In a report sent to the NA, the Government pointed out that the volatile exchange rate between the Vietnamese dong and the Japanese yen is one of the main reasons for cost overruns in HCMC’s Metro Line No.1 project.

Foreign retailers started coming to Vietnam 20 years ago but many of them have had to leave.

The Vietnamese retail market would hardly attract more European retail groups in the mass segment due to the harsh competition.

Thai products have been flooding the market, with Thai billionaires taking over a number of Vietnamese retail chains.

VietNamNet Bridge - The products which bear retailers’ own private brand account for a small proportion in the Vietnamese market. 

Vietnam should not try to restrict foreign retailers’ expansion, but instead support Vietnamese retailers by creating a level playing field, experts have said. 

VietNamNet Bridge - The departure of the former owners of Big C and Metro Cash & Carry supermarkets is expected to intensify competition in the retail field.

Vietnamese retailers have been reassured that the regulation on ENT (economic needs test) would serve as a barrier that prevents foreign retailers from expanding in Vietnam and protecting local retailers. However, analysts don’t think this will work.

VietNamNet Bridge - Foreign retail chains have been expanding their networks under the cover of domestic retailers.

VietNamNet Bridge - If the government does not create reasonable policies to protect Vietnamese retailers, they would fall in competition with powerful foreign retailers. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Though Vietnam is seeing the strong rise of the modern distribution channel, it is traditional retail which still plays an important role in the Vietnamese distribution system.

 Property prices are skyrocketing along HCM City's proposed metro lines.

VietNamNet Bridge - In early 2015, Parkson My Dinh shut down and at the end of the year, Big C announced it planned to leave Vietnam, proving to be a challenging year for retailers, including the most powerful firms.

VietNamNet Bridge - How to deal with transfer pricing – whether to view it as an inevitable part of foreign direct investment (FDI) or take drastic measures to stop it – remains a controversial matter among Vietnamese.

VietNamNet Bridge – Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang said that 97 percent of the total goods in the market are distributed by Vietnamese businesses, while foreign retailers hold only 3 percent.

VietNamNet Bridge – Transportation project delays are a major problem, Tran Huu Minh, a lecturer from the University of Transport and an expert in project evaluation,

 VietNamNet Bridge – The construction of the first subway route in HCM City, which will be nearly 20km in length, is underway. The $2.4 billion work is taking shape day after day.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Numerous ancient trees of over 2m in diameter will be chopped down for the construction of an urban railway from Nhon to the Hanoi Railway Station, said an official of the Hanoi urban rail project management unit.

 Russian investigators have announced the arrest of two Moscow metro workers for safety breaches after a train derailed, killing 21 people.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Ho Chi Minh City is looking for investors for phase two of its Metro line 5 (Bay Hien crossroads–Can Giuoc bus station), with a total capital requirement of up to $1.8 billion.