SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN JANUARY 2019

1. Production of agriculture, forestry and fishery

a) Agriculture

As of January 15, 2019, the whole country cultivated 1908.7 thousand hectares (ha) of winter-spring rice, equaling 101.3% of the cultivated area in the same period last year.

Together with the cultivation of winter-spring rice, as of mid-January, localities over the country cultivated 156.2 thousand ha of maize, equaling 101.9% of the cultivated maize area in the same period last year; 39.7 thousand ha of sweet potato, equaling 96.8% of the planted sweet potato area in the same period last year; 7.2 thousand ha of soya, equaling 109.1% of the planted soya area in the same period last year; 24.7 thousand ha of peanut, equaling 92.5% of the planted peanut area in the same period last year; 356.7 thousand ha of vegetables, equaling 101.8% of the planted vegetables area in the same period last year.

Estimated in January, the whole country’s buffalo population reduced by 2.9% compared to the same period last year; cattle population increased by 2.8%; pig population grew by 3.1%; poultry population put up by 6.3%.

+ Cultivation progression of agricultural crops as of January 15, 2019

b) Forestry

In January, the concentrated planted forest area nationwide was estimated to reach 6.3 thousand ha, a decline of 1.1% compared to the same period last year; the number of separate planted trees gained 720 thousand trees, a reduce of 4%; wood production achieved 871 thousand m3; firewood production gained 1.5 million steres, a decline of 1.3% from the similar period last year.

Damaged forest area in January was 19.1 ha, a decrease of 31.4% against the same period in 2018, of which the burnt forest area was 0.3 ha, a decline of 93%; the destroyed forest area was 18.8 ha, down 20.1%.

c) Fishery

Fishing production in January was estimated at 498 thousand tons, a rise of 4.3% from the same period last year. The ouput of aquaculture gained an estimate of 232.2 thousand tons, up 3.6% over the identical period last year, of which fish reached 167.4 thousand tons, a rise of 4.2%; shrimp gained 34.3 thousand tons, an increase of 3.6%.

Estimated production of fishery caught in January achieved 265.8 thousand tons, up 5% compared with the same period last year. Only the production of sea catching in January reached an estimate of 251 thousand tons, up 5.3%.

2. Industry

Index of industrial production (IIP) in January 2019 was estimated to decrease by 3.2% from December 2018. Compared with the same period last year, IIP in January 2019 was estimated to increase by 7.9%, lower than the growth rate of 22.1% in the similar period last year.

The number of employees working in industrial enterprises as of January 01, 2019 climbed by 1.8% over the same period last year, of which employees in the State enterprise sector decreased by 0.5%; employees in the non-State enterprise sector grew by 1.8%; and employees in the FDI enterprise sector went up by 2.2%.

+ Industrial Production Index in January 2019
+ Main industrial products
+ Labor employed index (LEI) for industrial enterprises

3. Business registration situation[1]

In January 2019,  the whole country had 10,079 enterprises  registered for new establishment with a total registered capital of 151.1 trillion dongs, a decline of 7% in the number of enterprise and 53.8% rise in the registered capital compared with the same period in last year. Average registered capital per newly established enterprise reached 15 billion dongs, up 64.8%[2]. Total registered capital added to the economy in January was 635.1 trillion dongs, including 484 trillion dongs of enterprises increasing their capital. In addition, there were 8,465 enterprises returning to operation, a rise of 84.5% over the similar period last year, bringing the total number of newly registered enterprises and re-operated enterprises in January this year to over 18.5 thousand enterprises. Total number of registered employees of the newly established enterprises in the month was 107.9 thousand persons, a rise of 26.5% against the same period in 2018.

The number of temporarily ceased enterprises with a certain time in January was 10,804 ones, an increase of 25.3% against the identical period last year. In January this year, 12,278 enterprises temporarily suspended operation waiting for dissolution procedures, of which 7,342 enterprises have their business registration certificates revoked under the 2018 data standardization program to eliminate the enterprises which were established previously but in fact no longer operated. The number of enterprises which finished the dissolution procedures in January 2019 was 1,802 ones, an increase of 16% over the same period last year.  

+ Number of enterprises registered for new establishment
+ Number of enterprises returned to operation
+ Number of enterprises ceased for a certain period of time by kinds of activity
+ Number of enterprises completed dissolution procedures

4. Investment

Realized investment capital under the State budget in January was estimated at 18,031 billion dongs, equaling 5.56% of the annual plan and increasing by 8.5% against the same period in 2018 (it equaled 4.7% of the yearly plan and grew by 17% in 2018’s same period), of which the capital under central management obtained 2,496 billion dongs, equaling 5.23% of the annual plan and decreasing by 20.6% from the identical period last year; the capital under local management achieved 15,535 billion dongs, equaling 5.62% of the annual plan and increasing by 15.3% compared with the same period in 2018.

From the beginning of the year to January 20, 2019, FDI attracted 226 newly licensed projects with the total registered capital of US$ 805 million, an increase of 36.1% in the number of projects and 81.9% in the registered capital against the similar period in 2018. Besides, there were 72 turns of license-granted projects from previous years registered to adjust investment capital with the additional capital of US$ 340.3 million, down 25.5% from the same period last year. Therefore, the total of newly registered capital and additional capital reached US$ 1145.3 million, up 27.3% from 2018’s same period. Realized FDI capital in January 2019 was estimated at US$ 1550 billion, increasing by 9.2% over the identical period in 2018.  In the month, there were 489 turns of capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors with a total contributory value of US$ 761.9 million, a growth of 114% against the same period in 2018, of which 72 turns of capital contribution and share purchase increased the charter capital of enterprises with the contributed capital of US$ 384.91 million and 417 turns of foreign investors bought back domestic shares without increasing charter capital with the value of US$ 376.97 million.

In January, 30 provinces and centrally-run cities nationwide received newly licensed foreign direct investment projects from 28 countries and territories.

Vietnam’s direct investment abroad in January 2019 had 4 projects newly granted the Outward Investment Registration Certificate with Vietnam’s total investment capital of US$ 1.05 million; 01 projects adjusting the capital with additional capital of US$ 200 thousand. Generally, Vietnam’s total offshore investment capital (including newly granted and additional capital) in the month gained US$ 1.25 million.

+ Realized investment capital under the State budget
+ Licensed FDI projects from January 01 to January 20, 2019

5. Government revenues and expenditures

Total estimated government revenues in the first 15 days of January 2019 achieved 30.8 trillion dongs, equaling 2.2% of the annual estimate, of which domestic revenues reached 16 trillion dongs, equaling 1.4%; collecting from crude oil gained 1.5 trillion dongs, equaling 3.4%; from export-import balance obtained 13.3 trillion dongs, equaling 7%.  In domestic revenues, revenue from State owned enterprises was 549 billion dongs, equaling 0.3% of the yearly estimate; revenue from foreign-invested enterprises (excluding crude oil) was 1,102 billion dongs, equaling 0.5%; 2.9 trillion dongs were collected from non-State industrial, commercial and service taxes, equaling 1.2%; personal income tax revenue was 1.7 trillion dongs, equaling 1.5%; 105 billion dongs were collected from environmental protection tax, equaling 0.2%; land use fees reached 3.9 trillion dongs, equaling 4.4%.

Total government expenditures in the first 15 days of January 2019 was estimated at 44.2 trillion dongs, equaling 2.7% of the yearly estimate, of which regular expenditures were 31.8 trillion dongs, equaling 3.2%; expenditure on development investment achieved 2.8 trillion dongs, equaling 0.7%; expenditure on interest payment was 9.7 trillion dongs, equaling 7.7%.

6. Trade, prices, transport and tourism

a) Retail sales of consumer goods and services

In January 2019, total estimated retail sales of consumer goods and services reached 402.2 trillion dongs, up 4.4% against the previous month and up 12.2% over the same period last year, if excluding the price factor, the growth rate was 9.4% (it increased by 7.7% in the same period in 2018).

By kinds of economic activity, retail sales of goods in January gained an estimate of 305.4 trillion dongs, increasing by 5.2% from the previous month and 13.1% over the similar period last year. Estimated sales of accommodation and catering services in January 2019 attained 49.5 trillion dongs, moving up by 1.4% against the previous month and 11.5% from the same period last year. Sales of travelling in the month achieved an estimate of 4.3 trillion dongs, climbing by 7.7% compared with the previous month and 7.9% against the similar period last year. Sales of other services January was estimated at 43 trillion dongs, increasing by 1.8% over the previous month and 7.4% compared to the identical period last year.

+ Total retail sales of consumer goods and services

b) Exports and imports of goods

Export turnover of goods in 2018 reached US$ 243.5 billion, US$ 1,240 million lower than estimated, a rise of 13.2% over 2017, of which the domestic economic sector achieved US$ 69.8 billion, moving up by 16.9%; the FDI sector (including crude oil) gained US$ 173.7 billion, increasing by 11.8%.

Export turnover of goods in January 2019 was estimated at US$ 20 billion, an increase of 1.9% from the previous month, of which the domestic economic sector reached US$ 6.42 billion, a decrease of 0.9%; the FDI sector (including crude oil) achieved US$ 13.58 billion, a rise of 3.2%. Compared with the same period last year, the export turnover of goods in January 2019 dropped by 1.3%, of which the domestic economic sector grew by 7.8%; the FDI sector (including crude oil) declined by 5.1%.

Import turnover of goods in 2018 reached US$ 236.7 billion, US$ 824 million lower than estimated, a rise of 11.1% against 2017.

Import turnover of goods in January 2019 reached an estimate of US$ 20.80 billion, up 1.7% over the previous month, of which the domestic economic sector gained US$ 9.05 billion, up 3.1%; the FDI sector achieved US$ 11.75 billion, up 0.7%. Compared with the similar period last year, import turnover of goods in January 2019 grew by 3.1%, of which the domestic economic sector increased by 9.5%; the FDI sector fell by 1.3%.

About merchandize trade balance in 2018, Vietnam had trade surplus of US$ 6.8 billion[3], equivalent to 2.8% of export turnover, of which the domestic economic sector had trade deficit of US$ 25.2 billion; the FDI sector (including crude oil) had trade surplus of US$ 32 billion. In January 2019, Vietnam’s merchandize trade was estimated to have trade deficit of US$ 800 million, of which the domestic economic sector had trade deficit of US$ 2.6 billion; the FDI (including crude oil) had trade surplus of US$ 1.8 billion.

+ Exports
+ Imports
 
c) Consumer price indexes (CPI), gold and US dollar price indexes

CPI in January 2019 increased by 0.10% over December 2018 and grew by 2.56% compared with the same period last year.

Gold price index in January 2019 went up by 2.25% over the December 2018 and moved up by 0.13% from the same period in 2018. The US dollar price index in January 2019 fell by 0.4% over the December 2018 and grew by 2.32% against the same period in 2018.

Core inflation in January 2019 jumped up by 0.3% compared with December 2018 and increased by 1.83% from the same period last year.

+ Consumer price indexes, gold, US dollar price indexes and core inflation in January 2019

d) Transport of passenger and cargo

Transport of passenger in January was estimated at 408.7 million passengers, a rise of 10.1% over the corresponding period in 2018 and 18.1 billion passengers-km, a rise of 10.3%, of which domestic transport gained 407.2 million passengers, an increase of 10.1% and 13.8 billion passengers-km, an increase of 11.2%; overseas transport achieved 1.5 million passengers, an increase of 4.5% and 4.2 billion passengers-km, an increase of 7.4%. Transport by road achieved 386 million passengers, a rise of 10.3% against the same period last year and 12.9 billion passengers-km, a rise of 10%; transport by inland waterway gained 17.4 million passengers, a growth of 5.3% and 332.2 million passengers-km, an increase of 7.6%; transport by seaway reached 669.4 thousand passengers, 9.7% increase and 39.9 million passengers-km, 7% growth. Transport by airway witnessed a fairly good increase with 4.1 million passengers, a rise of 12.9% and 4.6 billion passengers-km, a rise of 11.9%. Transport by railway reached 0.5 million passengers, a drop of 7.5% and 0.2 billion passengers-km, a decline of 1.5% compared with the same period in 2018.

The freight in January was estimated to reach 144.4 million tons, an increase of 9.1% against the similar period last year and 27.4 billion tons-km, edged up by 7%, of which the domestic freight reached 141.6 million tons, an increase of 9.2% and 16.1 billion tons-km, an increase of 10.7%; oversea freight reached 2.8 million tons, a rise of 2.8% and 11.3 billion tons-km, an increase of 2.3%. By type of freight, freight by road reached 111.8 million tons, an increase of 10.2% and 7.4 billion tons-km, a rise of 9.6% against the same period last year; freight by inland waterway reached 25.2 million tons, an increase of 5.2% and 5.4 billion tons-km, an increase of 7.4%; freight by seaway reached 6.9 million tons, an increase of 7.7% and 14.1 billion tons-km, a rise of 5.9%; freight by airway reached 41 thousand tons, an increase of 8.1% and 102.9 million tons-km, an increase of 10.2%; only freight by railway reached 0.5 million tons, a decrease of 6% and 0.4 billion tons-km, a decline of 7.7%.

+ Carriage of passengers and cargos

e) International visitors to Vietnam

International visitors to Vietnam in January 2019 was estimated to reach 1,501.8 thousand arrivals, a rise of 5% compared to the same period last year, of which visitors coming by airway gained 1,167.2 thousand arrivals, moving up by 1.4%; visitors coming by road gained 310.4 thousand arrivals, rising by 26.9%; visitors coming by seaway achieved 24.2 thousand arrivals, decreasing by 30.5%. Compared with the previous month, international visitors to Vietnam grew by 9.3%.

In January, visitors from Asia reached an estimate of 1,103.7 thousand arrivals, increasing by 5.4% over the identical period last year. Visitors from the Europe reached an estimate of 232.5 thousand arrivals, a rise of 3.1% from the same period last year. Visitors from the America reached 105.3 thousand arrivals, increasing by 7.8% over the corresponding period last year. Visitors from the Australia gained 55.4 thousand arrivals, increasing by 0.2%. Visitors from the Africa achieved 4.9 thousand arrivals, falling by 2.1% over the same period in 2018.

+ International visitors to Vietnam

7. Social issues

a) Farmers’ food shortage

In January (as of January 18, 2019), there were nearly 5.7 thousand households suffering from food shortage over the country, corresponding to 19.6 thousand persons suffering from this problem. According to the preliminary report, to overcome this problem, all administrative levels, sectors and organizations from central to local level supported difficult households with 167 tons of rice.

With the motto of not letting any people get hungry in the Tet holiday, the Government has issued 3.7 thousand tons of rice from national reserves to localities to support people on the occasion of the 2019 Lunar New Year in accordance with the Decision No. 106/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

b) Epidemic diseases and food poisoning

In January 2019, the whole country had 4.3 thousand cases of hemorrhagic fever (11 cases died); nearly 1.6 thousand cases of hand, foot, mouth disease; 14 cases of virus encephalitis and 15 persons suffering from food poisoning (02 persons died).

Total number of alive HIV-infected persons over the country as of January 18, 2019 was 208.9 thousand persons and 95.37 thousand cases turned to AIDS. The number of persons died of HIV/AIDS nationwide as of above time-point was 98.2 thousand persons.

c) Traffic accidents

From December 16, 2018 to January 15, 2019, 1527 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, including 826 cases of traffic accidents from less serious to become and 701 cases of traffic collisions, causing 731 deaths, 422 injuries and 715 minor injuries. Compared to the same period last year, the number of traffic accidents declined by 13.3% (number of traffic accidents of differently serious levels reduced by 7.2%; number of traffic collisions decreased by 19.6%); number of death fell by 6.3%; number of injuries went down by 0.9% and number of minor injuries moved down by 22.5%. On average, 49 traffic accidents occurred per day in the month, including 27 traffic accidents from less serious to become and 22 traffic collisions, causing 24 deaths and 14 injuries and 23 minor injuries.

d) Damages caused by natural calamity, environment protection, fire and explosion prevention

Natural calamity occurring in the month are mainly cold, damaging cold weather, heavy rain and landslides in some localities making 4.5 thousand ha of rice and crops flooded, damaged, nearly 300 houses collapsed, landslided and roof ripped-off. The total loss caused by natural disasters was about 17.4 billion dongs.

In January 2019, 731 cases of violating regulations of environment protection were found over the country, of which 613 cases were treated with total fine of over 11 billion dongs. In the month, the whole country had 295 fire and explosion cases, causing 12 deaths and 15 injuries, with an estimated damage of 78 billion dongs.

GENERAL STATISTICS OFFICE

[1] Source: National Business Registration Information System, Agency for Business Registration, Ministry of Planning and Investment.
[2] In January 2019, there were 10,839 enterprises registered for new establishment with the total registered capital of 98.3 trillion dongs, the average registered capital per enterprise reached 9.1 billion dongs.
[3] It was estimated to have trade surplus of US$ 7.2 billion in 2018.