Phú Nhuận Jewellery Company (PNJ), the largest jewelry retailer in Việt Nam, announced total sales revenues of VNĐ4 trillion ($178 million) and a pre-tax profit of VNĐ304.5 billion for the first half of 2016.

The property market will continue recovering but experts told an online forum held by Đầu Tư (Investment) newspaper yesterday that they do not expect breakthroughs in the second half of this year.

The budget deficit in the first half of the year hit VNĐ82.9 trillion (US$3.7 billion) due to rising recurrent expenditures and the repayment of debts, the General Statistics Office reported.

Việt Nam’s retail market is promising, but local businesses must strengthen operations in order to compete with international investors right in the home market.

Improving enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights is now high on the Government’s agenda as part of its efforts to uphold international IP commitments, especially those in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Singapore-based Armstrong S.E. Clean Energy Fund announced investments in the Gia Lai Electricity Joint Stock Company (GEC) on June 30.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment will continue to draft a law designed to overcome difficulties in conducting business in Việt Nam, after a set of new laws and decrees just took effect yesterday.

HCM City and Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces should diversify the way they solicit investment from each other and promote trade and tourism, and draft specific plans to improve co-operation.

Vietnamese consumers spend, on average, 24 hours and seven minutes online per week, an equivalent of three working days - an increase of almost nine hours from 2014