GDP growth rate in 2019 reached 7.02%. In the overall growth of the economy, agriculture, forestry and fishery sector increased by 2.01%, contributing 4.6% to the general increase; industry and construction sector increased by 8.90%, contributing 50.4%; service sector increased by 7.3%, contributing 45%.
Regarding 2019‘s economic structure, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector accounted for 13.96% of GDP; industry and construction sector accounted for 34.49%; service sector accounted for 41.64%; product tax minus product subsidies accounted for 9.91% (the corresponding structure of 2018 is: 14.68%; 34.23%; 41.12%; 9.97%).
As for use of GDP in 2019, final consumption increased by 7.23% compared to 2018; accumulated assets increased by 7.91%; exports of goods and services increased by 6.71%; imports of goods and services increased by 8.35%.
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The added value of the whole industry in 2019 was estimated to increase by 8.86% over the previous year. In particular, the processing and manufacturing industry continued to be a highlight with an increase of 11.29%, contributing 2.33 percentage points to the overall increase; power production and distribution increased by 9.14%, contributing 0.44 percentage points; water supply and waste treatment increased by 7.72%, contributing 0.05 percentage points; mining industry increased by 1.29% after 3 years of continuous decline, contributing 0.09 percentage points on the overall increase.
In December 2019, Vietnam welcomed 11,418 newly established businesses with a registered capital of VND 155.8 trillion and registered labor of 117.3 thousand employees, a decrease of 6.9% in the number of businesses yet an increase of 11.3% and 4.2% in registered capital and number of employees respectively compared to November 2019. The average registered capital of a newly established enterprise in the last month of the year reached VND 13.6 billion, up 19.6% over the previous month and down 43.9% over the same period last year.
Generally, in 2019, there were 138.1 thousand newly registered enterprises with a total registered capital of VND 1,730.2 trillion and a total registered labor of 1,254.4 thousand employees, an increase of 5, 2% in the number of enterprises, 17.1% in registered capital and 13.3% in the number of employees compared to the previous year. The average registered capital of a newly established enterprise in 2019 reached VND 12.5 billion, an increase of 11.2% over the previous year. In addition, there were 39.4 thousand enterprises returning to operation, an increase of 15.9% compared to 2018, bringing the total number of newly established enterprises and businesses back to operation in 2019 to 177, 5 thousand enterprises.
Total social investment capital in the fourth quarter of 2019 at current prices was estimated at VND 669.8 trillion, up 10.4% over the same period last year, of which state-owned capital increased by 2.3% while non-state capital increased by 18.3% and FDI capital increased by 6.7%.
The total realized social investment capital at current prices in 2019 was estimated at VND 2,046.8 trillion, up 10.2% over the previous year and equal to 33.9% of GDP, of which state-owned capital reached VND 634.9 trillion VND, accounting for 31% of the total realized capital and up 2.6% compared to the previous year; non-state capital reached VND 942.5 trillion, accounting for 46% and rising by 17.3%; FDI capital reached VND 469.4 trillion, accounting for 23% and increasing by 7.9%.
Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in December were estimated at VND 433.2 trillion, up 1% over the previous month and 12% over the same period last year. Generally, for the fourth quarter of 2019, total estimated retail sales of consumer goods and services reached VND 1,287.5 trillion, up 2.8% compared to the previous quarter and up 12.5% over the same period last year.
Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in 2019 reached VND 4,940.4 trillion, if excluding the price factor, the increase would be 9.2% (in 2018 it was 8,4%).
Total import and export turnover of goods in 2019 was estimated at USD 516.96 billion, of which goods export turnover reached USD 263.45 billion, up 8.1% over the previous year. 2019 witnessed a strong development of the domestic economic sector in the field of exports with a growth rate of 17.7%, much higher than the growth rate of the foreign invested sector (4.2%). The trade balance of goods in 2019 saw a trade surplus of USD 9.9 billion, the highest level in 4 consecutive years of trade surplus.
The United States is Vietnam's largest export market with a turnover of USD 60.7 billion, up 27.8% over the previous year; followed by EU market with USD 41.7 billion, down by 0.7%. Vietnam’s exports to China reached USD 41.5 billion, up 0.2% while that to ASEAN market reached USD 25.3 billion, up 1.9%; Japan reached USD 20.3 billion, up 7.7% and South Korea reached USD 19.8 billion USD, up 8.3%.
China remained the largest import market of Vietnam with a turnover of USD 75.3 billion, up 14.9% over the previous year; followed by the Korean market with USD 47.3 billion, down 0.6%; ASEAN market with USD 32.1 billion, up 0.8%; Japan with USD 19.6 billion, up 3%; EU market with USD 14.8 billion, up 6.4%; the United States with USD 14.3 billion, up 12.3%.
Average CPI in 2019 increased by 2.79% compared to 2018, below the goal set by the National Assembly, which is also the lowest annual increase in the past 3 years. December CPI increased by 5.23% compared to December 2018.
Core inflation in December 2019 increased by 0.68% over the previous month and by 2.78% over the same period last year. The average core inflation in 2019 increased by 2.01% compared to the average in 2018.
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GSO - VietnamCredit