Hanoi (VNA) - The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency.

- Officials, Party members, and people are concerned abouthow the Party will select the leadership capable of shouldering the immenserevolutionary tasks entrusted by the history, General Secretary Nguyen PhuTrong said at the first meeting of the sub-committee on personnel affairs ofthe 14th National Party Congress on March 13.

In his book titled “Resolutely, persistentlyfighting corruption and other negative phenomena to contribute to building moretransparent and stronger Party and State”, the leader also stressed discipliningofficials is something very painful and heartbreaking that no one desires. Read full story

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on April 24 requested moreefforts to step up institutional improvement, create a full legal corridor topromote national digital transformation and develop the digital economy whileaddressing the eighth meeting of the National Committee for DigitalTransformation.

Chinh, who is head of the committee, stressed theneed to speed up the upgrade of digital infrastructure and digital platforms tocreate an important premise for digital economic development; promote thecreation of digital data and the development of digital services; step up thedevelopment of digital human resources and skills to meet socio-economicdevelopment requirements; and ensure cyber security and information security toprotect the national cyberspace sovereignty early and from afar. Read full story

- Acting State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan on April 24 hosted areception for Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Takio who came to bidfarewell to her.

Congratulating Yamada on his successful tenure,Xuan spoke highly of his efforts to bolster the Vietnam – Japan relations invarious domains. Read full story

- Standard Chartered Bank has lowered Vietnam’s GDPgrowth forecast in 2024 to 6% from the previous 6.7% due to lower-than-expectedQ1 growth and global trade headwinds.

However, it is still an improvement from 5% in2023. The country’s Q1 GDP growth moderated to 5.7% (from 6.7% in Q4-2023). Thebank lowered Q2 year-on-year growth forecast to 5.3% (from 6.3%) and Q3 to 6%.But Q4 growth is expected to be recovered to 6.7%. Read full story

- Though the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has announced it isselling the US dollar to intervene in the USD/VND exchange rate since April 19,the greenback price has remained high, which has been directly affecting manydomestic enterprises.

The USD/VND exchange rate listed at VietinBank andBIDV on April 23 was at 25,180 VND and 25,485 VND per USD dollar for buying andselling, an increase of 20 VND compared to the previous session. Read full story

- The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on April 23 took somemoves like issuing treasury bills (T-bills), further employing T-bills as anopen market operation (OMO), and stipulating liquidity and interest rates inthe inter-bank market in the face of surging USD/VND exchange rates.

The central bank lent nearly 36 trillion VND (1.4billion USD) for a 14-day term to nine members via the OMO channel. Thebid-winning interest rate rose to 4.25% per year from 4% per year as recordedrecently. Read full story

- Five Vietnamese enterprises operating in the fields of foodand hospitality are attending the Food & Hotel Asia (FHA) 2024 which istaking place in Singapore from April 23-26.

This year’s event attracts over 1,500 businesses from more than50 nations and territories and expects to welcome 60,000 visitors. Read full story

- A delegation of Vietnamese negotiators joined those from176 countries worldwide at the fourth session of the IntergovernmentalNegotiating Committee (INC-4) on plastic waste in Ottawa on April 23.

This session is to work towards finalising anagreement on a global treaty to eliminate plastic pollution by the end of thisyear. To achieve this goal, negotiators will need to reach a comprehensivelegally binding compromise on plastic waste./. Read full story