SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2018

1. Gross Domestic Products (GDP) Growth

GDP in the first Quarter of 2018 achieved an estimated increase of 7.38% against the same period last year, this is the highest growth rate of the first Quarter in the last ten years[1], confirming the timeliness and efficiency of solutions issued by the Government and the Government’s drastic direction for all levels, sectors and localities together to make effort to implement those solutions right from the first days and first months of 2018.  In the increase rate of 7.38% of the whole economy, the sector of agriculture, forestry and fishery rose by 4.05%, contributed 0.46 percentage points; the sector of industry and construction grew by 9.07%, contributed 3.39 percentage points; the service sector expanded by 6.70%, contributed 2.75 percentage points.

In the sector of agriculture, forestry and fishery, the agriculture increased by 3.76% compared with the same period last year, higher than the growth rate in the first Quarter of the years 2011-2017[2], contributed 0.31 percentage points to the general growth; the forestry reached the growth rate of 5.03%, due to low propotion, contributed only 0.03 percentage points; the fishery rose by 4.76%, recording the highest growth rate in 8 years[3], contributed 0.12 percentage points.

In the industrial and construction sector, the industry increased by 10.08% over the same period last year, contributed 3.01 percentage points to the general growth. The highlight of this sector was the strong growth of the manufacturing with 13.56% (this was the highest growth rate in 7 years[4]), contributed significantly to the general growth with 2.46 percentage points. The mining and quarrying in the first Quarter of this year reached the positive growth with 0.40% after two consecutive years of decline[5], contributed 0.03 percentage points due to the increase in coal, metal and gas production compared with the similar period last year. The construction in the first three months of the year went up by 7.46%, lower than the growth rate of 8.60% in the same period in 2016 and 7.60% in the identical period in 2017, contributed 0.38 percentage points to the general increase.

In the service sector, the contribution of a number of industries with a large share to the overall growth rate as follows: Wholesale and retail sales increased by 7.45% over the same period last year, this was the industry with the highest contribution to the general increase with 0.79 percentage points; Accommodation and catering services had the fairly high growth rate of 7.60% compared with the increase rate of 6.03% in the first Quarter of 2017, contributed 0.32 percentage points; Financial, banking and insurance activities rose by 7.72%, contributed 0.31 percentage points; Real estate business climbed by 3.56%, contributed 0.22 percentage points.

About economic structure in the first Quarter of this year, the sector of agriculture, forestry and fishery made up 10.34%; the sector of industry and construction accounted for 35.26%; the service sector represented 43.77%; the taxes less subsidies on production accounted for 10.63% (the corresponding structure of the same period in 2017 was 11.19%; 34.14%; 43.92%; and 10.75%).

In terms of GDP use in the first Quarter, final consumption rose by 7.13% from the similar period in 2017, contributed 5.04 percentage points to the general growth (of which final consumption of households increased by 7.15%, contributed 4.65 percentage points); accumulated assets grew by 6.46%, contributed 1.15 percentage points; trade balance of goods and services at trade surplus increased 1.19 percentage points of the general growth rate.

+ Gross Domestic Products in 1st Quarter of 2018

2. Production of agriculture, forestry and fishery

a. Agriculture

Up to the middle of March, the country cultivated 3,063.2 thousand ha of winter-spring rice, equaling 99.4% of the same period last year. Northern provinces cultivated 1,091.2 thousand ha, equaling 97.9%; Southern provinces cultivated 1,972.0 thousand ha, equaling 100.2%, of which the Mekong Delta cultivated 1,573.7 thousand ha, a decrease of 0.4% from the same period last year. So far, the Mekong Delta had 681.6 thousand ha of winter-spring rice for harvest, accounting for 43.3% of the sown area and equaling only 72.9% of the same period in 2017; estimated yield reached nearly 10.3 million tons, an increase of 388.8 thousand tons compared with the last winter-spring crop; the productivity was estimated to gain 6530 kilograms per ha, a rise of 270 kilograms per ha.

As of above time, provinces in the Mekong Delta basically completed the harvest of winter crop 2017-2018. According to preliminary report of localities, cultivated area of the whole region reached 197.3 thousand hectares, an increase of 9.3 thousand hectares compared with the last winter crop; estimated productivity 4610 kilograms per ha, a rise of 740 kilograms per ha; the yield achieved 909.6 thousand tons, up 182.8 thousand tons.

As of mid-March, localities over the country cultivated 321.1 thousand ha of maize, equaling 94.1% of the same period last year; 66.8 thousand ha of sweet potato, equaling 101.4%; 108.8 thousand ha of peanut, equaling 102.5%; 13.3 thousand ha of soybean, equaling 53.4%; 526.1 thousand hectares of vegetables, equaling 99%.

Cattle breeding in the first Quarter of 2018 had difficuties due to the influence of extreme and damaging cold weather lasting from January to the early of February[6]. The country’s flock of buffaloes in March was estimated to reduce by 0.5% compared with the same period last year; flock of oxen increased by 2.8%; flock of pigs fell by about 6.2% due to the decline in price of pork living-weight after Lunar New Year, farmers had no interest, so the scale of the herd decreased sharply; flock of poultry climbed by 6.6%. Output of buffalo meat live-weight for slaughter in the first Quarter of 2018 put up by 0.6% over the similar period last year; output of beef live-weight for slaughter grew by 3.2%; output of poultry live-weight for slaughter climbed by 6.8%; only output of pork live-weight for slaughter reduced by 1.2%.

b. Forestry

In the first Quarter of 2018, the concentrated planted forest area was estimated to reach 29.1 thousand ha, up 2.1% compared with the same period last year; the number of separate planted trees gained 16.4 million trees, a rise of 2.1%; wood production achieved 1928 thousand m3, a rise of 7.8%; firewood production gained 6.9 million steres, an increase of 0.7%.

In the first three months of the year, the whole country had 194.5 ha of damaged forest, down 2.9% against the same period last year, of which the burnt forest area was 53.2 ha, a decrease of 45.5%; the destroyed forest area was 141.3 ha, a rise of 37.6%.

c. Fishery

Fishing production in the first three months of the year was estimated to reach 1386.4 thousand tons, moving up by 4.4% over the same period last year, of which fish gained 1035.1 thousand tons, up 4.6%; shrimp reached 128.5 thousand tons, up 6.5%; other aquatic products achieved 222.8 thousand tons, up 2%.

Production of aquaculture in the first Quarter of 2018 was estimated to gain 610.8 thousand tons, rising by 5.9% from the similar period last year, of which fish reached 441.8 thousand tons, up 5.8%; shrimp gained 93.7 thousand tons, up 7.9%.

Production of fishery caught in the first three months of the year reached an estimate of 775.6 thousand tons, rising by 3.1% against the same period last year, of which fish gained 593.3 thousand tons, increasing by 3.8%; shrimp achieved 34.8 thousand tons, up 2.7% (Production of sea catching achieved 740.8 thousand tons, growing by 3.2%, of which fish gained 569.3 thousand tons, a rise of 3.9%; shrimp recorded 31.9 thousand tons, increasing by 2.2%).

+ Agricultural production as of March 15, 2018
+ Fishing production

3. Industry

Generally, in the first Quarter of 2018, the index of industrial production (IIP) for the whole industry increased by 11.6% over the similar period last year, much higher than the growth rate of the same period in recent years[7]. Of which, the manufacturing continued to grow at a high rate of 13.9%[8] (with the main pillar being the production of computers, electronic and optical products and metal), contributed 10.5 percentage points to the general growth; the power generation and distribution grew at a stable rate of 10.5%, contributed 0.9 percentage points; the water supply and waste treatment increased by 7.1%, contributed 0.1 percentage points; the mining and quarrying went up by 0.4%, contributed 0.1 percentage points.

Consumption index for the whole manufacturing in the first Quarter of 2018 increased by 14.2% over the identical period in 2017. Stock index for the entire manufacturing as of March 31, 2018 was estimated to jump up by 6.4% from the same period last month and by 13.5% over the similar period last year; average stock rate in the first Quarter was 68.2%.

+ Industrial Production Index
+ Main industrial products
+ Consumption and stock indexes of the manufacturing
+ Labor employed index (LEI) for industrial enterprises

4. Operation of enterprises

a. Business registration situation[9]

In the first Quarter of this year, the whole country had 26,785 enterprises registered for new establishment with a total registered capital of 278.5 trillion dongs, an increase of 1.2% in the number of enterprise and 2.7% rise in the registered capital compared with the same period in 2017[10]. Average registered capital per newly established enterprise reached 10.4 billion dongs, up 1.5%. If including 485.5 trillion dongs of nearly 7900 turns of enterprises changed to raise the capital, the total registered capital added to the economy in the first Quarter of 2018 was 764 trillion dongs. Besides, there were 8449 enterprises returning to operation, down 8.9% over the similar period last year, bringing the total number of newly registered enterprises and re-operated enterprises in the first Quarter to more than 35.2 thousand enterprises. Total number of registered laborers of newly established enterprises in the first Quarter was 225.4 thousand people, a decrease of 22.7% against the same period in 2017.

The number of temporarily ceased enterprises in the first Quarter of this year was 20,337 ones, a decrease of 1.4% against the identical period last year, including 12,222 enterprises registered for time-limited temporary cessation of business, rising by 22.9% and 8115 enterprises temporarily suspended operation without registering or waiting for dissolution, falling by 24.1%. The number of enterprises which finished the procedure for dissolution in the first Quarter of 2018 was 3321 ones, an increase of 1.6% from the same period last year, of which there were 3038 enterprises with capital size of less than 10 billion dongs, accounting for 91.5%.

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

b. Business trends of enterprises

Survey results on business trends of enterprises in the manufacturing industry in the first Quarter of 2018 showed that: 33% of enterprises rated their business performance in the first Quarter of this year better than the previous quarter; 24.6% of enterprises pointed to difficulties and 42.4% of enterprises said that their business and production situation was stable. Expected the second Quarter compared with the first Quarter of this year, 55.7% of enterprises rated the trend would be improved; 10.4% of enterprises forecasted more difficulties and 33.9% of businesses thought that the business and production situation would be stable.

5. Service activities

Total estimated retail sales of consumer goods and services in the first Quarter of 2018 reached 1048 trillion dongs, up 9.9% over the similar period last year, if excluding the price factor, the growth rate was 8.6% (a rise of 6.4% in the same period in 2017). By kinds of economic activity, retail sales of goods in the first Quarter of this year gained an estimate of 792.6 trillion dongs, accounting for 75.6% of the total and increasing by 10.5% from the same period last year; Sales of accommodation and catering services attained 128.9 trillion dongs, accounting for 12.3% of the total and rising by 9%; Sales of travelling achieved 10.2 trillion dongs, taking 1% of the total and increasing by 30.3%; Sales of other services achieved 116.3 trillion dongs, holding 11.1% of the total and growing by 5%.

Passenger carriage in the first three months of the year reached an estimate of 1049.8 million passengers, up 9.5% over the same period last year and 46.8 billion passengers-kilometres, up 10%. Cargo carriage achieved 391.5 million tons, up 8.8% compared with the identical period last year and 72.7 billion tons-kilometres, up 5.8%.

Telecommunication sales in the first Quarter of 2018 were estimated to gain 96.4 trillion dongs, an increase of 7.4% from the similar period last year. As of the end of March 2018, the total number of telephone subscribers was estimated to achieve 126.3 million subscribers, down 0.5% over the similar period last year, of which mobile phone subscribers reached 118.7 million ones, down 0.8%[11]; number of fixed broadband Internet subscribers was estimated to be 12.2 million subscribers, up 27.5%.

International visitors to Vietnam in the first Quarter of 2018 was estimated to reach 4205.4 thousand arrivals, a rise of 30.9% compared with the same period last year, of which visitors coming by airway gained 3365.7 thousand arrivals, moving up by 27.9%; by road: 719.9 thousand arrivals, rising by 53.6%; by seaway: 119.8 thousand arrivals, a rise of 6.9%. In the first three months of this year, visitors from Asia reached 3153.3 thousand of arrivals, up 37.6% over the identical period last year (of which ones from China reached 1356.4 thousand arrivals, up 42.9%; ones from South Korea gained 892.5 thousand arrivals, up 69.2%); visitors from Europe reached an estimate of 645.8 thousand arrivals, up 15.4%; visitors from the America reached 276.2 thousand arrivals, increasing by 11.5%; visitors from Australia gained 119.1 thousand arrivals, increasing by 13.5%; visitors from Africa achieved 11.1 thousand turns, a growth of 25.7%.

+ Total retail sales of consumer goods and services
+ Carriage of passengers and cargos
+ International visitors to Vietnam

6. Banking and insurance operations

As of March 20, 2018, the total means of payment increased by 3.23% over the end of 2017 (a rise of 2.88% in the same period last year); capital mobilization of commercial banks grew by 2.20% (an increase of 2.43% in the same period last year); credit growth of the economy reached 2.23% (in the corresponding period last year it put up by 2.81%).

Current mobilizing interest rates were relatively stable. The VND mobilizing interest rates were commonly at 0.6-1% p.a for demand term and below 1 month terms; 4.3-5.5% p.a for 1 to below 6 month terms; 5.3-6.5% p.a for 6 to 12 month terms; 6.5-7.3% p.a for over 12 month terms. Lending interest rates for priority fields were commonly at 6-6.5% p.a. Lending interest rates for production and business were commonly at 6.8-9% p.a for short term loans, 9.3-11% p.a for medium and long term loans. For the group of customers with transparent financial situation, short term lending interest rates were at 4-5% p.a.

Insurance market in the first three months of the year maintained the positive growth. Insurance premium revenues of the whole market in the first Quarter of 2018 were estimated to increase by 19% compared with the same period in 2017, of which life insurance premium revenues gained rose by 28%; non-life insurance premium revenues grew by 9%.

7. Investment

Total realized social investment capital in the first Quarter of 2018 at current prices was fairly good with 331.2 trillion dongs, up 10.4% over the identical period last year and equaling 32.2% of GDP, of which the State sector’s capital gained 104.6 trillion dongs, accounting for 31.6% of the total capital and increasing by 4.4% from the same period last year; the non-State sector’s capital obtained 138.8 trillion dongs, taking 41.9% and growing by 16.9%; the FDI sector’s capital attained 87.8 trillion dongs, representing 26.5% and moving up by 8.1%.

Total realized investment capital under the State budget in the first Quarter of 2018 increased fairly with an estimate of 48.7 trillion dongs, equalling 14.4% of the annual plan and up 9.2% against the first Quarter of 2017 (in the similar period last year it grew by 3.6%), of which the capital under central management obtained 9.6 trillion dongs, equalling 14.6% of the annual plan and up 4.2% compared with the same period last year; the capital under local management achieved 39.1 trillion dongs, equalling 14.3% of the annual plan and up 10.5%.

From the beginning of the year to March 20, 2018, FDI attracted 618 newly licensed projects with the total registered capital of US$ 2121.6 million, up 25.4% in the number of projects and down 27.3% in the registered capital against the similar period in 2017. Besides, there were 199 turns of license-granted projects from previous years registered to adjust investment capital with the additional capital of US$ 1789.9 million, down 54.6% from the same period last year. Thus, the total of newly registered capital and additional capital in three months reached US$ 3911.5 million, down 43% from 2017’s same period. Realized FDI capital in three months was estimated at US$ 3888 million, increasing by 7.2% over the identical period in 2017.  In the first three months of 2018, there were 1285 turns of capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors with a total capital contribution of US$ 1890.1 million, a growth of 121.6% against the same period in 2017, of which 732 turns of capital contribution and share purchase increased the charter capital of enterprises with the contributed capital of US$ 1.34 billion and 553 turns of foreign investors bought back domestic shares without increasing charter capital with the value of US$ 547.8 million.

Regarding Vietnam’s direct investment abroad, in the first Quarter of 2018, the whole country had 23 projects newly granted the Outward Investment Registration Certificate with Vietnam’s total investment capital of US$ 123.6 million, in addition, there were 5 capital adjustment projects with additional capital of US$ 25.9 million. Generally, Vietnam’s total offshore investment capital in the first Quarter of this year gained US$ 149.5 million, of which the field of finance and banking reached US$ 105 million, accounting for 70.2% of the total investment capital; the field of manufacturing achieved US$ 19.9 million, representing 13.3%; the field of real estate business obtained US$ 12 million, taking 8%; the field of wholesale and retail trade achieved US$ 8.5 million, accounting for 5.7%.

+ Realized social investment capital at current prices
+ Realized investment capital under the State budget
+ Licensed FDI projects from January 01 to March 20, 2018

8. Government revenues and expenditures

Total government revenues from the beginning of the year to March 15, 2018 achieved an estimate of 232.2 trillion dongs, equaling 17.6% of the annual estimate, of which domestic revenues reached 185.6 trillion dongs, equaling 16.9%; collecting from crude oil achieved 10.7 trillion dongs, equaling 29.9%; from export-import balance gained 35.8 trillion dongs, equaling 20%.

Total government expenditures from the beginning of the year to March 15, 2018 was estimated at 225.9 trillion dongs, equaling 14.8% of the yearly estimate, of which regular expenditures were 183 trillion dongs, equaling 19.5%; expenditure on development investment was 17.5 trillion dongs, equaling 4.4% of the annual estimate; expenditure on interest payment achieved 24.9 trillion dongs, equaling 22.1%.

9. Exports and imports of goods, services

a. Exports of goods

Export turnovers of goods in the first Quarter of 2018 was estimated to reach US$ 54.31 billion, up 22% from the same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector achieved US$ 14.97 billion, up 18.9%; the FDI sector (including crude oil) gained US$ 39.34 billion, 23.2% rise. If excluding the price factor, export turnovers of goods in the first Quarter increased by 22.1% over the similar period in 2017.

The share of exports of key goods still belonged to the FDI sector, accounting for 99.7% of the turnover of phones and their parts; accounting for 90% of the turnover of machinery, instrument, accessory; accounting for 61% of the turnover of textiles.

b. Imports of goods

Import turnovers of goods in the first Quarter of 2018 reached an estimate of US$ 53.01 billion, moving up by 13.6% from the same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector gained US$ 21.26 billion, climbing by 13.4%; the FDI sector achieved US$ 31.75 billion, jumping up by 13.7%. If excluding the price factor, import turnovers of goods in first Quarter of 2018 grew by 12.8% compared with the similar period in 2017.

Generally, in the first Quarter of 2018, Vietnam had trade surplus of US$ 1.3 billion, of which the domestic economic sector had trade deficit of US$ 6.3 billion; the FDI sector (including crude oil) had trade suplus of US$ 7.6 billion.

c. Export and import of services

Service export turnovers in the first Quarter of 2018 were estimated to reach US$ 3.9 billion, up 18.2% compared with the same period in 2017, of which travel service exports gained US$ 2.8 billion (accounting for 70.5% of the total export turnovers) up 23.3%; transportation service exports achieved US$ 700 million (accounting for 18%), increasing by 8.5%. Estimated service import turnovers reached US$ 4.3 billion, up 7.8% over the similar period last year, of which transportation service imports gained US$ 2 billion (accounting for 46.6% of the total import turnovers), up 11.1%; travel service imports attained US$ 1.4 billion (making up 29.8%), rising by 9.2%. Trade deficit of services in the first Quarter was US$ 391 million, equaling 10% of the service export turnovers.

+ Exports
+ Imports

10. Price indexes

a. Consumer price indexes (CPI)

Average CPI in the first Quarter of 2018 increased by 2.82% compared with the same period in 2017. CPI in March 2018 grew by 0.97% over December 2017 and by 2.66% against the similar period last year.

Core inflation in March 2018 decreased by 0.09% over the previous month and went up by 1.38% from the same period last year. Average core inflation in the first Quarter of 2018 rose by 1.34% comapred with the corresponding period in 2017.

b. Gold price index and US dollar index

Domestic gold prices fluctuate according to the world gold price. Gold price index in March 2018 reduced by 0.35% over the previous month; increased by 3.18% from December 2017 and grew by 5.97% against the similar period last year. The US dollar price index in March 2018 increased by 0.27% over the previous month; put up by 0.22% against December 2017 and decreased by 0.09% from the corresponding period in 2017.

c. Producer price indexes (PPI) and merchandize export-import price indexes

PPI for materials, fuels used for production in the first Quarter of 2018 increased by 2.11% compared with the fourth Quarter of 2017 and climbed by 4.09% over the same period last year. PPI for agriculture, forestry and fishery in the first Quarter of 2018 went up by 1.18% and down by 2.59% ; PPI for industry grew by 0.79% and 2.64%. PPI for services in the first Quarter of 2018 moved up by 1.04% against the fourth Quarter of 2017 and by 2.92% from the same period last year.

Merchandize export price index in the first Quarter of 2018 increased by 0.46% over the the fourth Quarter of 2017 and decreased by 0.05% compared with the same period last year; Merchandize import price index in the first Quarter jumped up by 0.38% and 0.76% respectively. Merchandize term of trade[12] in the first Quarter of this year grew by 0.07% against the fourth Quarter of 2017 and fell by 0.8% from the similar period in 2017.

+ Consumer price indexes, gold, US dollar price indexes and core inflation in March 2018
+ Producer Price Indexes
+ Price index of materials, fuels used for production
+ Merchandize export price index
+ Merchandize import price index
+ Commodity term of trade

11. Labor and employment

The labor force aged 15 years and above nationwide as of April 01, 2018 was estimated to be 55.1 million persons, expanding 586.8 thousand persons in comparison with that in the same period in 2017, in which male employees were 28.6 million ones, accounting for 52%; female employees were 26.5 million ones, accounting for 48%. The labor force aged 15 years and above in urban areas was 17.7 million persons, making up 32.2%; the labor force aged 15 years and above in rural areas was 37.4 million persons, taking 67.8%. As of above time, labor force within working age was estimated at 48.4 million persons, an increase of 497.3 thousand persons compared with that in the similar period last year, of which male employees were 26.2 million ones, accounting for 54.2%; female employees were 22.2 million ones, accounting for 45.8%. The labor force within working age in urban areas was 16.1 million persons, holding 33.3%; the labor force within working age in rural areas was 32.3 million persons, representing 66.7%.

The labor force aged 15 years and above working in economic activities in the first Quarter of 2018 was estimated at 54 million persons, including 20.9 million ones working in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector, accounting for 38.6%; 14.4 million ones working in the industry and construction sector, taking 26.7%; 18.7 million ones working in the service sector, accounting for 34.7%.

The unemployment rate of labor force within working age in the first Quarter of 2018 was 2.2%, of which this rate of urban and rural areas were 3.13% and 1.73%[13], respectively. The unemployment rate of the youth aged 15-24 in the first Quarter of 2018 was estimated at 7.25%, of which this rate of urban and rural areas were 11.47% and 5.63%, respectively.

The underemployment rate of working-age laborers in the first Quarter of this year was estimated to be 1.48%, in which it was 0.55% for the urban area; 1.94% for the rural area. Proportion of employed persons having informal employment outside agriculture, forestry and fishery households[14] in the first Quarter of 2018 was estimated to be 56.8%, of which 48.3% was in the urban area; 63.8% was in the rural area.

12. People’s life and social security

According to the preliminary report of localities, in the first Quarter, the country had 46.2 thousand times of households suffering from food shortage, a decrease of 39.5% compared to the same period last year, corresponding to 173.2 thousand persons suffering from food shortage, down 44.5%. 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 4.6 thousand tons of rice.

According to the preliminary report, in the first Quarter of this year, 11.4 million health insurance cards and health care books/cards were donated free to the policy beneficiaries nationwide.

13. Education and training

According to the preliminary report, in the school year 2017-2018, the whole country had more than 712 thousand children going to nursery schools, up 5.4% over the school year 2016-2017; 4588 thousand children going to kindergartens, up 4.1%; 15882 pupils of general education, up 2.4%, of which there were 8015 thousand primary school pupils, up 2.7%; 5361 thousand secondary school pupils, up 2.4%; and 2506 thousand high school pupils, up 1.2%. In the school year 2017-2018, there were 71.4 thousand nursery school teachers, up 8.5% over the last school year; 265 thousand preschool teachers, up 5.7%; 852.3 thousand direct teaching teachers in general education, down 0.7%, including 396.9 thousand primary school teachers, down 0.05%; over 305 thousand secondary school teachers, down 1.9%; and 150.4 thousand high school teachers, down 0.2%.

14. Epidemic diseases and food poisoning

In three beginning months of 2018, the whole country had over 4500 cases of hand, foot, mouth disease; 11.4 thousand cases of hemorrhagic fever (1 case died); 95 cases of typhoid; 85 cases of virus encephalitis (2 cases died); 53 cases of whooping cough; 27 human cases of streptococcus suis infection (3 cases died); and 502 persons suffering from food poisoning.

Total number of alive HIV-infected persons over the country as of March 15, 2018 was 209.3 thousand persons and 90.4 thousand cases turned to AIDS. The number of persons died of HIV/AIDS nationwide as of above time-point was 95.8 thousand persons.

15. Cultural and sport activities

Cultural activities in the first three months of the year focused on celebrating the big holidays, major events of the country and organizing activities celebrating the Party, celebrate the New Lunar Year.

The mass sports movement in three beginning months of the year took place in various localities with many diversified activities such as folk games, traditional sports, the Olympic Run Day for all People’s Health; implementation of the Safe Swimming and Child Drowning Prevention Program in 2018.

High-performance sports focused on the preparation to participate in important international tournaments, including: AFC U-23 Championship, Asian Cycling Championships, Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, World Diving Championships, Asian Paragames) and preparation for international sports events held in Vietnam.

16. Traffic accidents

In the first three months of 2018, 4674 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, including 2396 traffic accidents of less serious or more and 2278 traffic crashes, making 2149 persons died, 1220 ones injured and 2407 ones slightly injured. Compared with the same period last year, the number of traffic accidents in three beginning months of this year decreased by 2.9% (the number of traffic accidents from less serious and over went down by 2.3%, the number of traffic crashes fell by 3.5%); Number of dead moved up by 1.7%; the number of injured people increased by 18.2% and the number of minor injuries reduced by 14.1%. On an average, each day in three months, the whole country had 52 traffic accidents, including 27 traffic accidents of less serious or more and 25 traffic crashes, making 24 persons died, 14 ones injured and 27 ones slightly injured.

17. Damages caused by natural calamity, environment protection, fire and explosion prevention

Natural calamity in the first three months of the year made 7 persons injured; over 4300 hectares of rice and vegetables damaged; nearly 8300 heads of cattle and fowls died; more than 2700 houses collapsed and spoiled. Total value of damage caused by the disaster in the year was estimated at over 178 billion dongs, 3.1 times as high as that in the first Quarter of 2017.

Generally, in the first Quarter of 2018, 4260 cases of violating regulations of environment protection were found over the country, of which 3929 cases were treated with total fine of 55.7 billion dongs.

Generally, in the first three months of the year (from December 16, 2017 to March 15, 2018), the whole country had 1085 cases of fire and explosion, killing 33 persons and injuring 66 others, the value of damage was estimated at over 413.2 billion dongs according to the preliminary report.

GENERAL STATISTICS OFFICE

[1] GDP growth in the first Quarter of a number of years was: an increase of 3.14% in 2009; 5.84% in 2010; 5.90% in 2011; 4.75% in 2012; 4.76% in 2013; 5.06% in 2014; 6.12% in 2015; 5.48% in 2016; 5.15% in 2017; 7.38% in 2018.

[2]  The growth of the agricultural sector in the first Quarter of a number of years was: a rise of 3.65% in 2011; 2.66% in 2012; 2.01% in 2013; 2.03% in 2014; 1.58% in 2015; 2.69% in 2016; 1.38% in 2017.

[3] The fishery’s growth in the first Quarter of a number of years was: an increase of 2.87 in 2011; 4.06% in 2012; 2.28% in 2013; 4.72% in 2014; 3.38% in 2015; 1.90% in 2016; 3.76% in 2017; 4.76% in 2018.

[4] The manufacturing’s growth in the first Quarter of a number of years was: an increase of 8.74% in 2012; 4.38% in 2013; 5.97% in 2014; 9.70% in 2015; 8.94% in 2016; 8.60% in 2017; 13.56% in 2018.

[5] The growth of the mining and quarrying in the first Quarter of a number of years was: 0.2% decrease in 2016; a decline of 10% in 2017.

[6] Number of cattle died in some Northern mountainous provinces was as follows: 2308 heads in Dien Bien, 1590 heads in Cao Bang, 1264 heads in Yen Bai, 1022 heads in Lao Cai, 301 heads in Lang Son, 273 heads in Ha Giang.

[7] IIP for the whole industry in the first Quarter of years: a rise of 9.3% in 2015; an increase of 8.2% in 2016; and 5.1% increase in 2017.

[8] IIP of the manufacturing in the first Quarter of years: 9.5% rise in 2015; 9.1% increase in 2016; and a growth of 7.8% in 2017.

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

[10] In the first Quarter of 2017, the number of newly registered enterprises grew by 11.4% compared with the same period of the previous year; the registered capital moved up by 45.8%; average registered capital per enterprise went up by 30.9%.

[11] The main reason was that network operators revoked trash SIM in accordance with the regulation of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

[12] The ratio between the price index of export goods and import goods.

[13] Unemployment rate of working-age laborers in the first Quarter of 2017 was 2.3%, of which it was 3.24% in urban areas; 1.83% in rural areas.

[14] Non-agricultural informal employment includes those who do not work in the sector of agriculture, forestry and fishery and falls into one of the following three groups: (i) wage earners in the formal sector who are not entitled to enter into a labor contract or to be entered into a labor contract with definite term but not paid compulsory social insurance by employers; family labor in establishments in the formal sector and cooperative members who do not have a compulsory social insurance; (ii) owners of establishments, self-employed workers, wage earners and family labor in establishments in the informal sector; (iii) self-employed workers for self-consumption of households and hired labor in households.