Trade deficit may widen 37 percent in 2008
06/08/2010 - 41 Lượt xem
| The trade deficit could jump around 37 percent to US$16.97 billion this year, state media reported earlier this week. |
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Most of the trade deficit would result from the import of machinery and material to help fuel the economy, which is expected to grow 9 percent, the reports said. Vietnam's trade deficit more than doubled to $12.4 billion in 2007 as imports jumped 35.5 percent to a record $60.8 billon, the government has said. An Industry and Trade Ministry projection envisaged exports would rise 22 percent to $59.03 billion in 2008, while imports should reach at least $76 billion, an increase of 25 percent from last year, the Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper reported. The 2008 projection is bigger than a $10.9-billion trade deficit forecast by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the opening of the National Assembly's autumn session last October. The ministry's projection said spending on machinery and spare parts would account for 26.3 percent of imports. Raw material used for domestic production would make up 66.2 percent and consumer's goods the remaining 7.5 percent. Trade officials have said imports would rise as more foreign investors bring in machinery for their projects in Vietnam, which joined the World Trade Organization in January 2007. The country is the world's biggest exporter of robusta coffee, black pepper and cashew nuts and the second-largest shipper of rice. It is Southeast Asia's third-largest producer of crude oil and the world's fourth-biggest exporter of footwear and rubber. Source: Reuters. |
