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Deputy Ag Minister Held in Durian Export Probe
Deputy Agriculture Minister Hoang Trung has been detained and kicked out of the Communist Party after investigators accused him of writing illegal durian export rules, including "sub-licences," and taking "particularly large" bribes along the way. Three others were detained with him, including Nguyen Quang Hieu from the crop production and plant protection department and two officials accused of falsifying paperwork. Investigators say the setup ran through the ministry's Centre for Testing, Certification and Quality Services and two private firms, NhoNho Technology and Thuy Fruit. Neither company responded to requests for comment. The probe has been in the works since 2025, when eight people connected to the same case were detained.
Read more: Straits Times (budget damage), Tuoitre (prosecution)
PNJ Rations Cash Due to Diamond Buybacks
PNJ paid out $224 million buying back diamond jewelry in the first 20 days of July, almost four times the $60 million in revenue it booked over the same period. CEO Phan Quoc Cong admitted the company was under liquidity pressure and brought in a nationwide installment plan, with sellers getting 10 percent immediately and the rest spread over four months. Within a week, almost all sellers chose to swap gold and diamonds for new gold products instead of waiting for cash. Buybacks then shrank to $44 million against $53 million in revenue. The rush followed the early July arrest of Dang Ngoc Thao, former director of PNJ's gemstone certification arm P-Lab, in a case alleging that 28,000 diamonds were smuggled into Vietnam in 141 shipments since 2024. PNJ shares declined through four floor sessions before rebounding almost 7 percent.
Read more: Tuoitre
SBV Opens Lending Window for Three
The State Bank of Vietnam has opened a special lending channel for 18 infrastructure projects connected to three conglomerates, Vingroup, Sun Group and Masterise. Pricing and collateral terms have not been made public. The government is using China's RMB4 trillion stimulus in 2008 and 2009 as proof that directed credit can push big projects through, and while that comparison carries some weight, this is a different bet. Vietnam is concentrating exposure to three private groups inside a banking system already heavy with property loans, and the companies have not said how the money will be divvied up between the 18 projects.
Read more: VnEconomy
Vanguard and Blackstone Wire Up for Vietnam
Vanguard, Blackstone, UBS and Morgan Stanley have finished the technical arrangements needed to trade Vietnamese stocks through local brokers SSI Securities and Vietcap, according to the State Securities Commission. The SSC is also fast-tracking Circular 08, which would let foreign funds trade through global broker networks instead of requiring the opening of a local account first. That will remove a paperwork step that has long irritated index compilers who want to participate in Vietnam's upgrade from frontier to growing-market status. The VN-Index closed July 29 at 1,704.68, back above 1,700 after weeks of choppy trading. Foreign investors are still selling, though, with a net VND88 billion unloaded on HoSE that day.
Read more: Vietnam News (index lift), VnEconomy (foreign access)
Gas Power Comeback Costs
Decision 1882 sets a ceiling of VND3,410.64 per kWh (~$0.13), for gas-fired power. The calculation is based on a 1,008 MW combined-cycle plant running at 85 percent load with gas priced at $11.98 per million BTU and the number is anchoring PPA talks between EVN and generators that have spent years haggling over fuel risk. Under companion Decree 100, LNG plants online before 2031 will get a guaranteed minimum offtake of almost two-thirds of capacity during loan repayment periods of up to ten years, with fuel costs passed straight through to tariffs. Domestic gas projects arriving after that and before 2036 will get dispatch guarantees tied to extraction limits instead.
Read more: Tuoitre
Dong Nai Bets $600 Billion on an Airport City
To Lam has told Dong Nai to grow its economy 13.6 times over the next 35 years, from an expected $44 billion in 2030 to $600 billion by 2065, with Long Thanh International Airport as the centerpiece. The plan calls for 10 percent annual GRDP growth through 2045 and a Long Thanh-Nhon Trach airport city built for 2.5 million people. Dong Nai will benefit from Ho Chi Minh City-style special mechanisms on land, finance and hiring. The master plan runs on a 100-year horizon. Long Thanh is expected to open with capacity for 25 million passengers a year. Ambitious is the polite word.
Read more: VnEconomy (income target), VnExpress (airport cost)
Hanoi Sets Deadline to License the Crypto Shadow
Resolution 05 targets this year for the arrival of Vietnam's first licensed crypto exchanges, giving legal cover to a market that Chainalysis says was 17 million people and about $200 billion in capital flows between June 2024 and June 2025. Most of that money is currently moving by way of overseas platforms or peer-to-peer OTC networks. The Digital Technology Industry Law newly recognizes digital assets as legally protected property, but custody, token issuance and AML rules still need to be written (to say nothing of enforcement). Retail traders who can now open an overseas account with a smartphone will need identity checks and portfolio controls once licensed venues go live. The government has not yet named any exchanges or published operating rules, so “end of year” may still be optimistic.
Read more: VnExpress
Vingroup Takes Silk Road Show to Tashkent
Vingroup is building a "Vietnam Town" in Tashkent and running down nearly two dozen ventures in at least 15 countries. The conglomerate's real estate arm has long bankrolled everything from EVs to AI at home, but Vietnam's property boom has cooled and VinFast is still losing money, so the group is looking for revenue elsewhere. Uzbekistan's (authoritarian) government only started courting foreign capital in 2017, but it seems keen now on Vingroup's full playbook, with homes, malls, schools, hospitals and EV chargers built into one Tashkent district. Trade between Vietnam and Uzbekistan was $202 million in 2024,, and Hanoi elevated Kazakhstan to a strategic partner in 2025 as Central Asia looks past Russia. Washington's tariffs have also reminded Hanoi how much it leans on the U.S., which takes almost a third of its exports.
Read more: AP
VinFast Carries the EV Lead
Battery EVs made up more than a third of new vehicle sales in the first half (+71%), which is the highest share in Southeast Asia's four biggest auto markets. VinFast provided almost all of them. Thailand was a close second and Indonesia pulled up in third spot. Vietnam's registration fee exemption and 3 percent special consumption tax rate will run through the end of 2030.
Read more: VnExpress
Shopee, TikTok Shop Post $11B, Hike Fees
Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada and Tiki moved VND291.6 trillion ($11.07 billion) in GMV in the first half, with growth of 38 to 52 percent, from 613,900 stores selling 2.18 billion products. Livestreaming now drives about two-thirds of online spending. Shopee and TikTok Shop have both raised merchant fees, pushing some sellers to raise prices, and the National Competition Commission has asked the platforms to report on the impact. TikTok Shop is offering new sellers up to VND70 million ($3,200) in fee waivers this year, in addition to a 60-day commission and transaction fee holiday for craft-village and OCOP merchants signing up in the second half.
Read more: Vietnam News (seller program), VnExpress (market data)
Bamboo Airways Down to One or Two Planes
Bamboo Airways apologized for canceling and delaying flights in its domestic and international network, including a Da Nang to Macau route pushed back by almost three hours. The carrier's fleet has been reduced from eight aircraft at the end of last year to three on paper, with only one or two flying on any given day as it fights lessors over unpaid bills and debts. Passengers say ticket fares were taken from their accounts with no refund in sight, leaving some to buy new seats at higher prices while they wait. Bamboo says refunds are coming in the order requests arrive, but it has given no timeline.
Read more: Tuoitre
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
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