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Vietnam economy begins recovery (19/8)

19/08/2013 - 17 Lượt xem

Industrial production improved considerably. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in July 2013 was 3.4 percent higher than that in June 2013 and seven percent more than in July 2012; the IIP in the first seven months of 2013 was 5.2 percent more than in the same time last year.
As of July 1, 2013, the inventory index of the processing and manufacturing industry was only 8.8 percent higher than the same period in 2012. The employment index in the whole industrial sector in June 2013 was one percent higher than May 2013 and 4.1 percent higher than June 2012.
Exports continued growing, while the trade surplus was controlled. In July 2013, Vietnam exported goods worth more than US$11.2 billion and exported US$200 million more than it imported, taking the total to US$72.74 billion in the first seven months of 2013 (up 14.3 percent from the same period of last year). In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam imported goods worth US$73.47 billion and imported US$733 million more than it exported. The trade deficit accounted for a small percentage of the country’s export revenue. This was a positive result given the context where export revenues of almost all farm produce and seafood products decreased due to gloomy foreign markets.
The domestic market remained stable; the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam increased, and inflation was controlled. According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), retail sales and service revenues reached an estimated VND1,488 trillion in the first seven months of 2013, up about 12 percent from the same time last year.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in July 2013 was 0.27 percent higher than June 2013 and 2.68 percent higher than December 2012.
Vietnam welcomed almost 660,000 foreign visitors in July 2013 (up 16 percent from June 2013 and 28.5 percent from July 2012) and almost 4.2 million foreign visitors in the first seven months of this year, up some six percent from the same period last year.
Foreign direct investment continued to increase. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of July 20, 2013, Vietnam attracted 677 FDI projects totaling almost US$7 billion in registered capital (up 10 percent in value from the same time last year) and 266 FDI projects in the country increased their registered capital by a total of US$5 billion. This means that Vietnam attracted an additional US$12 billion in FDI from January 1 to July 20, 2013, an increase of 19.6 percent over the same period of last year. Processing and manufacturing industry remained the top FDI attractor. In the first seven months of 2013, an estimated US$6.7 billion in FDI was already invested, 6.4 percent more than the same period of 2012; more than US$2.5 billion in official development assistance (ODA) was disbursed, representing more than 60 percent of the 2013 target.
Credit activities changed for the positive, contributing to restoring and developing production and trading operations. Lending rates averaged at 10 percent per year.
The difference between gold prices on the domestic and foreign markets gradually decreased, contributing to stabilizing the monetary markets and foreign exchange rates and promoting investment and production and trading development.
However, agricultural production encountered a number of difficulties including low product prices, tardy sales, little growth in the size of cattle herds and poultry numbers and exports have seen a slow growth for two consecutive months. Ministries and authorities need to develop rapid solutions to these problems. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that it would not be easy to achieve gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.5 percent in 2013 so the government, ministries, sectors and localities would need to try their best to reach this rate of growth./.

Source: VEN.