Good morning! Hello to all new readers, including a batch of sign-ups from the World Bank, IFC, and ADB. This is the Vietnam Weekly, written by Ho Chi Minh City-based reporter Mike Tatarski.
The Friday edition of the newsletter is always free to read. On Wednesday, I published a story for paying subscribers about Côn Đảo after revisiting the beautiful archipelago for the first time in nine years.
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The Vietnam Weekly Podcast returns with a new episode on Monday - find it on all major podcast platforms.
Also, I’ll be in Hanoi next weekend (starting the 13th) for the first time in a while - let me know if you’d like to meet up!
On to the news.
The Storm
Powerful Typhoon Yagi is barrelling toward northern Vietnam, with Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Hoàng Hiệp warning that the country has never been hit by such a strong storm.
VnExpress International quoted him saying: “The regions projected to be hit by the storm are crucial to the socio-economic development of northern Vietnam, both in industry and agriculture. Carelessness could result in catastrophic damage."
Last night, officials announced that Vân Đồn, Cát Bi, Nội Bài, and Thọ Xuân airports will close for most of tomorrow.
Yagi has steadily strengthened all week and became a Super Typhoon yesterday afternoon, with maximum winds of 201 kph (125 mph), as it traversed warm open water between the Philippines and China’s Hainan.
For readers in the U.S., that’s equivalent to a high-end Category 3 hurricane.
It will continue to gain strength as it nears Hainan, with wind speeds potentially hitting 214 kph (133 mph). That island may endure a direct hit before Yagi moves into the Gulf of Tonkin with reduced (but still very strong) wind speeds and makes landfall in the Quảng Ninh/Hải Phòng area on Saturday.
The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting has warned that the northern and north-central regions should expect severe weather from this evening (Friday) through the weekend, with heavy rain and strong wind possible in other regions as well.
The governments of Quảng Ninh, Hải Phòng, Thái Bình, and Nam Định banned all vessels from heading to sea, while officials are monitoring storm protection systems and agricultural areas. Small boats are being brought onshore and tied down, while cruises in Hạ Long Bay have been suspended.
Deputy Prime Minister Trần Hồng Hà chaired a meeting with regional governments yesterday afternoon to make preparations ahead of the storm’s arrival. Officials have identified 106 districts, towns, and cities across the northern coastal plains and mountains further inland at particular risk of flooding through this weekend.
Everyone in northern Vietnam should monitor Yagi and take this seriously. I recommend following Hanoi’s Weatherdude on Facebook for detailed forecasts in English.
Stay safe!
Boosting the Market
Last week Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính issued a directive to spur lagging domestic consumption and business health.
According to Dân Trí, the document calls for addressing challenges “in production and business operations, boost consumer demand, and accelerate domestic market development to promote growth, maintain macroeconomic stability, control inflation, and ensure major economic balances.”
It outlines responsibilities for the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), but these are rather vague, at least going by the reporting.
The trade ministry, for example, is “assigned to strengthen the integration between production and distribution, improve links in the commodity value chain, and ensure compliance with quality and food safety regulations.”
The SBV, for its part, has temporarily stopped offering treasury bills and reduced the interest rate on bills three times last month.
This follows another recent call from Chính to help the industrial sector, with Vietnam Investment Review quoting the Prime Minister as saying “The economy is showing signals of recovery, but industrial production remains in difficulties and needs more support.”
The news outlet notes that the index of industrial production (IIP) increased 8.5% through July year-on-year, but this is building on poor 2023 IIP growth - this index contracted by 0.8% during the first months of last year compared to the same period in 2022.
Elsewhere in the domestic market, local media made a lot of noise about statistics showing that over 30,000 F&B businesses closed nationwide in the first half of the year, though no figures from previous years were provided to give context.
Overall, over 110,000 businesses of all types shut down in the first six months of this year, up 10% over the same period in 2023.
Tuoi Tre News also ran a story about consumers cutting back on discretionary spending, while the government has cut registration fees for domestically produced cars by 50% for three months to spur demand amid slow sales.
This is the fourth straight year that such a cut has been implemented, but previously it was for six months at a time. There were concerns in some corners that the move could put Vietnam in violation of international trade agreements.
Officials hope to build on Q2’s solid 6.93% growth rate, with the National Assembly’s target for the year still set at 6.5%.
Extra Links:
1999: My First Trip to Vietnam (Vietnam Coracle)
Gojek’s Vietnam exit signals a new chapter in its battle with Grab (Asia Tech Review)
A letter from Saigon, the city of countless cafes (A Story From Connla)
‘World’s largest’ piracy ring Fmovies shut down by police in Vietnam (The Guardian)
Between the Lines: Climate Change Crisis Prompts Citizen Science in Vietnam (Mekong Dispatch)
Have a great weekend!