- Exchanging new money and small change for the difference will be prosecuted by law.

The State Bank of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City branch, has just issued the above viewpoint and said that the authorities will strengthen inspection and supervision of the collection and exchange of new money and small change and money exchange on the internet in the coming days to prevent and handle it promptly. The representative of the State Bank of Vietnam said that all acts of collecting and exchanging new money and small change by individuals and organizations to enjoy the difference and money exchange on the internet are violations of the law and will be strictly handled (according to Thoi Bao Ngan Hang).

- SBV requires drastic handling and recovery of bad debt

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued Directive 01 informing credit institutions about the key tasks of the entire industry in 2024. Accordingly, the operator informed banks that the key tasks this year are to handle and recover bad debts, improve credit quality, and prevent and limit the emergence of new bad debts (according to Tri Thuc Truc Tuyen).

- Banks are prohibited from selling insurance with banking services.

The Law on Credit Institutions (amended) recently passed by the National Assembly has added the provision of selling insurance associated with the provision of banking products and services to the prohibited acts. Specifically, the Law clearly stipulates that credit institutions, foreign bank branches, managers, operators, and employees of credit institutions and foreign bank branches are not allowed to link the sale of non-mandatory insurance products with the provision of banking products and services in any form (according to Tri Thuc Truc Tuyen).

- The National Assembly approved the allocation of more than 2,500 billion for EVN to extend the power grid to Con Dao.

On the morning of January 18, the National Assembly voted to pass a Resolution on the use of general reserves and central budget reserves of the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period for ministries, central and local agencies and Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN). With this resolution, the National Assembly agreed to assign EVN to use more than VND 2,500 billion to implement the project of extending the power grid to Con Dao (Ba Ria-Vung Tau province) and to pour more than VND 57,000 billion into transport projects. (See more)

- Prime Minister establishes international advisory team to build financial center in Vietnam

On the evening of January 17 (local time), in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a discussion on "Potential and investment opportunities in Vietnam's financial market". At the discussion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh agreed with ministries, branches, representatives of banks and leading financial investment funds in the world on the establishment of a Working Group to research and advise on the construction of a financial center in Vietnam. (See more)

- Reclaiming more than 20 thousand square meters of land in Nha Trang beach resort

On January 18, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Ha, Chief of Office of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, said that the locality has issued a decision to reclaim more than 20,100 square meters of Nha Trang coastal land located on the east side of Tran Phu Street. The constructions that limit the view of the sea in the resort in Nha Trang have been completed, returning more than 20,100 square meters of land to the locality for planning to serve the community. (See more)

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Many structures in the resort that block the sea on Tran Phu Street were dismantled. (Photo: Xuan Ngoc)

- Before 2040, test exploitation of the Red River coal basin with reserves 20 times larger than the Quang Ninh coal basin.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha signed Decision 55/QD-TTg approving the Strategy for the development of Vietnam's coal industry to 2030, with a vision to 2045. Regarding the goals and development orientation, the output of commercial coal (excluding peat) is expected to reach about 45-50 million tons/year by 2030 and gradually decrease in the period 2031-2045 (reaching about 38-40 million tons in 2045). The strategy also sets the goal of putting into trial operation at the Red River Coal Basin before 2040 to move towards industrial-scale exploitation before 2050 (if the trial is successful) (according to Nguoi Lao Dong).

- Expanding the group of people involved in manipulating banking activities

One of the notable points in the Law on Credit Institutions (amended) which was just passed by the 5th Extraordinary Session of the National Assembly on the morning of January 18 is the content in determining related persons, to make shareholders' ownership of shares transparent. The Law on Credit Institutions (amended) consists of 15 chapters, 210 articles (compared to the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly at the 6th Session, 4 articles were removed, 11 articles were added, 15 articles were kept the same and other articles were technically revised). (See more)

- Vietnamese people used nearly 19 billion poultry eggs last year.

Our country's poultry egg output is up to 19.22 billion eggs. Of which, the amount of exported eggs is only about 1%, the rest is for domestic consumption. (See more)

- Coffee prices are at an unprecedented high, Vietnamese businesses are full of orders

Robusta coffee prices in the world market are skyrocketing, and this type of bean in our country has also skyrocketed to an unprecedented high in history. Export activities are bustling, businesses are fully booked until the end of the first quarter of 2024, and even have to turn down some orders. (See more)

- Tet apricot blossoms early, garden owner anxiously lowers rental price

In some yellow apricot capitals in Ho Chi Minh City, harsh weather has caused flowers to bloom early, causing growers to worry about losing their crops. The rental and sale prices for apricot flowers for Tet this year are showing a downward trend. (See more)

Today's world oil prices reversed to increase after decreasing in the previous session. Domestic oil prices are being managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade - Ministry of Finance in an upward direction. Notably, the price of RON95 gasoline increased beyond the 22,000 VND/liter mark.

The stock market on January 18 recorded the VN-Index increasing by 6.53 points, to 1,169.06 points.
Banking and real estate stocks responded positively to the National Assembly's passing of the Law on Credit Institutions (amended) and the Law on Land (amended).

The central exchange rate on January 18 was 24,041 VND/USD, up 24 VND compared to the previous session. Meanwhile, the USD price at commercial banks on January 18 continued to increase, listed at the end of the session at 24,355 VND/USD (buy) and 24,725 VND/USD (sell). Meanwhile, the international USD price went down.

The world gold price today plummeted due to pressure from the USD. Domestically, the price of SJC gold bars also decreased, but then rebounded to 76.5 million VND/tael.

Today's bank interest rates continue to see more banks reduce deposit interest rates, bringing the total number of banks that have reduced interest rates since the beginning of the month to 24. SeABank adjusted interest rates down for all terms, with a reduction of 0.2-0.25 percentage points on deposit interest rates for terms from 1-12 months, and a reduction of 0.1 percentage points on deposit interest rates for terms from 15-36 months.