Following is the detailed information about Vietnam’s economic situation in the first half of 2021.
Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2021 was estimated to increase by 6.61% over the same period last year, which is higher than the growth rate of 0.39% in the same period of 2020. In particular, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector increased by 4.11%; the industrial and construction sector grew by 10.28%; the service sector increased by 4.3%.
As for the use of GDP in the second quarter of 2021, final consumption increased by 3.18% over the same period last year; asset accumulation increased by 6.05%; exports of goods and services rose by 29.81%; and imports of goods and services rose by 28.53%.
GDP growth rate for the first 6 months of 2021 was 5.64%, higher than the figure for that of 2020. In the general growth of the economy, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector increased by 3.82%, contributing 8.17%; the industrial and construction sector increased by 8.36%, contributing 59.05%; the service sector increased by 3.96%, contributing 32.78%.
Regarding Vietnam’s economic structure for the first half of 2021, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector accounted for 12.15%; the industrial and construction sector accounted for 37.61%; the service sector accounted for 41.13%; the product tax minus product subsidies accounted for 9.61% (the corresponding structure of the same period in 2020 was 14.16%; 33.51%; 41.99%; 10.34%).
The added value of the whole industrial sector in the first half of 2021 was estimated to increase by 8.91% over the same period last year. In particular, the manufacturing sector increased by 11.42%, contributing 2.9 percentage points to the general growth; electricity production and distribution increased by 8.16%, contributing 0.31 percentage points; water supply and waste treatment increased by 6.75%, contributing 0.04 percentage points; mining and quarrying decreased by 6.61% due to the sharp decline in crude oil and natural gas exploitation, making the overall growth rate decrease by 0.36 percentage points.
Consumption index for the manufacturing sector in the first 6 months of 2021 increased by 9.3% over the same period last year.
As of June 30, 2021, the inventory index of the processing and manufacturing industry was estimated to increase by 24.3% over the same period last year while the average inventory ratio of this sector in the same period reached 75.2%. The number of employees working in industrial enterprises decreased by 1% compared to the same period last year.
In June 2021, there were 11.3 thousand newly established enterprises with total registered capital of 164.3 trillion VND, and the number of registered employees was 71.9 thousand people. This is equal to a decrease of 2.5% in the number of enterprises, an increase of 9.1% in the registered capital and a decrease of 0.4% in the number of employees compared to May 2021. The average registered capital of a newly established enterprise in June reached 14.5 billion VND, increasing by 11.9% over the previous month and by 43.4% over the same period last year.
For the first 6 months of 2021, there were 67.1 thousand newly registered enterprises with a total registered capital of 942.6 trillion VND, and the total number of registered employees was 484.3 thousand, which is an increase of 8.1% in the number of businesses, an increase of 34.3% in the registered capital and a decrease of 4.5% in the number of employees over the same period last year. The average registered capital of a newly established enterprise in the first half of 2021 reached 14.1 billion VND, up 24.2% over the same period last year.
In the same period, there were 70.2 thousand enterprises temporarily suspending business operation, stopping operations waiting for dissolution procedures and completing dissolution procedures. On average, each month saw 11.7 thousand enterprises withdrawing from the market.
Realized investment capital in the second quarter of 2021 at current prices was estimated at 661.1 trillion VND, up 7.8% over the same period last year. For the first 6 months of 2021, the total realized investment capital at current prices reached 1,169.7 trillion VND, up 7.2% over the same period last year.
As of June 20, 2021, the total foreign investment capital in Vietnam including newly registered capital, adjusted registered capital and capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors reached nearly 15.27 billion USD, which is a decrease of 18.5% over the same period last year. Specifically, there were 804 newly licensed projects with registered capital of 9.55 billion USD, decreasing by 43.3% in the number of projects and increasing by 13.2% in registered capital over the same period last year. Realized FDI capital in the first 6 months of 2021 was estimated at 9.24 billion USD, up 6.8% over the same period last year.
In the first 6 months of the year, there were 24 Vietnamese investment projects abroad with a total capital of 143.8 million USD. In general, Vietnam's total investment capital abroad (new and added capital) reached 547 million USD, an increase of nearly 2.5 times compared to the same period last year.
Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in the second quarter were estimated at 1,177.6 trillion VND, down 8.4% from the previous quarter and up 5.1% over the same period last year. Generally, in the first 6 months of the year, the total retail sales of consumer goods and services reached 2,463.8 trillion VND, up 4.9% over the same period last year, if excluding the price factor, it would increase by 3.55%.
Revenue of telecommunications activities in the second quarter of 2021 was estimated to reach 78.3 trillion VND, an increase of 4.2% compared to the same period last year. For the first 6 months of 2021, this service sector had a total revenue of 158 trillion VND, up 2.4% over the same period last year (if excluding the price factor, it would increase by 3.3%).
The number of international visitors to Vietnam in the same period was estimated at 88.2 thousand visits, which is an increase of 97.6% over the same period last year.
Due to the fourth outbreak of the Covid-19 which has affected the production activities of a number of enterprises in many industrial parks, the import and export turnover in June decreased slightly compared to the previous month, but still achieved a good growth compared to the same period last year.
Regarding the structure of goods export in the first six months of 2021, the export value of the heavy industrial goods and minerals was estimated at 84 billion USD, up 29.3% over the same period last year while that of light industry and handicraft products was estimated at 58 billion USD, up 31.2%. The export value of agricultural and forestry products reached 11.58 billion USD, up 15.8% while that of fishery products reached 4.05 billion USD, up 12.4%.
As always, the United States was still the largest export market of Vietnam in the first half of the year with a turnover of 44.9 billion USD, an increase of 42.6% over the same period last year, which was followed by China with 24.4 billion USD, up 24%; EU market with 19.3 billion USD, up 17.4%; ASEAN market with 13.8 billion USD, up 26%; South Korea with 10.5 billion USD, up 14.7%; and Japan with 9.9 billion USD, up 6.9%.
In the structure of goods import for the first half of 2021, import value of materials for production was estimated at 149.32 billion USD, up 36.7% over the same period last year.
As for the import market of goods, China was the largest import market of Vietnam with a turnover of 53.4 billion USD, an increase of 53% over the same period last year; followed by Korea with 25.2 billion USD, up 21.1%; ASEAN market with 20.9 billion USD, up 47.7%; Japan with 10.6 billion USD, up 12.3%; EU market with 8.1 billion USD, up 16.3%; and the United States with 7.7 billion USD, up 9.5%.
There was a trade deficit of 1.47 billion USD in the first six months of 2021, of which the trade deficit of the domestic economic sector was 15.01 billion USD while foreign invested sector (including crude oil) saw a trade surplus of 13.54 billion USD.
In the second quarter of 2021, service export turnover reached 891 million USD, down 18.6% over the same period last year while service import turnover reached 4.8 billion USD, up 18.3% y-o-y.
In the first 6 months of 2021, service export turnover was estimated at 1.77 billion USD, down 68.5% over the same period last year. In particular, export turnover of tourism services reached 82 million USD (accounting for 4.6% of total turnover), down 97.4%; that of transportation services reached 147 million USD (accounting for 8.3%), down 80.8%.
Import turnover of services was estimated at 9.47 billion USD in the first 6 months of this year, up 6.4% over the same period last year. This means there was a huge trade deficit of 7.7 billion USD in services in the first 6 months of 2021.
The consumer price index (CPI) in June 2021 increased by 0.19% compared to the previous month, by 1.62% compared to December 2020 and by 2.41% over the same period in 2020. Average CPI for the second quarter increased by 0.45% compared to the previous quarter and by 2.67% over the same period in 2020. The average CPI in the first 6 months of 2021 increased by 1.47% compared to the same period in 2020.
Core inflation in June 2021 increased by 0.07% over the previous month and increased by 1.14% over the same period last year. Average core inflation in the first 6 months of 2021 increased by 0.87% over the same period last year.
Source: GSO
