SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN 5 MONTHS OF 2018

1. Agriculture, forestry and fishery

a) Agriculture

In the winter-spring rice crop this year, the country cultivated 3101.5 thousand hectares (ha), equaling 99.5% of the area of the same period last year, of which provinces in the North cultivated 1127.5 thousand ha, equaling 98.5%; Southern provinces cultivated 1974 thousand ha of winter-spring rice, equaling 100.1%.

In the North, the productivity of early winter-spring rice was estimated at 6300 kilograms (kg) per ha, an increase of 70 kg per ha compared to the previous winter-spring crop; estimated production reached 7.1 million tons, a decrease of 24 thousand tons. In the South, as of mid-May, localities harvested 1928.6 thousand ha of winter-spring rice, accounting for 97.7% of the sown area and equaling 101.4% of the area in the similar period last year. According to the preliminary report, the Southern provinces’ productivity of winter-spring rice was estimated at 6750 kg per ha, a rise of 520 kg per ha compared to the previous winter-spring crop. Along with the harvest of winter-spring rice, provinces in the South sowed 1047.9 thousand ha of summer-autumn rice, equaling 92.8% of the sown area in the same period in 2017.

Cultivation of farm-produced crops reached low level. As of mid-May, the country cultivated 476 thousand ha of maize, equaling 85.4% of the area in the same period last year; 73.3 thousand ha of sweet potato, equaling 93.3%; 136.1 thousand ha of peanut, equaling 95.7%; 32 thousand ha of soya, equaling 78.8%; 630 thousand ha of vegetables and beans, equaling 103.2%.

The country’s flock of buffaloes in the month was estimated to reduce by 0.4% against the same period last year; flock of oxen increased 3%; flock of poultry climbed by 6.9%; flock of pigs dropped by 5.4%.

+ Agricultural production as of May 15, 2018

b) Forestry

Generally, in the first five months of the year, the concentrated planted forest area was estimated to reach 75.8 thousand ha, an increase of 0.9% compared to the same period last year; the number of separate planted trees gained 29 million trees, a decline of 0.3%; wood production achieved 4197 thousand m3, a rise of 9%; firewood production gained 10.8 million steres, 2.3% decrease.

Generally, in the first five months of the year, damaged forest area was 386 ha, down 34.7% against the same period last year, of which burnt forest area was 115.9 ha, down 44.6%; destroyed forest area was 270.1 ha, down 29.3%.

c) Fishery

Generally, in five beginning months of the year, fishing production was estimated to reach 2806.9 thousand tons, up 5.3% over the same period last year, of which production of aquaculture gained 1395.4 thousand tons, up 6.1%; production of fishery caught achieved 1411.5 thousand tons, up 4.4% (production of sea catching reached 1345.8 thousand tons, up 4.6%).

2. Industry

Generally, in the first five months of 2018, the index of industrial production (IIP) for the whole industry increased by 9.7% over the similar period last year, higher than the growth rate of 6.6% in the same period in 2017[1]. Of which, the manufacturing continued to grow at a high rate of 11.8%, contributed 9 percentage points to the overall growth but tending to increase slowly; the production and distribution of electricity grew by 10.6%, contributed 0.9 percentage points; the water supply and waste treatment increased by 6%, contributed 0.1 percentage points; the mining and quarrying went down by 2.2%, reduced 0.3 percentage points of the general growth.

The number of employees working in industrial enterprises as of May 01, 2018 climbed by 3.8% compared to the same period last year, of which employees in the State enterprise sector decreased by 0.4%; employees in the non-State enterprise sector grew by 4.3%; and employees in the FDI enterprise sector went up by 4.2%.

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

3. Business registration situation [2]

Generally, in the first five months of this year, the whole country had 52322 enterprises registered for new establishment with a total registered capital of 516.9 trillion dongs, an increase of 3.5% in the number of enterprise and 6.4% rise in the registered capital compared to the same period in 2017[3]. Average registered capital per newly established enterprise reached 9.9 billion dongs, up 2.8%. If including 902.2 trillion dongs of additionally registered capital of the enterprises which changed to raise the capital, the total registered capital added to the economy in five months of 2018 was 1419.1 trillion dongs. Besides, there were 13267 enterprises returning to operation, down 1.4% over the similar period last year, bringing the total number of newly registered enterprises and re-operated enterprises in the first five months of this year to nearly 65.6 thousand enterprises. Total number of registered laborers of newly established enterprises in the first five months of 2018 was 412.6 thousand people, a decrease of 20.9% against the same period last year.

The number of temporarily ceased enterprises in the first five months of 2018 was 33399 ones, an increase of 3.9% against the identical period last year, including 15974 enterprises registered for time-limited temporary cessation of business, rising by 24% and 17425 enterprises temporarily suspended operation without registering or waiting for dissolution, falling by 9.5%. The number of enterprises which finished the procedure for dissolution in five beginning months of 2018 was 5533 ones, an increase of 18.1% from the same period last year, of which there were 5061 enterprises with capital size of less than 10 billion dongs, accounting for 91.5% and growing by 17%.

+ Number of newly registered enterprises by kinds of activity
+ Number of re-operated enterprises by kinds of activity
+ Number of temporarily ceased enterprises by kinds of activity

4. Investment

Generally, in the first five months of the year, realized investment capital under the State budget reached 96.1 trillion dongs, equalling 28.4% of the annual plan and up 8.8% against the same period last year (it equalled 28.7% of the yearly plan and grew by 5.5% in 2017’s same period), of which the capital under central management obtained 17.7 trillion dongs, equalling 26.8% of the annual plan and a decline of 6.5% over the identical period last year; the capital under local management achieved 78.4 trillion dongs, equalling 28.8% of the annual plan and increasing by 12.9% compared to the same period in 2017.

From the beginning of the year to May 20, 2018, FDI attracted 1076 newly licensed projects with the total registered capital of US$ 4657.4 million, an increase of 14.6% in the number of projects and a decrease of 16.8% in the registered capital against the similar period in 2017. Besides, there were 393 turns of license-granted projects from previous years registered to adjust investment capital with the additional capital of US$ 2492.7 million, down 47.4% from the same period last year. Thus, the total of newly registered capital and additional capital in five months reached US$ 7150.1 million, down 30.8% from 2017’s same period. Realized FDI capital in the first five months of  the year was estimated at US$ 6.75 billion, increasing by 9.8% over the identical period in 2017.  In the first five months of 2018, there were 2341 turns of capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors with a total capital contribution of US$ 2.75 billion, a growth of 53.5% against the same period in 2017, of which 1117 turns of capital contribution and share purchase increased the charter capital of enterprises with the contributed capital of US$ 1.58 billion and 1224 turns of foreign investors bought back domestic shares without increasing charter capital with the value of US$ 1.17 billion.

43 provinces and centrally-run cities nationwide had newly licensed foreign direct investment projects from 50 countries and territories.

Generally, Vietnam’s total outward foreign direct investment capital (newly-granted and additional capital), in the first five months of 2018 achieved US$ 184.7 million, of which the field of finance and banking reached US$ 105.8 million, accounting for 57.3% of the total investment capital; the field of manufacturing gained US$ 25.4 million, accounting for 13.7%; the field of agriculture, forestry and fishery obtained US$ 21 million, accounting for 11.4%. In five months, there were 24 countries and territories receiving Vietnam’s investment, of which Laos accounted for 43.4% of the total investment capital; Cambodia accounted for 17.5%; Cuba accounted for 10.8%.

+ Realized investments under the State budget
+ Licensed FDI projects from January 01 to May 20, 2018

5. Government revenues and expenditures

Total estimated government revenues from the beginning of the year to May 15, 2018 achieved 490.2 trillion dongs, equaling 37.2% of the annual estimate, of which domestic revenues reached 394.5 trillion dongs, equaling 35.9%; collecting from crude oil gained 21.7 trillion dongs, equaling 60.4%; from export-import balance obtained 73.9 trillion dongs, equaling 41.3%. In domestic revenues, revenue from State owned enterprises was 51.8 trillion dongs, equaling 31.1% of the yearly estimate; revenue from foreign-invested enterprises (excluding crude oil) was 66.3 trillion dongs, equaling 29.8%; 82.2 trillion dongs were collected from non-State industrial, commercial and service taxes, equaling 37.7%; personal income tax revenue was 41.1 trillion dongs, equaling 42.4%; 14.2 trillion dongs were collected from environmental protection tax, equaling 29.2%; land use fees reached 41.8 trillion dongs, equaling 48.6%.

Total government expenditures from the beginning of the year to May 15, 2018 was estimated at 470.3 trillion dongs, equaling 30.9% of the yearly estimate, of which regular expenditures were 339.5 trillion dongs, equaling 36.1%; expenditure on development investment achieved 82.6 trillion dongs,equaling 20.7%; expenditure on interest payment was 46.3 trillion dongs, equaling 41.1%.

6. Trade, prices, transport and tourism

a) Retail sales of consumer goods and services

Generally, in five beginning months of the year, total estimated retail sales of consumer goods and services reached 1752.7 trillion dongs, up 10.1% against the same period last year, if excluding the price factor, the growth rate was 8.3% (it increased by 7.5% in the same period in 2017).

By kinds of economic activity, retail sales of goods in the first five months of the year gained an estimate of 1325.6 trillion dongs, accounting for 75.6% of the total and increasing by 11% over the similar period last year. Estimated sales of accommodation and catering services in the first five months of the year attained 214.4 trillion dongs, accounting for 12.3% of the total and moving up by 8.9% from the same period last year. Sales of travelling in five months achieved an estimate of 16.2 trillion dongs, making up 0.9% of the total and climbing by 23% against the similar period last year. Sales of other services in five months was estimated at 196.5 trillion dongs, representing 11.2% of the total and increasing by 4.6% compared to the identical period in 2017.

+ Total retail sales of consumer goods and services

b) Exports and imports of goods

Generally, in five beginning months of the year, export turnover of goods was estimated to reach US$ 93.09 billion, a rise of 15.8% compared with the same period in 2017, of which the domestic economic sector achieved US$ 26.43 billion, moving up by 17.8%; the FDI sector (including crude oil) gained US$ 66.66 billion, increasing by 15%, accounting for 71.6% of total exports (down 0.5 percentage point against the similar period in 2017).

Generally, in the first five months of the year, import turnover of goods was estimated at US$ 89.70 billion, up 8.2% from the same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector gained US$ 36.82 billion, up 10.4%; the FDI sector achieved US$ 52.88 billion, up 6.7%.

Generally, in the first five months of the year, Vietnam had trade surplus of US$ 3.39 billion[4], of which the domestic economic sector had trade deficit of US$ 10.39 billion; the FDI sector (including crude oil) had trade suplus of US$ 13.78 billion.

+ Exports
+ Imports

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

Average CPI in the first four months of 2018 increased by 3.01% compared to the similar period in 2017.CPI in May 2018 grew by 1.61% over December 2017 and by 3.86% from the same period last year.

Average core inflation in the first five months of this year increased by 1.34% over the similar period in 2017.

Gold price index in May 2018 went down by 0.75% over the previous month, increased by 2.89% compared to December 2017 and moved up by 4.72% over the same period last year. The US dollar price index in May 2018 fell by 0.06% over the previous month and climbed by 0.26% compared to December 2017 and rose by 0.26% over the same period in 2017.

+ Consumer price indexes, gold, US dollar price indexes and core inflation in May, 2018

d) Carriage of passengers and cargos

Generally, in the first five months of 2018, passenger carriage reached 1874.5 million passengers, rising by 10.4% over the corresponding period last year and 82.8 billion passengers-kilometers, by 11.2%. Passengers carried by road achieved 1768.9 million passengers, a rise of 10.6% and 57.6 billion passengers-kilometers, a rise of 11.2%; by inland waterway: 78.7 million passengers, up 6.1% and 1.5 billion passengers-kilometers, up 6.3%; by seaway: 3 million passengers, 6.9% increase and 179.5 million passengers-kilometers, 7.5% growth; by airway: 20.3 million passengers, an increase of 14% and 22 billion passengers-kilometers, an increase of 12.8%. Only passenger carriage by railway reached 3.5 million passengers, a drop of 11.4% and 1.5 billion passengers-kilometers, a decline of 6%.

Generally, in the first five months of the year, cargo carriage gained 659.9 million tons, up 9.7% from the same period last year and 122.5 billion tons-kilometers, up 6.4%. Of which the domestic transport reached 646 million tons, increasing by 9.9% and 65.7 billion tons-kilometers, by 9.1%; overseas transport reached 13.9 million tons, moving up by 1.8% and 56.7 billion tons-kilometers, by 3.4%. By types of transport, cargo transport by road obtained 509.4 million tons, a rise of 10.5% over the same period last year and 33.6 billion tons-kilometers, up 9.9%; by inland waterway: 116.5 million tons, up 7.7% and 24.6 billion tons-kilometers, an increase of 7.2%; by seaway: 31.5 million tons, going up by 4.7% and 62.4 billion tons-kilometers, climbing by 4.1%; by railway: 2.4 million tons, a growth of 5.9% and 1.6 billion tons-kilometers, an increase of 13.9%; by airway: 112 thousand tons, up 10.9% and 293.7 million tons-kilometers, up 9.5%.

+ Carriage of passengers and cargos

e) International visitors to Vietnam

Generally, in the first five months of the year, international visitors to Vietnam was estimated to reach 6708.4 thousand arrivals, up 27.6% from the same period last year, of which visitors coming by airway reached 5383.4 thousand arrivals, moving up by 23.5%; by road: 1167.4 thousand arrivals, jumping up by 59.9%; by seaway: 157.6 thousand arrivals, decreasing by 6.1%.

In the first five months of this year, visitors to Vietnam from Asia achieved 5099.2 thousand arrivals, increasing by 33.3% against the similar period last year. Visitors from Europe were estimated to reach 976.9 thousand arrivals, going up by 11.8% from the identical period last year. Visitors from America obtained 421.1 thousand arrivals, growing by 13.8% over the same period last year, of which visitors coming form The United States gained 310.7 thousand arrivals, up 15.8%. Visitors from Australia gained 193.2 thousand arrivals, up 12.1% from the same period in 2017. Visitors from Africa achieved 18 thousand arrivals, a rise of 20.9% against the similar period in 2017.

+ International visitors to Vietnam

7. Social issues

a) Farmers’ food shortage

Generally, in five beginning months of 2018, the whole country had 90.9 thousand households suffering from food shortage, a decrease of 34.9% from the same period last year, corresponding to 361.3 thousand persons suffering from food shortage, a decline of 37.1%. To overcome this problem, from the beginning of the year, all administrative levels, sectors and organizations from central to local level supported difficult households with 6.7 thousand tons of grain.

b) Epidemic diseases and food poisoning

Generally, in the first five months of the year, the whole country had 10.6 thousand cases of hand, foot, mouth disease; 17.6 thousand cases of hemorrhagic fever (4 cases died); 215 cases of typhoid; 196 cases of virus encephalitis (2 cases died); 146 cases of whooping cough; 14 cases of meningococcal disease; 37 human cases of streptococcus suis infection (3 cases died); and 21 cases died of rabies and 923 persons suffering from food poisoning (6 persons died).

Total number of alive HIV-infected persons over the country as of May 15, 2018 was 209.9 thousand persons and 91.2 thousand cases turned to AIDS. The number of persons died of HIV/AIDS nationwide as of above time-point was 96.6 thousand persons.

c)  Traffic accidents

Generally, in the first five months of 2018, 7490 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, including 3882 traffic accidents of less serious or more and 3608 traffic crashes, making 3476 persons died, 1988 ones injured and 3774 ones slightly injured. Compared with the same period last year, the number of traffic accidents in five beginning months of this year decreased by 6.7% (the number of traffic accidents from less serious and over went down by 4.3%, the number of traffic crashes fell by 9.1%); number of dead declined by 0.4%; the number of injured people increased by 0.3% and the number of minor injuries reduced by 18%. On an average, each day in the first five months of the year, the whole country had 50 traffic accidents, including 26 traffic accidents of less serious or more and 24 traffic crashes, making 23 persons died, 13 ones injured and 25 ones slightly injured.

d) Damages caused by natural calamity

Generally, in the first five months of the year, natural calamity made 13 persons died and 21 persons injured; nearly 11000 houses collapsed, landslided, roof blown away; 6100 hectares of rice and crops damaged; 8200 heads of cattle and 3500 fowls died. Total value of damage in five months was estimated to be more than 544 billion dongs.

e) Environment protection, fire and explosion prevention

Generally, in the first five months of the year, 6081 cases of violating regulations of environment protection were found over the country, of which 5647 cases were treated with total fine of over 79 billion dongs.

Generally, in five beginning months of this year, the whole country had 1762 cases of fire and explosion, killing 63 persons and injuring 154 others, the value of damage was estimated at about 1154 billion dongs.

GENERAL STATISTICS OFFICE

[1] In the first five months of 2017, the mining and quarrying decreased by 6.9% compared to the same period in the previous year; the manufacturing increased by 9.4%; production and distribution of electricity grew by 9.8%; water supply and waste treatment climbed by 6.7%.

[2] Source: National Business Registration Information System, Ministry of Planning and Investment.

[3] In five months of 2017, the number of enterprises registered for new establishment increased by 12.9% over the same period in the previous year; the registered capital grew by 39%; average registered capital per newly established enterprise went up by 23%.

[4] Of which, in the first five months of the year, trade deficit with South Korea was US$ 11.5 billion, down 11.4% from the same period last year; trade deficit with China was US$ 10.4 billion, down 10.9%.