The Senate adopted the House of Representatives’ version of the bill on May 30, thus eliminating the need for a bicameral conference.

The measure will only need President Benigno Aquino III’s signature, or he could automatically let it lapse into law in 30 days.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate, said in a radio interview she believed Aquino will sign the measure into law.

The anti-age discrimination bill seeks to promote equal opportunities in employment for everyone, and makes it a policy of the state to promote the employment of individuals on the basis of their abilities, knowledge, skills and qualifications rather than their age.

The bill makes it unlawful for employers to publish, in any form of media including the internet, job wanted ads that would suggest a preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination based on age.

It also prohibits the requirement of a declaration of age or birth date in the application process, and the rejection of an employment application due to an individual’s age.

It makes it unlawful as well to discriminate against an individual in terms of compensation or privileges of employment on account of age, and deny an employee’s promotion due to age.

Forcibly laying off a worker due to advanced age or imposing early retirement on the basis of an employee’s age are also prohibited under the measure.

“Technical losses need to be urgently addressed and 100-per-cent electrification is crucial to the nation’s growth,” said Andrew Lee, manager of General Electric Myanmar.

Electricity would help Myanmar move forward, but frequent blackouts due to system breakdown and weather conditions mean that the country needs a wider network and better transmission lines, he said at a panel discussion during the “Myanmar Business Leaders’ Summit: A new dawn”.

Cooperation is needed among the government, development partners, multinational companies and civil society.

“As long as the government generates losses of electricity, there is no way it could be sustainable. Without electricity, the country cannot move.”

Myanmar needs to maintain transmission lines regularly and invest more in maintenance and educating people in order to improve efficiency, as a large percentage of the load is missing.

Generating companies should practise due diligence to ensure technical capability, he said.

According to World Bank data, in 2013, transmission losses in Myanmar were as high as 27 per cent.

The ratio is high especially when the nation’s installed capacity is low and over seven million households have no access to electricity.

Lee supported Myanmar’s plan to generate more power by all means – hydro, oil and gas, solar, wind and renewable energy.

This requires independent power producers and more engagement with donors such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and International Finance Corporation.

According to Lee, four cities – Yangon, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw and Sagaing – use more than 70 per cent of total electricity generation.

More focus should be placed on the southern part of Myanmar, he said.

David Lukas, managing director of Smart Energy Services, proposed fully financed options for power production for the benefit of end-users.

“Reliability is an issue in power generation, and reliability standards differ for different projects.

“So, if you are building a new hospital, the hospital will really need reliable power. Likewise, in the telecommunications industry, you will also need reliable power,” he said.

“For Myanmar to grow in terms of GDP [gross domestic product], it needs more power. There is no doubt about it.”

Myanmar should adapt to three main global changes – technological, social and economic – as well as climate change.

Instead of using noisy generators to turn the lights on during blackouts, solar power is recommended, though each technology has some challenges.

Each project should be looked at individually in terms of operating and capital costs, he said.

Much of the discussion was also devoted to oil and gas exploration in the country.

Lynn Myint, general manager of North Petro-Chem Corporation (Myanmar) and former chief geologist at Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, said more than 80 per cent of Myanmar’s onshore and offshore blocks have not been explored yet, most of them being in the western part of the country.

Before 2012, Russia and China played leading roles in exploration. International players emerged only after public bidding.

Lynn Myint has high hopes about new discoveries, thanks to very high technology and highly capable companies.

Woodside recently discovered gas at a block in Rakhine basin owned by Total E&P and MPRL.

Yet, the government should strike a right balance – some of the reserves should be kept for younger generations, he said.

“In Thailand, they gave all their blocks to multinational companies from other countries. Finally, they ended up without any reserves.

“So, they have to import gas from our country. Myanmar could face a similar situation one day, if we do not have a proper plan [for reserves] in place.”

Daniel Clery, Woodside’s manager for Myanmar, said gas discovered in Myanmar should be turned into electricity to support economic expansion.

Guy Williams, manager for Myanmar of Coffey International, urged the government to pay attention to environmental impact assessment.

Lack of information and knowledge needs to be addressed very urgently to ensure a great transition, he said.

The Senate adopted the House of Representatives’ version of the bill on May 30, thus eliminating the need for a bicameral conference.

The measure will only need President Benigno Aquino III’s signature, or he could automatically let it lapse into law in 30 days.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate, said in a radio interview she believed Aquino will sign the measure into law.

The anti-age discrimination bill seeks to promote equal opportunities in employment for everyone, and makes it a policy of the state to promote the employment of individuals on the basis of their abilities, knowledge, skills and qualifications rather than their age.

The bill makes it unlawful for employers to publish, in any form of media including the internet, job wanted ads that would suggest a preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination based on age.

It also prohibits the requirement of a declaration of age or birth date in the application process, and the rejection of an employment application due to an individual’s age.

It makes it unlawful as well to discriminate against an individual in terms of compensation or privileges of employment on account of age, and deny an employee’s promotion due to age.

Forcibly laying off a worker due to advanced age or imposing early retirement on the basis of an employee’s age are also prohibited under the measure.

The minister was speaking during the 15th Asean Socio-Cultural Community Council Meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos on June 4.

“Brunei will continue to be committed in the ASCC solely for the welfare and benefit of the AseanCommunity.”

He said under the ASCC, many fields such as health, youth, community development, arts and culture, and work environment leads to the field of sports but also includes disaster mitigation.

The meeting themed ‘Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic Asean Community’ was chaired by the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of Laos, Professor Dr Bonsengkham Vongdara and launched by the Laos Prime Minister Thonhloun Sisoulith.

In his opening speech, the prime minister invited relevant parties to pave the rapid progress of the AseanCommunity, particularly the ASCC. He said elements of inclusivity programmes and activities in relevant sectors to target groups should not be taken lightly.

Awang Halbi said the formation of the Asean community at the end of 2015 and the next phase is to realise the vision of the Asean Community in the year 2025 towards a united Asean Community that is secure and stable, a long journey that requires the involvement of Asean countries that are collective and comprehensive.

According to the minister, the Asean Vision 2025 focuses on human resource development towards a sustainable and diversified economy. He said human capacity building is important to be taken seriously, especially involving youth groups who are productive. “Creative youths specifically those in the field of info-communications technology will greatly assist in economic development, energy and the like,” said the minister.

“The challenges ahead are certainly demanding to prepare youths with positive characteristics, attitudes and good value towards the community who are competitive and independent.”

In a Joint Ministerial Statement, the ministers noted that 2016 is a significant year to start the implementation of Asean Vision 2025 and Blueprints of the three pillars of the Asean community; Political Security, Economic and Social Cultural following the formal establishment of the AseanCommunity by 2015.

In this regard, the ministers expressed their full support and commitment to the priority areas of ASCC in 2016 and the next.

The ministers stressed that the implementation and development of the ASCC Blueprint is crucial to be monitored to ensure good implementation in the framework of the 2016-2025 sectoral bodies.

During the ASCC meeting, the Ministers made recommendations to the Vientiane Declaration on Transition from Informal Employment to Formal Employment towards Decent Work Promotion inAsean ; Asean Declaration on One Asean One Response: Asean Responding to Disasters as One in the Region and Outside the Region; and Asean Declaration on Strengthening Education for Out-of-School Children and Youth.

The three declarations are hoped to improve working conditions, response to disaster that is integrated and attentive services towards youth who are unable to attend or continue school.

Laos is the chairman of Asean for 2016 with the theme “Turning Vision into Reality for a DynamicAsean Community”, emphasised on priority areas related to the people-oriented and people-centred through eight priority areas.

ASCC Ministers that were present during the meeting include ministers from Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand as well as the Secretary-General of Asean .

The project aims to strengthen the management capacity of the government in the water supply sector and Water Supply State Enterprises (WSSEs) for sustainable and stable supply now and into the future.

The information was outlined during the 4th Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) Meeting of the Capacity Development Project for Improvement of Management Ability of Water Supply Authorities (Project MaWaSU), held recently in Vientiane.

The purpose of the meeting was to outline project achievements and present WSSEs’ annual reports, a data management manual, long-term plan, mid-term financial plan, and water supply guidelines.

Speaking at the meeting, the Chief Representative of JICA Laos Office, Yusuke Murakami, stated JICA would closely monitor project activities and outcomes for further assistance in the water supply sector.

The work relates to grant aid and/or the MaWaSU project, in addition to the signed “Vientiane capital water supply expansion project” for socio-economic development in Laos.

The ministry’s Department of Water Supply described the future orientation and regulation of water supply administration to encourage companies to invest in the sector.

Previously, credit for SOEs was relatively high, but now, credit for private enterprises has increased significantly, Hong said, adding that the central bank has always targeted credit for production and business operations, especially in the government’s prioritised industries such as agricultural and rural development, exports, support industries, small- and medium-sized firms and high-tech enterprises.

However, she admitted that the capital market is under development to help enterprises with their long-term capital mobilisation requirements as the market was unbalanced due to the dependence on bank credit.

Hong said the government was very interested in the development of the financial market, including the monetary market, to create numerous channels to generate capital for enterprises.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue recently also instructed the SBV and relevant ministries to develop the financial market to a healthy level and diversify enterprises’ capital mobilisation channels, she said.

Hong made the move as representatives from the private sector at a recent forum to support the sector said it was facing many difficulties, where the greatest challenge was access to capital.

According to the representatives, while the private sector needs capital from many investors and numerous capital mobilisation channels, Vietnam’s financial market is unbalanced as most of the capital for enterprises comes from commercial banks. The capital source, with typically short tenures and volatile interest rates, in addition to asset mortgage requirements, often has a significant effect on the enterprises’ long-term business and development strategies as well as their capital mobilisation costs.

Meanwhile, capital funding from the securities market accounts for some 30 per cent of overall funding sources.

According to the representatives, the total outstanding loans are worth more than 200 billion dong (US$8.88 million), and the capitalisation value of the securities market is worth roughly $60 billion. However, the corporate bonds market is only worth roughly $1.3 billion due to a shortage of large investors and the introduction of poor financial products.

The month-long arrangement is due to dry weather which has severely affected water levels in Johor’s Sungai Layang dam, and will not affect the water supply in Singapore in the short term, national water agency PUB said yesterday.

Dry conditions have also brought water levels in the Linggiu Reservoir to a historic low of 33 per cent, down from 40 per cent in April, PUB said.

The PUB-operated reservoir improves the yield of water from the Johor River, which helps to meet half of Singapore’s water needs. The republic draws up to 250mgd of raw water from the river, and supplies Johor with treated water in return.

The temporary increase, which is being supplied by the PUB-operated Johor River Waterworks, brings Singapore’s supply of treated water to its closest neighbour to 22mgd.

From last August to January this year, PUB supplied an additional 5mgd to 6mgd of potable water to Johor under an arrangement similar to the present one.

Professor Asit Biswas, founder of the Third World Centre for Water Management, does not foresee any problems for Singapore with such an arrangement over the short to medium term.

But the distinguished visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore cautioned that Singapore’s per capita daily consumption of 150 litres is “far too high”.

He said water conservation efforts in Singapore and Johor can be improved through economic, social and other changes.

The slump was blamed on recent fluctuations in international foreign exchange markets, including China’s devaluation of its yuan by 0.45 per cent, which saw it drop to its lowest level in the last five years.

Speculation that the US Federal Reserve could hike interest rates possibly this month was another factor.

But some market observers believed that the dollar’s rise could be short-lived since it was caused by banks buying the greenback to balance their foreign currency positions.

A day later the dong gained against the dollar though the average daily interbank exchange rate fixed by the central bank edged upwards.

On Tuesday the dollar fell by 20-25 dong to 22,425-22,430 dong. Vietcombank bought the currency at 22,360 dong and sold it at 22,430 dong, down 20 dong from the previous day.

On the unofficial market in Ho Chi Minh City, the dollar was bough at 22,380 dong and sold at 22,420 dong, down 70 dong from Monday.

The forex rates have still been remarkably stable this year although late last year the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) begun a new foreign exchange management mechanism to cope with changes in the market, especially the global market.

Under it, the reference rate, or the inter-bank exchange rate, will be managed more flexibly and could changed regularly, even daily. The central bank manages the foreign exchange market through a relatively stable inter-bank rate and daily trading bands.

Some analysts said the stability in the forex rate is not exactly good for domestic firms because the dong has been appreciating even as many countries recently devalued their currencies.

This has put great pressure on Vietnamese exporters in terms of prices in overseas markets.

The depreciated yuan has brought China’s exports a big advantage by making Chinese products very cheap.

For instance, on May 30 the central parity rate of the yuan weakened by 294 basis points to 6.5784 to the US dollar, the lowest level since February 2011.

This is expected to affect Vietnam’s exports and imports because when the yuan becomes weaker than the dong, Chinese goods imported into Vietnam will be cheaper and more competitive than Vietnamese items.

Vietnamese garment exporters could lose out since their foreign orders will go to China when prices there will be cheaper.

The Vietnamese central bank should adjust the forex rate more flexibly in ways that can weaken the dong against other currencies.

Besides, the government should rethink some other foreign exchange policies including the interest rate for dollar deposits, compulsory reserves and the foreign exchange position.

It is also necessary for the central bank to soon develop a foreign currency market to meet businesses’ and individuals’ demand for foreign currencies.

Tourism firms demand continued visa waiver

In April the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism urged the government to increase the visa waiver period for tourists from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain from the current one year to five years and double their period of stay to 30 days to attract more visitors.

The ministry also asked the government to consider waiving visas for people from 13 more nations, all key tourism markets for Vietnam, and issue visas online and on arrival to make it easier for visitors.

Tourism industry insiders said though there are still some limitations to the visa waiver policy, it has yielded positive results.

The visa waiver policy was instituted in July last year and comes to a close at the end of this month.

The administration is hoping the visa exemption and some tourism stimulus programmes will attract 1.1 million arrivals from those markets in the next three years, up 50 per cent from 2015.

According to the General Tourism Department, since the waiver until last March the number of tourists from the five countries shot up by 14 per cent to 555,000 against an average annual growth of 5.35 per cent in 2010-14. The additional spending by the visitors is estimated at around US$171 million.

The biggest concern for tourism firms now, as the deadline approaches, is whether the government will increase the waiver duration.

It is not just domestic firms that are focused on the visa waiver policy. Many overseas tourism businesses too want to know about it, and inquired at international tourism fairs like Germany’s ITB Berlin and the UK’s WTM.

According to the World Economics Forum’s tourism competitiveness in 2015, Vietnam was in 75th place out of 141 countries in the 2014-2015 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index rankings.

In the open index, the Vietnamese tourism sector was in a high 19th position out of 119 countries in visa procedures.

Experts said the government should make an early decision on visa waivers to help the tourism sector capitalise on the opportunities brought by the upcoming peak season.

For Westerners the holiday period often begins in October and they are prone to making their travel plans very early, even a year ahead.

An early decision by the Government on visa waiver will enable foreign tourism firms to put Vietnam in their 2016-17 promotional programmes.

But market observers said visas are just one of several hurdles facing the tourism industry.

To compete with foreign rivals and ensure development, local tour operators must develop new products to meet demand and create opportunities for foreign visitors to learn about Vietnamese culture and explore nature.

Cost is also a factor in attracting more tourists, so the prices of the new products should be lower than normal products.

Vietnam should organise effective tourism promotion programmes in overseas markets, especially the five Western European countries, and information campaigns on tourism stimulus programmes in those markets.

Stock brokerages race to hike capital as derivatives trading looms

Mirea Asset Wealth Management Securities (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company has increased its chartered capital from 300 billion dong ($13.33 million) to 700 billion dong ($31.11million)

It was among several securities companies that sought various ways to increase their chartered capital to qualify for the participation in the planned derivatives market.

In middle March, the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and the Viet Nam Securities Depository (VSD) announced that a derivatives market would be set up by the end of this year.

The derivatives market and its trading system will be designed with three functions: member management, recording transactions and statistics, and risk warning and prevention. It can handle 15,000 payment transactions per minute from at least 600,000 accounts.

The market aims to help investors identify and mitigate risks, and diversify into other investment channels.

The share indexes (HNX30 and VN30) and five-year government bonds will be the first two products to be traded in the market.

However, to operate in the derivatives market, securities firms have to meet certain criteria.

With a legal capital or equity of over 600 billion dong, a securities company can do proprietary trading, that is to invest its own money in securities.

It must have 800 billion dong to offer derivatives brokerage services.

Capital of 900 billion dong and 1.2 trillion dong will enable it to become a direct or general clearing member respectively.

A general clearing member (GCM) is an entity approved by the clearing house to clear principal transactions and client transactions on behalf of GCM clients.

Significantly, these amounts are higher than most securities companies’ existing capital.

To increase their capital, many securities companies have adopted traditional methods like pumping in more money or issuing shares to some big shareholders, while some others have opted for issuing bonus shares.

There is a concern whether all of them will be successful in increasing their capital.

The director of a securities company in Ho Chi Minh City, who asked not to be named, said his company has been very active in seeking strategic investors to increase its capital and enter the derivatives market, but failed.

The company decided to issue bonus shares to shareholders, but the capital has yet to reach 600 billion dong.

Analysts even suspect that some securities firms have used subterfuge to increase their legal capital by a huge amount within a short time.

This involves borrowing money to temporarily inflate the capital and repaying it after being certified by the SSC as meeting capital requirements.

Another method is to issue bonus stocks to shareholders by cooking up the books to show large profits.

To prevent these disagreeable methods, the SSC needs to work with audit companies and relevant agencies to carefully monitor securities companies’ efforts to increase capital

A senior economist at the National Economic Research Institute, Dr Leeber Leebouapao, told Vientiane Times yesterday that the bulk of people’s earnings is spent on daily necessities and they have little left over to save.

He noted that the cost of food, electricity, education and rent had all risen, despite the high growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and GDP per capita.

“Our economy is growing at a rate of 7.6 percent this year. Our inflation rate is reportedly below 2 percent and our exchange rate is stable. Significantly, the price of fuel is low, so why is the cost of living rising?” Dr Leeber queried.

“I think that the situation in our country is reversing. In principle, a strong economy should reflect rising incomes and the lower price of oil should contribute to a lower cost of living.”

Government sectors have been asked to inspect the pricing structure of various products in Laos, notably those on the government’s list of controlled items.

The rising price of products in markets is putting pressure on local people, especially those who are poor, no matter what the reason for the increase is.

A resident of Donnoun village in Vientiane’s Xaythany district, Ms Ae, said her income was not increasing but her expenses were higher.

“The pri ce of pork has risen from 35,000 kip to 40,000 kip per kg and my children’s school has announced they will put up the fees next academic year,” she said.

Laos is a least developed country with a GDP of 102,320 billion kip (US$12.8 billion), while GDP per capita has climbed to 15.8 million kip (US$1,970) .

Economists point out that the GDP per capita is not the actual income of most Lao people given that it’s an average figure, and many people are still struggling to earn a living.

Generally speaking, poverty-stricken countries like to quote GDP as a measure of economic activity as it is higher than Gross National Income.

But this can be misleading because GDP includes foreign revenues earned on a nation’s soil but the majority of this money is repatriated and therefore does not contribute to the country’s economy.

In Laos, for instance, the country’s economic growth is mainly driven by foreign investment, particularly in natural resources, which has been included in the GDP per capita figure.

Large-scale projects in hydropower, agriculture and industrial development have attracted investors from China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Although the Lao economy has enjoyed a high growth rate in recent years, the growth spurt has not generated job opportunities and boosted the incomes of local people as anticipated.