With such a large number of working expatriates as well as regular visitors who are also still very much in the workforce either in or coming into Ho Chi Minh City, it’s no real surprise that so-called co-working spaces have sprung up. While the coffee shop workspace we wrote about in a recent article covered… Read more »
If there’s one thing which is in abundance across the length and breadth of HCMC it’s coffee shops. Whether the happen to be hole-in-the-wall spaces with plastic tables and chairs serving the strong local blend, or the more expensive but usually very ambient cafes of the type one might expect to see in a European… Read more »
Ho Chi Minh City is easily the largest metropolis in Vietnam and is divided into 24 districts. Of these, 19 are classified as inner districts, the other five are rated as suburban districts. The obvious question for the expat is, ‘where should I find a place to live?’ The answer is far less obvious, for… Read more »
For better or worse, stock exchanges tend to provide a good lightning-rod example of the overall health and expected future vibrancy of a country’s business strength. As Vietnam continues to move in the free market direction, the Ministry of Finance has added a further ‘plank’ to the economic floorboards by announcing its intention to have… Read more »
One concern for any caring expatriate parent is the education of their child or children in a foreign environment. It is an issue that poses so many questions for expatriates, and the answers to those questions will vary depending on whether the child/children are at the young early primary school age or early teens and… Read more »
There’s no doubt that picking up at least some of the local language in any foreign country can be an asset, and Vietnamese is certainly no different. Fluency is actually not necessary unless you happen to be planning to stay in far-flung villages, or you really do want to immerse yourself in the language. In… Read more »
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has been busy of late involving itself in a number of moves designed to strengthen the overall banking sector in the country. The most recent of these was the takeover of the Global Petro Bank (GP Bank), a move prompted by that commercial lenders’ alleged failure to address its… Read more »
Towards the end of June the Vietnamese government announced it had officially lifted its limit on foreign holdings in Vietnamese listed companies. The 26 June announcement significantly removes the investment restriction in stock exchange-listed public companies. In practical terms, the new position means that instead of a limit of 49 percent for all foreign holdings… Read more »
Policy changes instituted by the central government, alongside stimulus measures designed to attract investment in real estate, and strong GDP numbers have all helped in revitalizing the realty marketplace in Vietnam. Two years ago the Vietnamese central government decided it needed to try and revive the real estate market in the country, which had been… Read more »
According to reports, the government of Vietnam is set to make an announcement on 1 July this year where it will remove its current limits on foreign ownership of banks and other companies.[i] The current situation sets a limit of 30 percent foreign ownership of banks and 49 percent ownership of other public companies (the… Read more »
