Việt Nam received 1.43 million foreign tourists in January, a year-on-year increase of 42 per cent and 12.1 per cent higher than that in December 2017, says the General Statistics Office.

GSO attributed the impressive IIP growth to the fact that domestic firms have concentrated on producing goods to meet increasing demands of local people for the Lunar New Year (Tết) holiday, which will be in February this year, unlike last year when it was in January.

In a newly issued decree, the Government has made an effort to boost border trade quotas and the overall trade situation for Vietnamese residents in the border area between Việt Nam, China, Laos and Cambodia.

Vietnamese startups kicked off the new year by mingling at the 2018 Demo Day Investment Festival (Demo Day) on Thursday, aiming to present themselves to a crowd of potential domestic and foreign investors.

Many companies have tried their best to keep goods prices down at a time the customers’ purchasing power is rising and the Ministry announced an increase in fuel prices, with the price of a litre of the E5 ron 92 petrol to increase by VNĐ429 to VNĐ18,672 (US$0.823) on 19 January 2018.

Vietnamese shares declined on Thursday as the market reversed quickly at the end of the trading session and especially during the ATC session, dragged down by blue chips in the banking and energy sectors.

The Việt Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) posted an after-tax profit of nearly VNĐ10.3 trillion (US$452.5 million) last year, an increase of 9 per cent year-on-year.

The State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) issued a decree allowing special loans at zero per cent interest rates for credit institutions which were placed under the SBV’s special control.

The Nikkei Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in the first month of this year rose to the highest level since April 2017, indicating solid conditions in the manufacturing sector.