VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund : Half-Year / Interim Report

VINACAPITAL VIETNAM OPPORTUNITY FUND LIMITED

Interim Report and Condensed Interim Financial Statements for the period 1 July 2023 to 31 December 2023

VINACAPITAL VIETNAM OPPORTUNITY FUND LIMITED

INTERIM REPORT AND CONDENSED INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

CONTENTS

Chairman's Statement 2

Investment Manager's Interim Report 5

Interim Report of the Board of Directors 21

Statement of Directors' Responsibility in Respect of the Condensed Interim Financial Statements 26

Independent Review Report 27 Condensed Interim Financial Statements

Condensed Statement of Financial Position 29

Condensed Statement of Changes in Equity 30

Condensed Statement of Comprehensive Income 31

Condensed Statement of Cash Flows 32

Notes to the Condensed Interim Financial Statements 33

Management and Administration 59

Glossary and Alternative Performance Measures 61

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

Dear Shareholder,

Investment Performance

Over the six months to the end of December 2023, the Company's net asset value per share was broadly unchanged. Taking account of the dividend paid in December, the total return1 was 1.9% in USD terms and 1.0% for sterling investors. The share price total return1 (in sterling terms) was 7.9%. Over the same period the VN Index fell by 1.0%, again on a total return basis.

Dividend

Our policy is to pay out dividends of approximately 1% of NAV per share, twice each year and normally declared in March and October. In October 2023 we declared a dividend of 7.0 cents per share which was paid in December. In line with the performance of the Company over the first half of the financial year, the Board has declared an unchanged dividend of 7.0 cents per share which will be payable to shareholders on 13 May 2024.

Gearing

In March 2024, the Company agreed to extend its USD40 million secured revolving credit facility with Standard Chartered Bank for a third year and the facility will now run until March 2025. The facility has provided a useful

source of short-term liquidity for the Investment Manager as it manages the Company's cash flows on both implementing and realising investments in private equity and other illiquid instruments.

Marketing and the Discount

As I set out in the annual report, we continue to promote the Company via a number of channels, assisted by our joint brokers, Numis Securities Limited and Barclays Bank plc and our distribution partner, Cadarn Capital. A variety of information is available to existing and potential investors with the aim of stimulating demand for the shares: a detailed fact sheet is issued each month and regular updates on the Vietnamese market and economy in both written and video form are posted to our website. I again encourage you to sign up to be notified of new publications athttps://vof.vinacapital.comif you have not already done so.

In common with much of the closed-end fund sector, the discount was under pressure for the period under review. The Board uses share buybacks as the principal tool for managing the discount and, over the six months to 31 December 2023, approximately 3.8 million shares were bought back, which was 2% of shares in issue at the start of the period. As a result of this action, the discount over the period remained in the range 17-20%. The discounts at which shares were bought back resulted in an increase in the NAV of approximately 3.0 cents per share to the benefit of continuing shareholders. Over the first couple of months of 2024 the discount has come under further pressure as a significant institutional shareholder reduced its exposure to Vietnam following a review of its portfolio. The Board redoubled its efforts to use the buyback to provide liquidity and 2.2 million shares were bought back in January and February. As I write this, the discount has stabilised in the range 20-22%.

We will continue to publicise the long-term potential of investment in Vietnam and the benefits of the Company's unique approach to investing and will continue to use share buybacks to provide liquidity and to seek to narrow the discount where we believe that these are in the best interests of shareholders.

Investment Management Fees

The Board recognises that there is downward pressure on investment management fees in many parts of the world. However, we also recognise that Vietnam is a developing market and the types of investment which the Company typically makes require a high level of resources, both in negotiating investments and in managing existing holdings.

1 An Alternative Performance Measure: see Glossary for further details

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT (continued)

Investment Management Fees (continued)

Balancing these pressures, in March 2023 we agreed a reduction in the fees that VinaCapital charges for the management of the Company and the changes were set out in full in the Annual Report for the year to 30 June 2023. The revised fees came into effect on 1 July 2023 and have been in operation for the whole of the period under review.

The Board

Since the retirement of Thuy Dam last year, the Board has had lower female representation than best corporate governance practice requires. We are currently in the middle of a recruitment exercise which aims to redress the balance and I hope to make a further announcement in this regard in due course.

Audit Tender

PricewaterhouseCoopers CI LLP has been the external auditor of the Company for the past eight years and, in compliance with best practice, the Audit Committee put out the audit to competitive tender in the latter part of 2023. Following a rigorous tender process, the Board of Directors has now approved the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the external auditor of the Company for the financial year ending 30 June 2024. Full details of the audit tender process will be disclosed in the Company's annual report and financial statements for the year ending 30 June 2024.

Annual General Meeting

All of the Resolutions proposed at the AGM held on 6 December 2023 were passed (or, in the case of

Resolution 14, not passed) in line with the Board's recommendations and I would like to record my thanks for shareholders' continuing support.

With Resolution 14 - that the Company should cease to continue as currently constituted - the Company's second largest shareholder, representing approximately 23% of the votes cast at the AGM (11% of the total issued share capital), voted in favour. I had met representatives of the shareholder prior to the AGM who indicated that they wanted to see the Board introduce a performance conditional tender mechanism ("PCTM"). I presented arguments why the Board believes that a PCTM would not be in the Company's or the other shareholders' interests but the shareholder was not persuaded and voted against the Board's recommendation. In accordance with the AIC Code, the Board has reflected further and its views on a PCTM are set out below.

The principle underlying a PCTM is that if the performance of an investment company falls below a set level over a particular period, the Board will allow shareholders to tender a proportion of their shares at or close to NAV. In the case of VOF (and, indeed, the vast majority of other investment companies) the shares are likely to be trading at a wider discount than would be offered in the tender so, were this to happen, the tender would likely be fully subscribed. The reasons that the Board does not think that a PCTM is appropriate for VOF can be summarised as follows:

• • The most relevant benchmark which is available in Vietnam is the VN Index. This is not representative of all of the opportunities available for investment in Vietnam (for example 10 very large companies make up 42% of the VN Index). Given the concentration of large companies, the index can show volatility as a result of specific issues with one or more of its constituents.

• • VOF's portfolio is made up of unquoted investments as well as quoted shares. Consequently, even if the VN Index was representative of all quoted companies in Vietnam, VOF's performance would still differ by virtue of the unquoted elements whose performance would not correlate with the VN Index. As a result of these two factors, the Board does not generally benchmark the Investment Manager's performance against the VN Index.

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT (continued)

Annual General Meeting (continued)

• • If it were possible to devise an index against which VOF's performance could be fairly measured and VOF's performance was such that a tender was triggered, the Company would be forced to sell investments in order to satisfy the tender. The Vietnamese listed equity markets only offer limited liquidity and, when it became known that VOF was selling a significant part of its portfolio, the prices of the shares which VOF was likely to sell would fall in anticipation. Further, if the Company's unquoted investments were to be put on sale at relatively short notice they would, in general, be likely to be sold at a substantial discount to their true value. Such sales would not be in shareholders' best interests.

• • In practice, it would be the most liquid shares which would have to be sold meaning that the remaining portfolio would be made up of the less liquid stocks, including the unquoted investments. As a smaller company with less liquid investments, after any tender it is likely that VOF's share price would trade at a higher discount to the stated NAV than it does at present, again to the detriment of shareholders.

• • The Board is also concerned that the Company's many retail shareholders whom, we believe, are supportive of the Company would not participate in a tender. This might act to their disadvantage when compared with institutional investors whom, the Board believes, would all tender their shares, both pro rata to their holdings as well as seeking to participate in a mix and match facility for shares not tendered by other shareholders.

In conclusion, although a PCTM may be appropriate for poorly performing companies investing in quoted securities in liquid markets, the Board believes that the mechanism would not be appropriate for VOF, which has a significant proportion of unquoted stocks in its portfolio. That having been said, the Board is highly focused on the relative and absolute performance of the Company and would take appropriate action if it felt that the Investment Manager was not doing a good job or if the Board were to believe that future returns from the Company's investment strategy are unlikely to be attractive, neither of which is the case at the time of writing.

Outlook

Throughout much of 2023, sentiment in the Vietnamese stock market was overshadowed by liquidity problems in the real estate market. As mentioned in the Investment Manager's report there are signs that the worst of this has now passed: liquidity is beginning to return to the market and confidence is being restored. In the first two months of 2024 the VN Index has risen by 9%, one of the best performing markets in the region. Against this background, the Board is cautiously optimistic about the prospects for the full year to 30 June.

I would like to thank shareholders for their support in voting against the discontinuation of the Company at the AGM in December. The Board believes that performance over the five years before the next discontinuation vote in 2028 should justify that confidence.

Huw Evans

Chairman

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited 25 March 2024

INVESTMENT MANAGER'S INTERIM REPORT

Macroeconomic Highlights

A challenging start to the financial year

We started the second half of the calendar year with a guarded sense of hope. This also marked the first half of our financial year, commencing 1 July 2023. Market consensus, as well as government forecasts, were banking on an optimistic outlook to the calendar year, with a base-case recovery led by exports and tourism reaching pre-Covid levels, and optimism that stronger export orders to the US and developed markets would help bring Vietnam's GDP growth rate back to its 10-year historical average.

However, these hopes were soon dashed and much of that optimism gave way to uncertainty as lingering doubts over the strength of the economic recovery clouded the economic outlook, while sector specific issues including the ongoing challenges concerning the real estate sector and corporate bond market persisted. Investors were also left wondering how much longer the impasse on project approvals would continue given the reluctance by the government to approve major real estate, land or infrastructure projects. Furthermore, the ongoing fall-out from the anti-corruption initiative, which has led to several high-profile arrests and disciplinary actions on government and business leaders, has left a sense of uncertainty among some foreign investors.

That being said, during the year, the government did seem to try their very best to support key sectors in the economy, evidenced by a slew of laws and decrees being issued and implemented into policy, several of which deal with problems concerning the real estate market, corporate bonds, interest rates, public spending and domestic consumption. These efforts are commendable, and longer-term will certainly help in the recovery of key sectors of the economy.

Resilient GDP growth despite challenges

In the short term, however, the headwinds proved too strong and for 2023, Vietnam posted a modest GDP growth of 5.05% year-on-year ("y-o-y").

A drop in manufacturing output and exports had an impact on Vietnam's growth given that the economy is among the most trade-dependent in the world with total exports plus total imports equivalent to almost 200% of GDP. Additionally, weak consumer confidence resulted in a downturn in consumer spending and the challenges that have dogged the real estate market continue to dampen domestic investor and consumer sentiment.

Within this modest GDP growth figure, the fourth quarter of the calendar year saw an unexpectedly strong economic recovery, with GDP rising 6.7% compared to the weak 3.3% y-o-y growth in the first quarter of the calendar year.

Looking ahead however, we expect Vietnam's GDP growth to rebound to 6.0% to 6.5% in 2024, driven by a recovery in manufacturing and export activity, a modest acceleration in domestic consumption, further improvements in international tourist arrivals, and the resumption of public spending on national infrastructure projects. Furthermore, a combination of new land law reforms and accommodative monetary policy with lower interest rates should also support the real estate sector recovery.

Our Chief Economist provides a wrap-up of the key economic highlights for 2023 and outlook for 2024 in a report which is available on our websiteVOF Corporate Literature - VinaCapital.

Recovering demand in exports

The deceleration of Vietnam's manufacturing sector output to just 1.6% y-o-y growth in 2023 (vs. 8% growth in 2022) is the single-biggest factor weighing on the country's modest GDP growth for the year. In 2023, US firms reduced their inventories at the fastest pace over the last decade, cutting their orders for "Made in Vietnam" products.

There are clear signs that the destocking process which weighed on Vietnam's exports to the US is now coming to an end. By the end of summer, there appears to have been a rebound in exports, particularly for consumer electronic products and evidenced by a ~4% average month-on-month (m-o-m) growth starting in August, which is a very high level.

Recovering demand in exports (continued)

By the end of the year, Vietnam posted a record trade surplus of more than USD28 billion, but admittedly on declining exports (USD356 billion, -4.4% y-o-y) and import figures (USD328 billion, -8.9% y-o-y). Both FDI disbursements and registrations were strong for 2023, with over USD23 billion (+3.5% y-o-y) for disbursements, and USD36 billion (+24.4% y-o-y) for registrations. The trade surplus and FDI disbursements contribute significantly to Vietnam's foreign reserves and in turn has provided support for the local currency, the VND.

Looking ahead, we expect manufacturing activity in Vietnam and exports - especially exports to the US - will rebound in 2024, as the inventory destocking process mentioned above is now coming to an end. Specifically, we expect Vietnam's manufacturing output to rebound to 8-9% growth in 2024, which will certainly help lift the country's GDP growth. However, this is still lower than the double-digit growth rates that Vietnam's manufacturing sector typically achieved pre-Covid. The anticipated lower growth is due to the potential impacts of a possible modest recession or slowdown in the global economy in late 2024 and changes in consumer purchasing patterns, which could lead consumers in developed markets to cut down on spending.

We think that the freshly inked Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that Vietnam has signed with the US will further cement Vietnam's position in the US "friendshoring" orbit. Furthermore, Vietnam was the only country that both Joe Biden and Xi Jinping visited in 2023!

Return of foreign tourists

The other factor supporting Vietnam's economy in 2023 has been the rebound in domestic tourism. With a population slightly over 100 million, Vietnamese have taken to traveling domestically particularly during weekends and holidays as many high-quality offerings have emerged with the rapid development of the country's many coastal and secondary cities. While domestic tourism is booming post-Covid, overall foreign tourist arrivals have stabilised at around 70% of pre-Covid levels over the last several months (versus circa 60% for the rest of Asia), with almost 13 million foreign arrivals during 2023.

However, the full recovery in tourism continues to be held back in part by the lack of Chinese visitors. Chinese tourists, who accounted for 30% of the foreign tourist arrivals in Vietnam pre-Covid, have not returned to Southeast Asia en masse despite China's post-Covid reopening earlier in 2023. Chinese tourist visits to Vietnam have only reached 30% of the pre-Covid levels, in contrast to the approximately 90% recovery of non-Chinese tourists, and tourist arrivals from countries such as South Korea, the US, and Europe have recovered to surpass pre-COVID levels. Encouragingly, as we headed into the Lunar New Year in early 2024, we have seen a growing number of Chinese tourists visit, and there has been a surge in visitors from India thanks to the extensive network of flights between Vietnam and India.

We expect the tourism sector to continue to recover in 2024. Steps have been taken to relax visa requirements to encourage more visitors and drive further growth. Tourism directly contributes about 8% of GDP, while indirectly that contribution figure could double and so a recovery in tourism will be a strong positive for Vietnam's growth.

Rebound in domestic consumption

Chart 1: Vietnam Retails Sales 2023

Chart 2: Consumer Sentiment Survey Vietnam 2023

Source: VinaCapital, GSO, Kantar

Rebound in domestic consumption (continued)

The growth of retail sales, stripping out the impact of inflation, dropped from 15.8% in 2022 to 7.1% in 2023 (or 10% in nominal terms), one of the lowest figures for growth over the past 10 years; nearly all retail sales growth in 2023 can be attributed to a recovery of Vietnam's tourist arrivals. Were it not for this recovery in the tourism sector, consumption in Vietnam would likely be flat on a year-on-year basis.

Domestic consumption remained weak in 2023, as confidence was undermined by widespread layoffs in the manufacturing industry at the start of the calendar year, and further impaired by the slowdown in manufacturing activity and exports, as well as the persistent challenges that have dogged the real estate market and corporate bond activity. Furthermore, the high interest rate environment that dominated much of 2022 into 2023 meant that depositors were earning a disproportionately high rate of interest - at times over 10% p.a. - simply by leaving cash in 6-month to 12-month term deposits. Given market performance and uncertain economic conditions, keeping money on deposit was attractive during this period.

According to Vietnam's General Statistics Office, industrial employment was essentially unchanged year-on-year by November 2023, and factories flipped from laying off workers to expanding their workforces by October, according to Vietnam's PMI survey. That said, factory wages were up by less than 5% y-o-y, according to the Vietnamese Government Statistics Office and other sources, which is lower than the typical 7-10% y-o-y wage growth and reflects overall weak conditions in the labour market.

However, there are indicators that this period of weakness may be coming to an end. As noted above, factories have started to re-hire workers and public sector salaries are slated to increase from the middle of 2024, suggesting that domestic spending will be stronger in 2024 than in 2023. Furthermore, under a low interest rate environment, we expect retail spending growth rates to improve as consumer confidence returns.

Consumer sentiment and spending will get a further boost from the nascent thawing of the country's "frozen" real estate market. The highly publicised slowdown in Vietnam's real estate market negatively impacted consumer sentiment to a degree that is out of proportion to the reality of the issues that the market is facing. This is because in Vietnam, as with many countries in Southeast Asia, an individual's wealth is closely tied to real estate assets and transactions. Consequently, we believe that a modest thawing of the real estate market should disproportionately boost consumer sentiment this coming year. The government is actively addressing the challenges facing the country's real estate sector.

As mentioned in previous Investment Manager's reports, the consumer is the biggest beneficiary in Vietnam as competition to deliver goods and services to them at competitive prices is enormous. Furthermore, the rapid adoption of technology to facilitate ordering, deliveries and payments, means that gross margins are squeezed in all parts of the supply chain. The bottom line is that domestic consumer companies will find it very hard to maintain a sustainable and profitable edge against an increasing tide of foreign competitors and products without having clear and compelling selling points to attract consumers.

FDI accelerates as multinationals look to de-risk from China

FDI is one of Vietnam's most important growth drivers, and Vietnam's FDI inflows (USD23 billion in disbursements for 2023, +3.5% y-o-y) have benefitted more than any other country's from the US-China trade war. Three of the main advantages Vietnam has in attracting manufacturing FDI inflows looking ahead are: (1) the availability of a high-quality, low-cost workforce; (2) Vietnam's geographic proximity to Asia's high-tech industry supply chains; and (3) the "friend-shoring" appeal, which means that it has minimal risk of facing high tariffs from the US. These factors have drawn multinationals to invest in Vietnam and has led to a long-term increase in exports, especially of high-tech products.

The country continues to hold strong appeal in attracting high-tech manufacturing in 2024, following US President Biden's visit to Vietnam and the elevation of the Vietnam-US relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in September 2023. This is reflected in a series of announcements from leading technology firms, including Apple's recent declaration of its intention to relocate key iPad engineering resources to Vietnam. Additionally, one of the biggest opportunities Vietnam has, is the possibility of developing a semiconductor ecosystem, which has been the subject of a good amount of discussion lately.

FDI accelerates as multinationals look to de-risk from China (continued)

After nearly 20 years since the first wave of semiconductor companies arriving, including Renasas from Japan in 2004, and Intel from the US in 2006, Vietnam is set up for the next wave of development thanks to the upgrade of its ties with the US and recent visits by executives from the Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents the industry in the US, and Nvidia from Taiwan, the world's largest chipmaker in terms of market cap.

Companies like FPT Corporation (HOSE: FPT, USD5.1 billion market cap, 7.1% NAV) stand to benefit from this technology and semiconductor pivot towards Vietnam and have announced that their semiconductor division will look to competitively produce power chips. There is a noticeable shift away from traditional labour-intensive sectors, as Vietnam becomes a focal point for emerging industries like semiconductors and advanced areas of technology.

Overall, Vietnam has a unique position in the world's evolving geopolitical landscape, which benefits investors because multinational companies that set up a factory in Vietnam need not worry about being able to sell their products into the US market, nor their ability to access production inputs from China - since Vietnam is being actively courted by both countries.

Interest rates pivot to support growth

Chart 3: USD-VND Currency Rate 2022-2023

Chart 4: USD versus VND interest rate gap 2022-2023

Source: VinaCapital, State Bank of Vietnam, Bloomberg

The resiliency of the VN Dong at the beginning of 2023, despite a surge in the value of the US Dollar, allowed Vietnam's central bank to cut policy rates during 2023. The value of the VN Dong was supported by a surge in Vietnam's trade surplus from 3% of GDP in 2022 to 6% of GDP in 2023, and a 3.5% y-o-y increase in disbursed FDI inflows. Consequently, Vietnam's central bank cut policy interest rates by 150 basis points earlier in 2023, in contrast to the 100 basis points of rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. Local lending rates dropped to 8 to 9%, down from the late 2022 peak of 12 to 13% and approached the record lows of 7 to 8% seen in 2021.

We do not expect the SBV to make any big changes to policy interest rates in 2024. That is partially because we do not expect another surge in the value of the US Dollar in 2024, which was the main reason why the SBV hiked policy interest rates in late 2022, in order to protect the value of the VND. The SBV then was able to cut policy interest rates in 1H2023 which enabled a stable USD-VND exchange rate for the year. These lower interest rates are expected to attract investment flows into the real estate market and reduce funding costs for enterprises, which, in turn, should help support the continuation of economic growth into 2024. The net result was that the USD-VND exchange rate ended up depreciating by 2.7% last calendar year.

Risks and challenges for the year ahead

Geopolitical uncertainties: The level of geopolitical tension in the world is high. Furthermore the outcome of the US election in November 2024 may bring further uncertainty. Against this background, Vietnam has cultivated strong economic ties with the USA, China, its other near neighbours and other developed countries which should enable it to steer a path through uncertainty.

Risks and challenges for the year ahead (continued)

Economic growth: The main risk to our moderately positive outlook is the possibility of a slowdown in global growth, which would naturally cause the demand for "Made in Vietnam" products to slow or decline. The value of the US Dollar would likely appreciate in such a scenario, as it typically does, driven by "safe haven" buying. This would limit the ability of Vietnamese policy makers to respond to a slowing Vietnamese economy by slashing domestic interest rates, given that Vietnamese policy makers have already taken rates down to very low levels over the past year.

That said, the Vietnamese Government would have ample ability to respond to such a crisis through fiscal stimulus, which would include a surge in infrastructure spending. In early 2023, Vietnam's Government guided its intention to increase infrastructure spending by about 50% to about USD30 billion or 7% of GDP last year (up from 4% of GDP in 2022).

Early indications are that infrastructure spending did increase to around USD25 billion (or 6% of GDP) in 2023, and that the Government plans a similar level of spending in 2024. Critically, the Government's past prudence permits it to significantly ramp up spending if it wanted to. The State Treasury of Vietnam has nearly USD40 billion of undisbursed funds deposited in the country's commercial banks - most of which was earmarked for infrastructure projects in past years but was not spent - and Vietnam's Government debt-to-GDP ratio is below 40%, which is very low compared to most emerging and developed market countries around the world.

The Vietnamese government implemented several minor measures to boost the economy in 2023, including a temporary cut in the country's VAT rate from 10% to 8%, and a cut in the environmental tax on petrol. However, these measures probably equated to a total of about 0.5% of GDP. A planned increase in public sector salaries next year will probably equate to another circa 1% of GDP of stimulus to the economy through consumer spending. All of that said, we expect that, if needed, the Government could do much more to support the economy.

Moderate inflation: We expect CPI inflation in Vietnam to average 3-4% in 2024, which is similar to the level in 2023. However, it is important to note that inflation in 2024 will depend a lot on oil prices, which remain uncertain under the current shroud of geopolitical tensions. That said, we believe that if inflation in Vietnam were to remain above 4-5% for any length of time, the SBV would take appropriate steps to cool inflation by raising interest rates.

Furthermore, we do not expect inflation to factor into the SBV's decisions in 2024, partly because China is currently experiencing falling consumer prices prompting many to anticipate that China will "export deflation" to the rest of the world - and Vietnam would certainly experience lower increases in food prices amongst other things as a result.

With inflation well below 4% and interest rates rapidly declining in the second half of 2023, there were high hopes that credit growth would reach the annual target of 14%, yet it delivered a little over 11% by the end of 2023. There was also hope that lower interest rates would address the sluggish property market but there was disappointment in this area and property developers were also challenged with deleveraging and getting regulatory approvals while demand remains underwhelming.

Strength of the local currency: The VND is likely to experience some depreciation of 2-3% in its value in 2024. This is primarily because Vietnam's large trade surplus from 2023 is expected to decrease while remaining in surplus in 2024, and also due to the fact that interest rates in Vietnam remain considerably lower than US Dollar interest rates.

Regulatory risks: It is commendable that the government continues to push forward a program of regulatory changes to improve the operation of the market, address key challenges that several key sectors of the economy face, and importantly helps to address the bureaucratic hurdles that have at times in the past turned away FDI and indirect investments in the stock market. Delays in the power and energy plans and the delayed approval of the Power Development Plan 8 (PDP8) has stymied the attractiveness of several renewable and transitional energy projects, however efforts to trial various programs, including auction mechanisms to replace fixed rates, and push forward various power and transmission projects will, we believe, have a positive impact.