Vietnam - medium & long-term prospects remain strong

Singapore-based Ascendas, the co-sponsor of The Economist-hosted Business Roundtable with the Vietnamese Government last week in Hanoi, specializes in selling prepared industrial land to locators and offering solutions for businesses. The Saigon Times Daily talks with Ong Beng Kheong, Ascendas chief executive officer (CEO) in Southeast Asia, over the outlook of the Vietnamese economy. Excerpts:

The Saigon Times Daily: What do you comment on some conflicting arguments raised at the roundtable this year? For example, Justin Wood of Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) said Vietnam’s economic growth in 2009 can only be 0.3% while others gave more optimistic figures. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about Vietnam’s economy in the short run?

moire from this article at Saigon Times

Venezuelas 2009 budget

Of all the black box economics available to play around with in South America, perhaps the worst (should that be 'best'?) is the projected revenues that Venezuela expects in any given year from its state-run oil company, PDVSA. Not only are there a mountain of pricing variables, you have the neverending argument about actual production levels in the country, basically revolving around what actually constitutes a barrel of oil. Suffice to say that, if you so wish, you can "prove" that Venezuela is in great shape financially or about to go bankrupt next week just by choosing your own favourite dataset. Thus what is needed by people who don't live in partisanlandia is a fair estimate of how oil revenues are going and, eschewing as much politics as possible, a fair estimate about the state of play in the country's economy as a result.

More from this article at inca kola news

South America : Copper cartel on the horizon ?

With global copper prices sinking from a 2008 high of $4 per lb, down to todays miserly, $1.25 per lb, it is hardly surprising that the two major copper producing countries in South America are looking at ways to buoy up their operations. Last week, Peruvian president Alan Garcia dropped some strong hints that Peru & Chile should coordinate on copper production , in order to achieve greater control of prices on international markets.

“I believe that as countries with a strong mining presence in the world we must work in a joint manner, because when brotherly countries produce and compete with the same metal, the only thing we achieve is a fall in the price of copper, and we are both losers”, said Garcia

More from this article at MyStockVoice

Emerging market indices that have grown in the past 3 months

MarketWatch has a good report on the progress in emerging market indices the past 3 months. While some of the indices have gone up, I would really be careful of some of those countries. While countries like China and to some extent India and Brazil seems a relatively safe long term bet, given their size and demographics, it is not clear how other countries will fare in the crisis of a lifetime.

Chile and Israel are stable democracies and good rule of law, but given their smaller size it is not clear if they can face a sizable change in global trade patterns. Argentina and South Korea might get into deeper trouble, based on their fragile financial systems as seen in the recent history.

More from this article at The Economics Journal

Vietnam has surpassed China as the world’s fastest-online-game-growing area.

After 20 years reform and opening up, Vietnam, closely following China, has now become the second most favorite investment destination of Taiwan enterprises. Due to Vietnam’s improving economy, MMO gaming population is undergoing an explosive growth.

A recent released report about Vietnam’s Online Games Market forecasts the number of MMO subscribers playing online games to exceed 10 millions by 2011, driven by rising incomes, increasing PC and Internet penetration rates, and a large youth population that are actively seeking out entertainment content. Approximately 50% of the total Vietnamese population is under the age of 25. This age range is known for as being tech savvy, making them high priority demographic for digital entertainment companies. There are approximately 21 million Internet users in Vietnam with an Internet penetration rate of 23.5%. The research also finds that many players were spending an average of 500,000 VND (31$) per month. These consumers are also driving the digital entertainment and online games market with virtual item purchases. The top online game in Vietnam has about 200,000 subscribers.

More from this article at Looters Lounge