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Draft Law Would Bar Foreigners From Owning Villas, Townhomes
Draft housing law amendments in the works would prevent foreigners from being able to own villas, townhouses and other single/ individual homes in housing projects. Under the framework currently being explored, foreigners would still be allowed to buy, lease-purchase, inherit or “receive” apartments in eligible projects, subject to the existing 30 percent foreign ownership cap that exists on a per-building basis. The proposal would roll back the clock on a 2023 rule that allowed foreign buyers to own as many as 250 detached or semi-detached homes in an area the size of a ward.
Read more: VnEconomy
Weighing Gasoline Tax Scrap, Cut to Power Prices
The government is evaluating the consequences of scrapping the 7 to 10 percent special consumption tax that is applied to gasoline for the period from November 1 through March 31, 2027. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Van Thang is also working on state utility EVN to reduce costs and bring power prices down over the same timefram. EVN says that its costs are only 5.3 percent below the current average retail price of VND2,204/ kWh, so it doesn’t have much room to maneuver, but the government wants to see some easing to take pressure off as inflation is running above the government's 4.5 percent target.
Read more: Reuters (inflation), VnEconomy (power prices)
Q4 Growth Needs Reach 12.5% to Meet Target
The latest numbers show that Vietnamese economy grew 9.95 percent in the third quarter, so nine-month growth (Q1 through end Q3) is 9.01 percent, the best showing since 2011. If the economy will meet the government's 10 percent full-year target, its going to need about 12.5 percent of growth in the final quarter. Standard Chartered expects the numbers to come up short with a 10.7 percent showing for Q4, which would mean 9.5 percent for the year.
Read more: Vietnam Investment Review (investment and industry), VnEconomy (growth path), VnEconomy (long-term target), FXStreet (rates outlook)
Long Thanh Airport Short of Workers and Asphalt
A ministry report says four of the 12 construction packages that are managed by Airports Corporation of Vietnam’s Long Thanh Airport are at risk. Partial operations are expected to begin on Christmas Eve, but contractors still say they’re short of workers (including technical staff), and the internal roads still need about 100,000 tons of asphalt concrete which is currently scarce. The Airports Corporation says its work is 86 percent complete by value, but that doesn’t really give much indication of how close the thing is to being able to open. Besides the incomplete work, almost a third of the passenger terminal's load-test scenarios are still waiting for approval.
Read more: VnExpress
Tesla Registers Local Unit, Starts Hiring
Tesla has registered a Ho Chi Minh City company with about $3 million in charter capital and is actively hiring for sales, service, charging, human resources and purchasing positions. Recruiter Ricky Ip said on the X platform that Tesla was "officially coming," even though there’s been no public launch date, models or prices from the company itself. When Tesla finally does show up, its going to be entering VinFast's home market, where the local carmaker is on pace to sell more than a third of all new vehicles this year, including gasoline models.
Read more: Electrek (VinFast sales), TechNode Global (Tesla jobs), Electric Vehicles (EV market), Drive Tesla Canada (sales)
HCMC Financial Center Plans Fundraising Push
The first 10 members of Ho Chi Minh City's international financial center say they plan to raise and then invest about $2.7 billion. The headline figure deserves a little scrutiny and caution, however. The members are holding companies that only have $33.6 million in combined charter capital and committed contributions. The promised billion dollar share from Keppel's is still to come, largely from partners and outside investors. Saigon Marina IFC says that it continues planning to allocate $816 million for the center's infrastructure, but officials are still writing rules for admitting investment funds, banks and securities firms.
Read more: Vietnam News (center target), VnExpress (energy), The Investor (members), The Business Times (Keppel)
Almost Two Dozen Banks Promise Lending Rate Cuts
At least 22 banks, including wholly foreign-owned Shinhan Bank Vietnam, are promising that they’ll cut lending rates. Most of the reductions will be discount of 1.5 to 2 percentage points below their individual standard annual rates. Fifteen banks have announced preferential packages that are worth more than VND451 trillion (~$17 billion), with priority going to loans with a tenure of less than six months and to loans for small businesses and household firms.
Read more: VnEconomy
Shark Tank Investor Among Defendants in Mr Pips Trial
Shark Tank investor Nguyen Hoa Binh is one of 188 defendants standing trial in Hanoi because of fake forex and stock platforms that prosecutors say pulled nearly VND1.56 trillion from investor’s pockets. Prosecutors are saying that Binh laundering VND320 billion for TikToker Pho Duc Nam (alis “Mr Pips”) and skimming one to two and a half percent from victims' deposits and withdrawals. Investigators say they found 94 kg (!) of gold and VND44.8 billion in cash at the apartment of Nam's girlfriend. Her brother, police officer Nguyen Thanh Phong, allegedly joined Nam's "legal advisory team" when employees were called in by investigators.
Read more: VnExpress (seized assets), Tuoi Tre (cars)
HCMC Approves 12 Projects of More Than $13B
Ho Chi Minh City has given approval or licenses to a dozen projects worth more than $13 billion. Berjaya's International University Urban Area is the biggest slice, making up about $6.61 billion of that amount. The Can Gio International Transshipment Port, backed by Vietnam Maritime Corporation, Saigon Port and Terminal Investment Limited Holding, is second biggest with a value of $4.9 billion. Xinyi Glass says that it plans a $230 million factory.
Read more: Vietnam News (project approvals), Tuoi Tre (Thu Thiem)
Trade Nears $1 Trillion
Total trade was reported (preliminarily) to have been $945.07 billion by mid-this month, which is a figure that’s up almost a third compared to last year and bringing the total for this year within sight of the trillion dollar mark. The first half of October resulted in a second consecutive surplus (this time $1.82 billion) as exports climbed by about one-eighth and imports saw a mild drop. Computers, electronics and components were the export leaders at $11.59 billion. Even with the solid performance, faster import growth has resulted in a year-to-date deficit of $17.67 billion.
Read more: VnEconomy (trade surplus), Tuoi Tre (trade deficit)
Ministry Plans Wider English Disclosure Rules
The Finance Ministry is planning to extend English disclosure rules to more market participants, with full compliance expected to come due by New Year’s Day, 2028. The draft comes after, and partly as a result of, FTSE Russell's decision to upgrade the stock market from its previous “frontier” status. Vietnamese filings would remain authoritative when there’s any conflict between translated versions. The rules would also require the securities depository to disclose technology failures and other problems that could impact clearing and settlement.
Read more: Vietnam Investment Review
Poland Ties Are Strategic With $6B Trade Goal
Vietnam and Poland have upgraded relations to one of a “strategic partnership” and are working toward $6 billion in two-way trade by 2030 (2025 saw $3.95B). Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is keen on pharmaceuticals, defense, dual-use technology and space. The bilateral action plan also covers defense equipment purchases, and LOT Polish Airlines has said that it plans to bring back direct Warsaw-Hanoi flights sometime in calendar year 2027.
Read more: VnExpress (energy and shipbuilding), VnEconomy (trade barriers), Vietnam Insiders (flights), VnEconomy (Polish investment)
Da Nang Hydropower Reservoirs Run Low
Dak Mi 4 reservoir is surprisingly less than a meter above “dead storage” levels during what is normally the peak rainy season, and its operator says inflows are too feeble to run generating units properly. Song Tranh 2 is 27 meters below its normal full level, and A Vuong and Song Bung 4 are also running low. The biggest reason is that rainfall over the past month has been up to 40 percent lower than the long-term average. City officials say the depletion unusual and are keen to blame El Nino; hydropower operators are pinning their hopes on late rain.
Read more: Tuoi Tre
Singapore Backs Renewable Power Imports
Singapore's Energy Market Authority has given conditional approval to Sembcorp Utilities to import up to 1.3 GW of renewable power from offshore wind in Vietnam and solar farms in Malaysia. All of the electricity would travel through Malaysia, which plans keep some of the supply for iteslf. PTSC, Tenaga Nasional and Petronas are listed as partners in the project, but before it comes to life, the plan still needs full regulatory and project approvals before it will be able to begin. It’ll be a long time coming, as power is expected to start flowing in 2035.
Read more: Energy Global
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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