, the Ministry of Finance deposited temporarily idle state treasury funds at commercial banks with a total deposit value of VND 7.79 million billion, earning nearly VND 25,100 billion in interest. This information was presented by the Ministry of Finance in its submission for the Decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 24/2016/ND-CP dated April 5, 2016, of the Government regulating the management of state treasury funds. (See more)

- How has Sabeco fared after nearly six years under the ownership of the Thai billionaire?

Following the acquisition of over 54% of the shares from the Thai investor, Sabeco's business results were not very promising due to the outbreak and prolonged duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the subsequent economic difficulties significantly impacted the operations of this beer giant. For the first nine months of 2023, Sabeco's revenue reached VND 22,125 billion, a 12% decrease compared to the same period in 2022. Of this, revenue from beer reached VND 19,582 billion (compared to VND 22,129 billion in the same period), revenue from raw material sales was VND 2,269 billion, and revenue from the sale of spirits and alcohol was only VND 36 billion... (according to Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper).

- The billion-dollar seed variety fetches record-high prices, raising concerns about potential trillion-dollar losses if harvested while still unripe.

Coffee prices have reached record highs and are projected to continue rising. Experts warn that harvesting unripe coffee beans will significantly impact quality and result in trillions of dong in losses. (See more)

Oil prices on the world market rose sharply today, November 21st, due to concerns about continued tightening of global supply. Brent crude reached $82 per barrel, while WTI crude is heading towards $78 per barrel.

The central exchange rate decreased by 39 dong on November 21st . The USD price at commercial banks today fell sharply, reaching 24,200 dong/USD for selling, closing the session trading around 23,920-24,290 dong/USD (buying - selling). The global USD price continues to weaken.

On November 21st, the stock market recorded a 6.8-point increase in the VN-Index, reaching 1,110.46 points.
Green dominated red in most sectors. Construction and oil and gas stocks surged simultaneously.

Gold prices on the world market rose today, November 21st. Domestic gold ring prices also surged, reaching nearly half a million dong, approaching 61 million dong per tael, a record high. Gold bar prices also reached their highest level in a month.

Today's bank interest rates (November 21st) show that several commercial banks are continuing to lower deposit interest rates amidst plans to inject nearly 100 trillion VND back into the market within the next three weeks.

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