Weekly News Bulletin - No. 04, October 2023

On October 25, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) held a kick-off ceremony marking the implementation of the 5 million USD technical assistance (TA), funded by the Government of Switzerland, to nurture financial technologies (fintech).

The event was witnessed by a high-level delegation of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). This funding, along with a 2 million USD contribution from the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific (JFPR), financed by the Government of Japan, will support the expansion of inclusive and climate finance in the country. Based in Bern, SECO is the Swiss Confederation’s center of expertise for all core economic policy issues, including economic cooperation and development. Among others, it implements Switzerland’s economic and trade policy measures for the benefit of developing countries.

The trade relationship between Vietnam and the United Kingdom experienced significant growth in bilateral trade over the past year, according to data released by the UK government's Department for International Trade on October 19. The total trade in goods and services between the UK and Vietnam during the four quarters leading up to the end of Q1 2023 amounted to 6.7 billion GBP (8.14 billion USD), marking a substantial increase of 16.6% compared to the same period in 2022.

The UK’s imports from Vietnam during the reviewed period reached 5.7 billion GBP, up 15.8% year-on-year. Of these imports, goods constituted 5.4 billion GBP (94.6%), while services accounted for 306 million GBP (5.4%). Imports of goods from Vietnam experienced a growth of 12.6%, whereas imports of services surged by 137.2% year-on-year.

Last week highlight

As of October 20, over 15.29 billion USD was channelled into 2,608 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam, respectively up 54% and 66.1% year on year, statistics showed. It added up to more than 25.76 billion USD in total FDI during the period, rising 14.7%, reported the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

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