Desperate Vietnamese draining social insurance accounts

At the end of 2022, there were reports of long queues of employees in Ho Chi Minh City who had been waiting since dawn at several local offices to claim lump sum payments from their social insurance premiums. Many Vietnamese workers view their social insurance premiums as a kind of savings mechanism and are inclined to seek early access […]Continue Reading

HK sells reopening with half a million free air tickets

Hong Kong’s government will give away 500,000 free air tickets to international travelers starting next month as part of a free-spending plan to promote Hong Kong tourism after the pandemic and as mainland China reopens from its strict “zero-Covid” policy. Most of the air tickets, bought by the Airport Authority in 2020, will be distributed […]Continue Reading

Fed slows rate hikes but signals more to come

To anyone wondering how high interest rates will go and when they will start coming down, the Federal Reserve has just provided an answer: “We still don’t know.” That’s the real meaning of the quarter-point interest rate increase the Fed announced Wednesday and the signals it sent in making the announcement. Financial markets read those […]Continue Reading

Sanctions starting to bite Huawei 4G chips sourcing

Telecommunication equipment maker Huawei Technologies will have to source 4G chips elsewhere to make its smartphones as it cannot purchase more processors from the United States. The Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for US companies to ship items to Huawei over national security concerns, Reuters reported. US officials have told Qualcomm Inc and Intel […]Continue Reading

Stress tests ahead for Vietnam’s post-Covid boom

People move past a clothing boutique selling locally made products in downtown Hanoi on October 29, 2014. A EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement promises to boost Vietnamese exports and growth. AFP / Hoang Dinh Nam

In 2022, the geopolitical tensions caused by the war in Ukraine, slowing growth in the Chinese economy and sharp rises in energy and food prices led to a significantly higher inflationary outlook globally. These factors all added to the risks confronting Vietnam as its economy recovered from its lengthy Covid-19 lockdowns. Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu […]Continue Reading

China gets burned as Mongolia breaks coal link

China will have to pay more to buy coal from Mongolia, which says it will stop shipping its solid fuel to China directly from February and instead sell it through auctions.  Mongolia will also use border price, instead of pithead price, to sell its coal starting Wednesday, meaning that the new price will include the transportation […]Continue Reading

Marcos Jr’s economic boomlet could be short-lived

MANILA – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr trumpeted the particular Philippines’ fastest economic growth rate within recent memory in the World Economic Discussion board in Davos within a bid to stoke new investor interest in his country. Based on the latest data launched by the Philippine Stats Authority (PSA), the Southeast Asia nation’s gross domestic item (GDP) expanded […]#@@#@!!Continue Reading

Russia oil price cap accelerates de-dollarization

The oil “price cap” of US$60 per barrel for Russian oil is a controversial move by the European Union and G7. The price cap prohibits Western insurers and shipping companies, which account for more than 90% of the marine insurance industry, from servicing vessels that carry Russian oil above $60 per barrel. The intention is lofty — […]Continue Reading