Dec. 30 - With the introduction of the new Personal Income Tax Law on January 1, owners of more than one house will have to pay a 2 percent tax on each house they sell.

Another option is to pay a 25 percent tax on the remaining money after they have bought a new house, with proceeds of the sale of a property for which all fees have been paid.

Dec. 15 - Vietnam is set to announce a US$6 billion economic stimulus package later this month, says Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung.

In an earlier report, the government said it would release a US$1 billion into the economy to cope with the global economic slowdown.

The economic stimulus package will be invested in schools, hospitals, rural infrastructure and home construction, in addition to projects to boost production and consumption.

Nov. 17 - Vietnam's National Assembly has approved three laws for new tax rates on consumption, health insurance and civil judgements.

The decision also came with the ruling that will extend the tenure of People’s Councils and People’s Committees.

The Special Consumption Tax Law is applicable starting April 1, 2009 excluding the new taxes on alcohol, including beer that will apply beginning January 1, 2010.

The new law calls for a tax decrease for alcohol, including that for draught, canned and bottled beer, from 50 percent to 45 percent within 2010 and 2012. Come 2013, tax for alcohol will return to 50 percent. The law also allows tobacco products to be taxed at 65 percent.

Nov. 4 - The State Bank of Vietnam has announced that the prime interest rate in Vietnamese dong will be reduced to 12 percent while the maximum lending interest rate for credit organizations lowered to 18 percent beginning November 5.

The move signals Vietnam's efforts to facilitate capital and ensure their liquidity.The new refinancing interest rate will be set at 13 percent from the previous 14 percent while the discount rate will be pegged at 11 percent from 12 percent.

Oct. 30 - Vietnam's Ministry of Finance has removed the 5 percent export duty on non-alloy iron and steel products beginning November 7 to help local manufacturers get rid of their excess stock.

According to the Vietnam Steel Association, firms have been unable to sell their stockpile of one million tons of steel billets and steel products worth an estimated US$1 billion because of lower demand.

In September, steel demand fell by 40 percent. It was aggravated further when the central bank increased interest rates to fight inflation leading to many construction and property firms unable to get bank loans

Oct. 29 - The rising cost of raw materials has led small-and medium-sized enterprises to cut back on recruitment, according to the Vietnam Association of Textile and Apparel.

Nguyen Thi Minh Tam, director of the Marketing and Communications Navigos Group, told the Vietnam News Agency that SMEs would not increase production by the end of the year, although large companies will still be in need of workers.

Some companies have even pared down their workforce by 15 to 30 percent to cope with the rising cost of commodities.

Oct. 23 - According to a human resources expert, businesses in Vietnam are having a hard time recruiting and retaining skilled workers because of a shortage of qualified labor in the market.

Frederic Laurencon, a human resources expert from a French financial consultancy company AG2R, spoke during a seminar on human resources policies in Hanoi.

He said that 94 percent of businesses in the country are making recruitment of skilled workers their top priority although the turnover rate remains high.

Oct. 20 - Vietnam climbed six spots to reach 65th place according to a world business ranking conducted by a London-based business intelligence company.

The ranking was done by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and included a total of 82 countries.The EIU looked at each country's business environment for the years 2009-13. In its 2004-08 reports, Vietnam had previously ranked at 71st place.

The EIU said that Vietnam's climb was due to its membership to the World Trade Organization that should help develop its business environment and its WTO commitment to liberalize trade.

In the following years, Vietnam is expected to improve its operating environment for private enterprises in line with new legislation, and eventually more state-owned enterprises will implement reforms and be equitized.

Oct. 18 - Vietnam Data Communication (VDC) has upgraded the internet link from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi by an additional 2.5 Gbps; increasing the total capacity of line to 7.5 Gbps.

In September, the company installed a 2.5 Gbps line from Ho Chi Minh to the United States, increasing the international internet bandwidth from 11.4 Gbps to 14 Gbps.

Oct. 8 – The State Bank of Vietnam released a new draft regulation that would impose stricter measures for establishing commercial joint-stock banks.

This serves the purpose of regulating the stability of the local banking system.

New banks are now required to have a charter capital of VND3 trillion while existing joint-stock banks must have at least VND1 trillion in charter capital by the year's end.

“ The message is clear. That is, to limit weak banks from joining the local market amid increasing concerns about the spreading global-economic turmoil,” Vo Tri Thanh, director of the Department for Trade Policy and International Economic Integration Studies under the Central Institute for Economic management (CIEM), told Vietnam News.