Weekly News Bulletin - No. 04, November 2023

The northern province of Quang Ninh took the lead nationwide in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction in the January-November period, with nearly 3.11 billion USD.

The amount accounts for nearly 10.8% of the total registered capital and rises 42.3% from the same period last year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) reported. Among the 56 cities and provinces where foreign investors poured capital in in the reviewed period, Ho Chi Minh City ranked second with more than 3.08 billion USD, followed by Hai Phong city 2.8 billion USD, Bac Giang province 2.7 billion USD, and Hanoi 2.6 billion USD.

The National Assembly Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to impose the global minimum tax on foreign companies from Jan 1st 2024. The 15% tax on corporate income was agreed upon by the G7 rich nations in June 2021 to reduce tax competition between countries and prevent multinationals from evading tax.

The tax will apply to companies with revenues of at least 750 million Euro (800 million USD) in at least two of the four most recent years. The government has estimated that 122 foreign businesses in Vietnam will have to pay the tax, worth an estimated 14.6 trillion VND (603.31 million USD) next year. The U.K., Japan, South Korea, and the E.U. also plan to impose the tax next year.

Last week highlight

The National Assembly has agreed to apply a 2 per cent reduction to the VAT rate in the first half of 2024 following a resolution on the socio-economic development plan for next year, which was approved by the legislature on November 29. The 2 per cent reduction is applicable to products and services subject to a 10 per cent rate, with exceptions on three groups of products and services.

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Let’s look at some other key financial and business headlines during the past week