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. 5 - The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has submitted a proposal that calls for the land tax re-evaluations of the city's districts starting January 1st.

The city has decided to increase land use taxes due to improved infrastructure. Thanh Nien News reports that property valuations in some districts of the city will more than double next year under a new land valuation system.

If the proposed value system is approved, charges will span from VND110,000 per square meter to VND81 million per square meter.

Aug. 18 - During the first two weeks of August, real estate prices increased in Ho Chi Minh City.

Apartments and land located on District 2’s main roads increased by VND1 million to VND2.5 million per square meter while prices on on Tran Nao and Luong Dinh Cua streets are now worth VND60 million to VND80 million per square meter.

In the Van Do Building, apartments are priced at more than VND20 million per square meter while those in the H3 Building on Hoang Dieu street are being sold at VND28 million to VND30 million per square meter.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Aug.8 - Shipping lines based in Ho Chi Minh City will start charging additional fees on backlog freight, ranging from US$50 to US$100 per ton due to delays at ports.

Recently, Japanese company Mitsui O.S.K Lines announced that it would charge an extra fee on exports shipped from Vietnam to the US and Canada beginning September 1.

July 18 – Vietnam has been plagued with severe power outages that are affecting business in the country.

The Deputy Prime Minister has already ordered power suppliers to hurry the construction of electricity power plants and facilities to meet rising demand.

In Ho Chi Minh City, shops and restaurants have resorted to using electric generators to keep business running although not all the businesses in the city can afford to buy generators.

Blackouts in the city’s district 3 and Binh Thanh reported incidents of knocked out traffic lights causing traffic jams and vehicular accidents.

April 24 - Some of Vietnam’s hottest sectors – banking, finance, and hi-tech, are struggling to find enough talent capable to keep up with the economy’s runaway growth.

Banks increase their capital, network, and number of branches at every opportunity. One mid-size bank wants to increase its staff of 3500 by more than 50 percent this year. A spate of new securities firms seeking to capitalize on recent stock regulations have sent demand for skilled financiers soaring. And Ho Chi Minh City’s Hi-Tech park needs more than 14,000 new workers by 2009.

Despite increased salaries and attractive bonuses, the industry is still facing HR shortages, for the simple reason that there just aren’t enough Vietnamese with the right skills.

HCMC, April 14 - Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIP) leaders met with Ho Chi Minh City businesses last week to evaluate economic opportunities and express their strong desire to help the French invest in Vietnam, as well as to boost bilateral trade between France and Vietnam.

Acknowledging that France already had a strong business presence in Vietnam, Christian Pepineau, the VP of CCIP, stated that Vietnam had some of the best long-term prospects for medium-sized French companies, offering low-priced but high quality human and natural resources, and a large market of over 80 million people.

April 10 - The Vietnam index, among the world’s worst performing, is nonetheless showing some encouraging signs for both the short and long term.

Although it has lost approximately 40 percent of its value so far this year, as the central bank continues to tighten money supply in a bid to curb inflation, Vietnam’s stock market climbed almost two percent yesterday. The rise resulted from a regulation increasing the intraday share trading band to two percent.

That increase should improve liquidity which dried up after the band was reduced to one percent ten days ago, from a previous five percent limit. This rise is seen as a sign of increased confidence in Vietnam’s ability to deal with the symptoms of its explosive growth.

April 2 - FDI worth US$1.85 billion was injected into Ho Chi Minh in 2008’s first quarter, with almost 98 percent of it going to real estate and consultancy. This represents a 78 percent gain in capital compared with the same period in 2007.

With stocks in the doldrums and volatile gold prices, many investors saw property development as their best bet early this year. Industrial production, transport, warehouses, and telecom also remain popular projects.