Vietnam 20260806

Mekong Memo Vietnam Weekly: Business, politics, finance, trade & legal news.

Aug 06, 2026

News from Southeast Asia directly to your inbox every weekday.

The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:

Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.

Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.

The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.

Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.

Hanoi Needs 11.9% in H2 to Hit 10%

Vietnam grew 8.18% in the first half of 2026, leaving the government needing 11.9% in the second half to reach its target of "at least 10%," a pace the Party Central Committee re-confirmed at its late-July plenum. The manufacturing PMI had its strongest showing since February (52.9) in July, and factories are (net) hiring for the first time in five months. Outstanding credit was reported at VND20.15 quadrillion, (~$770B), up a little more than 8% since the end of 2025, as the central bank has steered credit toward 18 major infrastructure projects. None of it is going to add up to 11.9%, no matter how you sharpen your pencil. Standard Chartered lifted its full-year forecast to 9.5%.

Read more: VnEconomy (plenum strategy), The Investor, VnEconomy (industrial output), VnEconomy (credit growth)

FTSE Ends Frontier Status September 21

FTSE Russell will publish its official constituent list on August 21, and about 30 stocks will join the Secondary Growing Market index when the change takes effect a month later. MB Securities calculates the passive money at $1.5 billion, though only about a tenth is expected to arrive in September. The rest will show up in three later phases through September 2027, with a fifth at the March review and two larger tranches coming in June and September. Vingroup tops the buy list at an estimated $46.4 million, little more than 1% of its recent trading volume, ahead of Vinhomes at $16 million. MBS expects large-caps to soak up early buying as mid- and small-caps wait for the 2027 rounds, when index weightings get adjusted based on how much the earlier money moved prices.

Singapore and Seoul Lead $38 Billion FDI Haul

Registered foreign direct investment was $38.06 billion through July, up 58% from July 2025, with newly licensed capital more than doubling to $21.05 billion for 2,429 projects. Singapore put in $7.5 billion, more than a third of all new capital, followed by South Korea at $5.61 billion and Hong Kong at $2.91 billion. Manufacturing absorbed $11.58 billion of the new money, while capital contributions and share purchases increased more than three-fifths to $6.58 billion over 1,815 deals. Disbursement was $15.2 billion, up almost 12% and the highest seven-month figure in five years, 80%+ of it went into processing and manufacturing. China was listed a distant fourth with $1.73 billion, well behind Hong Kong.

Read more: VnEconomy (China ranking), VnExpress (outbound investment)

A $93 Billion Import Bill From China

In the year to July, merchandise trade was $659.58 billion, but the mix has a soft center because imports rose almost 35% to $340.05 billion against almost 22% export growth, leaving a $20.52 billion deficit. Production inputs, machinery and raw materials made up almost all imports. China was the supplier of $138.6 billion of the imports, widening the deficit with Beijing almost 40% to $93 billion. The United States took $104.7 billion in exports, giving VN a $91.4 billion surplus there.

LG Innotek Anchors Hai Phong's $3.2 Billion

Hai Phong took about a tenth of the country's $38 billion FDI haul. The city gave investment certificates to 13 projects and signed two industrial-park cooperation deals, totaling about $3.2 billion in committed and proposed capital. The anchor tenant is LG Innotek's $1 billion semiconductor plant at Nam Dinh Vu Industrial Park's Free Trade Zone subdivision. FDI into the port city was an estimated $3.26 billion in the January-July period, up almost 72% year-on-year. Hai Phong hosts 1,868 current FDI projects from 41 countries.

Carrier Docks in Da Nang, Tariffs Simmer

The USS George Washington and its Carrier Strike Group 5, with more than 5,000 sailors and air wing personnel aboard, spent seven days at Da Nang's Tien Sa Port. It’s the fourth US carrier call since normalization and the longest one to date. The visit came at a moment of some frustration for Vietnam, as it has only been days since Washington put a new 12.5% Section 301 tariff on imports because of forced-labor concerns. The foreign ministry said the tariff misread the country's efforts and enthusiastically referenced a decree that bans imports made with forced labor. Party chief To Lam sounded polite but irritated in a meeting with INDOPACOM commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, asking Washington to wrap up its Section 301 investigations and avoid "extreme trade remedy measures," as he repeated his invitation for Trump to attend APEC 2027 in Hanoi.

Read more: Vietnam Insiders (past carrier visits), Vietnam Insiders (welcome ceremony officials), Tuoitre (personnel breakdown), Vietnam Insiders (forced-labor decree), VOV News

HCMC Data Centers Set to Triple Capacity

Ho Chi Minh City's data center capacity is expected to grow from 33MW to 101MW. UAE's G42 signed a $1 billion deal with FPT and Viet Thai Group for three data centers and is also part of a separate $2 billion hyperscale project in the city. Singapore's Sembcorp, through its StarMason joint venture with BB Holdings, has approval for a 90MW facility. The building spree comes after the government's January 2025 decision to fully open the sector to foreign ownership. Colocation vacancy is currently almost 35%, above the Asia-Pacific average, so tenants have room before demand catches up.

Private Money Muscles Into Airport Construction

The aviation buildout is increasingly becoming a private-sector story. Masterise Group has capitalized a wholly owned aviation arm at VND29.3 trillion ($1.12 billion) to build the $7.45 billion Gia Binh International Airport in Bac Ninh, which the National Assembly approved in December 2025. Sun Group, which set the template with Van Don's BOT airport, has created a new subsidiary for work on the planned Phan Thiet Airport and is continuing its VND22 trillion ($846 million) expansion of Phu Quoc ahead of APEC 2027. On the airline side, Sun Phu Quoc Airways went from zero to nine aircraft between August 2025 and February 2026, and Vietravel Airlines raised its charter capital to VND2.25 trillion ($85.67 million) in December. The country brought in a record 83.5 million passengers in 2025, up almost 11%, and is hoping to see 95 million this year.

Hanoi Lines Up 18 More Yak-130s

During a visit by Vladimir Putin to oe of his factories, Irkutsk Aviation chief executive Andrei Soynov said that Hanoi is finalizing an 18-aircraft Yak-130M order that would make it the upgraded variant's first export customer. The deal follows an earlier purchase of 12 baseline Yak-130s valued at almost $350 million. Two have already been lost, one in a November 2024 landing-gear accident and another in January 2026, so there are about ten still useable. The M variant adds an AESA radar, electro-optical targeting, improved self-protection and precision-weapons compatibility, turning a trainer into a light combat jet that is able to manage counter-drone work, air policing and reconnaissance without eating into Su-30 flight hours. Nobody in Hanoi has confirmed the contract.

Vinhomes Plans 6,200-Hectare Ha Long City

Vinhomes published the master plan for its largest project to date, a 6,200-hectare development called Vinhomes Global Gate Ha Long that’s going in next to the UNESCO-listed bay that brings tourists to its karsts. Six districts of villas, townhouses, shophouses and high-rises will be built next to a future depot station on the Hanoi-Quang Ninh high-speed railway, promising a 23-minute run to the capital; the existing Hanoi-Hai Phong-Quang Ninh expressway is already in place. No opening date or unit pricing has been released.

Techcombank Shops a $1 Billion Loan Offshore

Techcombank wants a $1 billion syndicated loan split into a $600 million three-year tranche and a $400 million four-year tranche. It would be one of the largest debt deals in Southeast Asia this year. No arranging banks have been named publicly, and no pricing has been offered. The proceeds are expected to be used for general corporate purposes, not a specific project or acquisition.

BVBank's Near-Fivefold Jump Outpaces Big Banks

BVBank posted a massive 486% year-on-year increase in H1 pre-tax profit to VND547 billion ($20.82 million), with Q2 up about 25-fold (!) to VND332 billion, thanks to net interest income, not one-off gains. Loans grew a little more than 7% since January to more than VND83.3 trillion, and deposits rose almost 14% to VND81.3 trillion. ABBank booked VND3.02 trillion ($114.93 million), up 80% and already two-thirds of its full-year target, with a 0.55% NPL ratio and CAR above 12%, against the 8% regulatory floor. Sector leader Vietcombank grew almost 34% to VND29.22 trillion ($1.11 billion), still the biggest number in banking, just not the fastest-growing one.

The Mekong Memo

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?