"Tidbits From TNT" Sunday Morning 11-28-2021
TNT:
Harambe: Vietnam to be fastest-growing e-commerce market in Southeast Asia by 2026: Report | Vietnam+
(11/27/21)
Vietnam is expected to be the fastest-growing e-commerce market in Southeast Asia by 2026, with e-commerce Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) reaching 56 billion USD by 2026, 4.5 times the estimated value of 2021, according to a report by Facebook and Bain & Company.
In the annual SYNC Southeast Asia report which looks at the digital economy in the region, the two big market observers said located in a vibrant part of the world, Vietnam is at the forefront of driving change and seizing opportunities to thrive based on digital transformation in a post-pandemic future.
The study surveyed about 16,700 digital consumers and more than 20 C-level employees in six Southeast Asian countries, including 3,579 survey participants from Vietnam.
The report described Southeast Asia as a leader of digital transformation in Asia-Pacific and Vietnam as one of the best performers.
In Vietnam, seven out of 10 consumers have digital access and the country will have 53 million digital consumers by the end of 2021, the report said.
The number of goods categories purchased by Vietnamese online shoppers this year went up 50 percent compared to 2020, while that of online stores in Vietnam also rose by 40 percent year-on-year, resulting a 1.5-fold increase in total online retail sales nationwide.
Some 49 percent of Vietnamese consumers switched to a new online marketplace within the last 3 months, based on considerations of price incentives (45 percent), product quality (34 percent), and availability of goods (33 percent).
For the first time, the payment using cash is at risk of being dethroned with a significant decrease from 60 percent in 2020 to only 42 percent in 2021. Safety, privacy and service fees are the three main concerns of Vietnamese consumers when considering these types of payment.
This year, Vietnamese people spent most of the time on using social networks, texting, watching videos, shopping online, and emailing. They used 72 percent of their time for regular activities at home instead of going out.
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Harambe: Zimbabwe - US$1 Billion SDRs to be used over three years | The Sunday Mail
(11/28/21)
The US$958 million worth of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) allocated to Zimbabwe by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be used over a three-year period, with US$311 million expected to be released this year, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said.
The SDR 677,4 million — or US$958 million — wasallocated in August this year to help countries cope with the fallout from the coronavirus.
“In Zimbabwe’s context, the funds will be used prudently, with accountability and transparency to support projects in the social sectors, namely health, education and the vulnerable groups, productive sector value chains; infrastructure investment and foreign currency reserves and contingency fund,” Minister Ncube said on Thursday while presenting the 2022 National Budget in Parliament.
Some of the funds that will be released this year will be channelled towards developing the Harare-Beitbridge road, the Mbudzi Interchange and the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, which have been allocated US$144 million.
Agricultural productive social protection schemes for rural and peri-urban households are set to get US$80 million, while procurement of Covid-19 vaccines would get US$71 million.
Procurement of Covid-19-related medical and testing equipment and vaccine roll-out programmes will get US$10 million and US$6 million respectively.
SDRs are not a currency, but an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement official reserves of member countries.
They can provide countries with liquidity.With next year’s economic growth forecast at 5,5 percent, the SDR allocation is expected to play a pivotal role.
According to Minister Ncube, the Government will release US$145 million towards sectors that are critical to economic development.
Investments in social sectors will get a disbursement of US$45 million, with US$35 million going towards the health sector while US$10 million will be reserved for education.
For the agriculture sector, US$30 will be channelled towards the Export Revolving Fund as a cash guarantee to banks, and US$20 million will be disbursed towards smallholder farmer irrigation schemes.
In terms of industry support, US$30 million is earmarked for retooling or a revolving fund for new equipment and replacement for the value chains.
This will be in the form of cash guarantee to banks.
The SDR allocations will be disbursed towards infrastructure development, with housing development getting US$10 million and gold centres US$10 million.
Treasury believes that development partners will continue to play a pivotal role in supporting the Government’s efforts towards implementing development programmes and projects across priority sectors of the economy.
During January to September period, Zimbabwe received development assistance amounting to US$647,8 million, of which US$401,9 million was from bilateral partners and US$245,9 million from multilateral partners.
“A further US$202,4 million in development assistance is projected during the fourth quarter of 2021, giving cumulative receipts of US$850,2 million for the year,” said Minister Ncube.
The Government maintains the economy will grow by 7,8 percent this year supported by a better 2020/2021 agricultural season, higher international commodity prices, stable macroeconomic environment and a well-managed Covid-19 pandemic.
Vision 30 is premised on transforming the country into an upper middle-income economy with a per capita gross national income (GNI) of over US$5 000 in real terms by 2030.
Current economic programmes are being guided by the five-year National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), whose goal is to achieve accelerated inclusive, socio-economic growth through social transformation.
NDS1 involves graduating the economy from primary industry to one dominated by secondary and tertiary industry, in the process creating decent jobs and living wages.
https://www.sundaymail.co.zw/us1bn-sdrs-to-be-used-over-three-years
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Tishwash: Disclosure of very important details in the Al-Kazemi assassination file
Iraqi security source announced that two security leaders have been arrested in connection with the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi.
The source said, "The Director-General of Explosive Control in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, Major General Sabah Al-Shibli, in addition to another officer, was detained by the Special Committee to investigate the assassination attempt on Al-Kazemi, headed by National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Araji."
He added, "The reason behind their deposition is that they destroyed one of the evidence, which is a projectile that fell from a drone and was found on the roof of Al-Kazemi's house, before the fingerprints and the rest of the smears were removed from it."
Earlier, an Iraqi source revealed that the services identified three people as behind the attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi on the seventh of this month, and will not reveal the identity of the three people. link
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