Trade deficit soars to $14.4bil since Jan (27/05)
06/08/2010 - 72 Lượt xem
Economists from the General Statistics Office (GSO) attributed the deficit to high demand for materials, equipment and machines for production and construction, as well as a strong surge in auto and gold imports, which drove total import value 2.4 times higher than that of last year.
Other factors driving up imports included constant moves to lower or remove taxes according to World Trade Organisation and AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area) commitments, the economists said.
In the first five months of this year, import values surged by 67% to $37.8bil, while export turnover increased by only 27.2% to $23.4bil, according to the GSO.
While the domestic sector accounted for $26.34bil of the total import value, up 80%, the foreign invested sector reached $11.476bil, up 43.2% year on year.
Meanwhile, exports in the first five months saw the opposite trend with the domestic sector earning just $ 9.9bil, up 23.1%, and the foreign invested sector netting $13.4bil, up 30.4%.
GSO said the rise in export value was mostly due to soaring prices in the global market, not from the quantity of exports.
Exports, enjoying higher prices included crude oil at $4.5bil, up 45.5% from a year earlier, and coal at $565mil, up 34.9%.
Other export items that registered high growth rates include garments at $3.3bil, up 19%; footwear at $1.75bil, up 13.4% and wood products at $1.14bil, up 20.8%.
Meanwhile, the country exported 2.1mil tonnes of rice, earning $1.17bil in the first five months, up 94%, thanks to higher demand and price increases in the global market.
Import values on equipment and machines, blamed largely for the trade deficit, jumped to $5.71bil, up 42.5% against a year earlier.
Imports of CBU (complete built unit) autos saw a sharp rise in the first five months at $625mil, up six times over 2007, while imports of gold in the first four months reached 71 tonnes worth $2.1bil, up eight times over last year.
Source: Viet Nam News
