Vietnam economy begins recovery (19/8)
19/08/2013 - 18 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.
Source: VEN.
