Vietnam Considers Navy Exercises with US, as Hospital Ship Visits

By Al Pessin


Pentagon

27 June 2008
A senior U.S. Navy admiral says Vietnam is
considering fresh offers he made this week for joint naval exercises.
The admiral made the offers during the first ever visit to Vietnam by
one of the U.S. Navy's hospital ships. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the
Pentagon....

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-06-27-voa55.cfm

WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - Measures by Vietnam officials to control inflation and a widening trade imbalance are welcome, but may not be enough to boost market confidence, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Monday....

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN3036866720080630?rpc=611

HANOI, June 30 Asia Pulse - Vietnam needs to simultaneously develop its seaport system and the administration of it to further exploit the potential of its long-stretching coastal line, said an official at a seminar on State management of seaports in Hanoi on June 24....

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/080630/4/3likl.html

HANOI, June 30 (Reuters) - Vietnamese banks kept dong interbank rates steady on Monday after raising them in the past week as money supply remained tight, while lending rates eased after the central bank barred lenders from adding fees to loans....

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINHAN22390220080630?rpc=611

HANOI, June 30 Asia Pulse - An US$11.1 million project to promote sustainable tourism development will be carried out in five of Vietnam's poorest provinces.
The targeted provinces, including Cao Bang and Bac Kan in the north, Thua-Thien Hue, Quang Binh and Quang Tri in the central region, have potential for tourism development....

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/080630/4/3li0y.html

NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - Russell Investments said on Tuesday that Vietnam and six other countries have been added to its Global Index in the annual reconstitution....

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN0129523020080701?rpc=611

By Jason Folkmanis | 2008-7-2 |

VIETNAM'S economy expanded at the slowest pace in at least seven years, as slumps in the stock and property markets prompted builders to halt projects amid the fastest inflation rate in a decade and a half....

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200807/20080702/article_365267.htm

TAIPEI/SEOUL, July 2 (Reuters) - Millions of dollars in foreign investment have been shelved in Vietnam because of the risks posed by an economy facing its biggest test in years.
Record-high commodities prices are eating away at some of the economic gains Vietnam has made since a raft of tax and other incentives over the past 20 years pulled in more than $90 billion in foreign investment, led by South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan....

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINTP20659220080702?rpc=611

HANOI, July 2 (Reuters) - Vietnam's central bank set the daily official dong exchange rate on Wednesday at a record low of 16,519 dong per dollar , reflecting the continued pressure on the currency from rising inflation and imports......

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINHAN6864420080702?rpc=611

HANOI, July 2 Asia Pulse - Commodity and service prices show no indication of rising early this month despite prior concerns, supermarket representatives here have said.
The public has expressed worries over rampant price hikes in July following the removal of government regulation on certain goods....

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/080702/4/3lm2n.html

July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnam's currency controls are forcing foreign investors into the black market to obtain dollars, aggravating declines in the world's worst-performing stock market and pushing benchmark bond yields above 20 percent.
Businesses that aren't controlled by the government pay about 7 percent more than the official rate when using the dong to buy dollars because the state gives its trading companies priority access to the U.S. currency, the World Bank said. The premium is reducing demand for the nation's stocks and bonds, according to PXP Vietnam Asset Management.....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602097&sid=aArrfxiLIhaU&refer=world_currencies

HANOI, July 4 (Reuters) - Vietnam's central bank allowed
the domestic dong currency to drop on Friday to a new low of
16,520 to the dollar , reflecting the continued
pressure on the currency from rising inflation and imports.....

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINHAN23504420080704?rpc=611