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The economy’s bright 8-month picture
The report released by the General Statistics Office (GSO) about socio-economic development in the first eight months of the year shows that Vietnam’s economy has escaped from its darkest period.
Production recovering thanks to increased demand
National production is now being supported by two factors, domestic consumption (which includes public spending) and exports.
The GSO’s report shows that the total goods and service turnover in the first eight months of 2009 reached 742.7 trillion dong ($43.68 billion), an increase of 18.4 percent over the same period of last year. If factoring in price increases, the turnover represents an increase of 9.3 percent.
Regarding exports, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Danh Vinh in an interview given to Thoi bao kinh te Vietnam recently said that exports had increased by 20-25 percent in quantity over the same period of last year.
Vietnam’s total export turnover in the first eight months of 2009 reached $37.3 billion, a decrease of 14.2 percent in turnover in comparison with 2008, but many export items saw sharp increases in export volume. Coffee exports, for example, saw export turnover down by 17.7 percent, but volume up by 16.8 percent. Similarly, rice exports decreased by 1.4 percent in turnover, but increased by 43 percent in quantity. The figures are 48.1 percent and 8 percent, respectively, for oil exports and 41.4 percent and 8.2 percent for rubber exports.
Domestic production increased rapidly thanks to higher demand, both domestic and foreign. Industrial production saw increases of each month higher than previous months. Industrial production value in August 2009 reflected an increase of 10.6% over August 2008 and 4.5 percent over July this year. Industrial production value of the first eight months of the year was 5.6 percent higher than during the same period of 2008.
Seafood exports maintained a high growth rate with the export volume of 3,200 thousand tonnes in the first eight months of 2009, an increase of 4.1 percent compared to the same period of 2008. Agriculture and forestry production achieved the stable growth rate of 4-4.5 percent.
Investments give impetus to development
The driving force for economic development has also been created by big financial sources now flowing into the national economy.
GSO’s report shows that the foreign direct investment (FDI) implemented in the first eight months of 2009 reached $6.5 billion. Though the figure represents an 8.5 percent decrease in comparison with the same period of 2008, it is still an encouraging result as this is a high FDI level for the last several years.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investment also keeps flowing to Vietnam. The Vietnam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI) has estimated that some $5 billion entered Vietnam in the first 8 months.
Regarding investment from the state budget, though disbursement has slowed down, the implemented capital still reached 82.9 trillion dong, fulfilling 57.5 percent of the yearly plan.
The consumer price index (CPI) for many kinds of essential goods and services remained stable. The CPI in August 2009 increased by 0.24 percent over the previous month, increased by 1.97 percent over the same period of 2008 and 3.47 percent over December 2008. The CPI of the first eight months of 2009 increased by 8.31 percent in comparison with that of the first eight months of 2008.
Local newspaper VnEconomy has reported that some of its recent surveys show that many businesses have been able to recover production since getting preferential loans under the Government-initiated interest rate subsidisation programmes.
vietnamnet, vneconomy
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