Debt-collecting businesses are to be banned in Vietnam as part of local government action to protect customers’ rights, with the upsurge of predatory lending services triggering heated debate and eroding public trust.

In spite of a dent in state budget revenue and a rise in spending this year causing a big fiscal deficit, the government will be able to retain the country’s public debt situation, ensuring national financial security.

National Assembly deputies have called on the State Audit of Vietnam (SAV) to inspect three debt-laden banks that were earlier taken over by the State Bank of Vietnam, according to NA Secretary Nguyen Hanh Phuc.

Vietnam always treasures peace and stability, said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh while addressing the 25th International Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday.

John Hawksworth, chief economist for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the UK, recently came to Vietnam to attend an APEC-related meeting as speaker. The Saigon Times Daily spoke with him about his views ...

Despite several setbacks, investors pledged in February to put the capital city’s first elevated railway to trial operations in October. 

 VietNamNet Bridge – Pham Anh Tuan, deputy director of the Central Party Commission for Internal Affairs, spoke to Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper on Viet Nam's efforts to battle corruption.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A couple and their two sons were found dead in the northern Thanh Hoa City in Sunday evening, Nov 1.

 Issuing shares to offset debts has become one of the solutions employed by many businesses nowadays.

Vietcombank has sold the debt owed to it by the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), which is undergoing a mandated restructuring process as requested by the government.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam will have to spend VND150 trillion, or nearly US$7.1 billion, repaying for financial aid, short-term loans and domestic borrowings next year,

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vinalines and its partners agreed in the past that company disputes could be brought to the Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC), but the shipping firm has not obeyed VIAC’s judgment.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Many investors who once rushed to pour money into hydropower projects are so deep in debt they are not sure when they will ever recover.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Circular debt in the civil engineering sector has become so serious that it is believed to pose an existential threat to some construction companies.

 What if you didn’t have to wait until you were in your mid-sixties to retire? What about 50, or even just as you hit your 40th birthday? Don’t laugh — with enough dedication, you could say goodbye to your full-time job years sooner than you think.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A government report showed that the127 state owned economic groups and general corporations now incurred the debts worth VND1.35 trillion. However, the huge sum is still believed to be within the safety line.

 Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped Monday to the lowest since Oct. 15, on speculation that the Federal Reserve may soon move to scale down its bond purchase.

 Russia affirms its nuclear status in Vietnam; Coffee exports to Mexico fall 19%; Ad firms confront challenges; Phone handset exports up 76%; Central bank backs down on currency

VietNamNet Bridge – South Korean company, Hyupjin Vina, has refused to pay debts totalling VND44 billion to 39 Vietnamese sub-contractors of the five-star Mariott Hotel project, instead shifting responsibility to the project’s main contractor,