SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION IN JANUARY 2020

1. Production of agriculture, forestry and fishery

a) Agriculture

As of January 15, 2020, the whole country cultivated 1,955.4 thousand hectares (ha) of winter-spring rice, equalling 99.5% of the cultivated area in the same period last year, of which it reached 114.8 thousand ha in the North, equalling 104.7%; 1,840.6 thousand ha in the South, equalling 99.2%.

Along with the winter-spring rice cultivation, as of mid-January, localities over the country grew 152.8 thousand ha of maize, equalling 93.7% of its cultivated area in the similar period last year; 36.6 thousand ha of sweet potato, equalling 89.5%; 5.9 thousand ha of soya bean, equalling 83.1%; 32.6 thousand ha of peanut, equalling 103.2%; 343.2 thousand ha of vegetables and beans, equalling 99.3%.

Estimated in January, cattle population increased by 2.4% compared to the same period last year; buffalo population decreased by 3.1%; pig population reduced by 25%; poultry population grew by 15%. As of January 20, 2020, the whole country no longer detected bird flu and blue-ear pig disease; foot and mouth disease have not passed 21 days in 8 provinces.

+ Agricultural production as of January 15, 2020

b) Forestry

In January, the area of concentrated planted forest was estimated at 6.5 thousand ha, a rise of 0.3% compared to the same period last year. The number of separate planted forestry trees gained 1.9 million trees, a decrease of 1%; wood production achieved 874 thousand m3, an increase of 0.9%; and 1.5 million steres of firewood production was recorded, a decline of 0.7%.

In January, there was no forest fire due to the relatively high humidity. The damaged forest area was 24.8 ha due to cutting down, destroying, down 20.6% compared to the same period in 2019.

c) Fishery

Fishing production in January was estimated at 502.3 thousand tons, increasing by 1.7% from the corresponding period last year, of which fish gained 379.9 thousand tons, up 1.3%. The output of aquaculture in the month was 259.9 thousand tons, recording a rise of 2.9% against the same period last year. The production of fishery caught achieved 242.4 thousand tons, recording a growth of 0.5% compared to the similar period last year.

2. Industry

Index of industrial production (IIP) in January was estimated to decrease by 11.8% from the previous month and by 5.5% against the similar period last year.

The number of laborers working in industrial enterprises as of January 01, 2020 witnessed a rise of 0.5% over the same period last month and a rise of 2.1% against the similar period last year, of which employees in the State enterprise sector saw a drop of 2.5%; employees in the non-State enterprise sector grew by 0.8%; and employees in the FDI enterprise sector went up by 3.5%.

+ Industrial Production Index in January, 2020
+ Main industrial products
+ Labor employed index (LEI) for industrial enterprises

3. Business registration situation[1]

In January, 2020, there were 8,276 newly established enterprises with a registered capital of VND 267.2 trillion and the registered labor of 84.5 thousand persons, decreasing by 17.9% in the number of enterprises and by 21.7% in the number of laborers, but increasing 76.8% in the amount of registered capital compared to the same period last year. The average registered capital per new enterprise in the month was VND 32.3 billion, up 115.3% against the same period last year. The total registered capital added to the economy in January, 2020 was VND 501.4 trillion, including VND 234.2 trillion of the additional capital of 3,652 enterprises registering to increase capital. In addition, there were 8,470 thousand enterprises resumed operation, increasing by 0.1% over the similar period in 2019, bringing the total number of newly registered enterprises and re-operated enterprises in the month to 16,746 ones.

Also in January this year, the number of enterprises suspending operation for a definite time was 11,702 ones, increasing by 8.3% compared to the similar period last year; the number of enterprises ceased operation to wait for dissolution procedures was 5,555 ones, showing a decline of 54.8%, of which 615 enterprises had their business registration certificates revoked under the 2018 data standardization program, 2,133 enterprises announced their dissolution and 2,807 others are waiting for dissolution procedures.

The number of enterprises completed dissolution procedures in January was 1,621 ones, a reduction of 10% over the same period last year, of which 1,451 ones had the capital size of less than 10 billion dongs, a decline of 12.5%. In January, the whole country had 3,496 enterprises not operating at the registered address, falling by 26.7% over the same period last year.

+ Some indicators on enterprises
+ Number of newly registered enterperises
+ Number of re-operated enterprises
+ Number of enterprises suspending for a definite time
+ Number of enterprises completed dissolution procedures

4. Investment

There were a 8.4% growth in total realized investment capital under the State budget compared to the corresponding period last year with the capital of VND 18,689 billion, equalling 4.2% of the annual plan (it increased by 3.8% and  equalled 4.5% of the yearly plan in the same period of 2019), of which the capital under central management reached VND 2,634 billion dongs, equalling 3.8% of the annual plan and increasing by 11.9% from the similar period last year; the capital under local management reached VND 16,055 billion, equalling 4.3% of the annual plan and climbing by 7.8% compared to the identical period in 2019.

The total foreign investment in Vietnam as of January 20, 2020 including the newly registered, adjusted capital, contributed capital and shares purchased by foreign investors, reached US$ 5.3 billion, up 179.5% compared to the same period in 2019. In particular, there were 258 newly licensed projects with a total registered capital of US$ 4.5 billion, an increase of 14.2% in the number of projects and a rise of 454.1% in the amount of registered capital against the similar period last year[2]. In addition, there were 77 turns of license-granted projects from previous years registered to adjust investment capital with an additional capital of US$ 334 million, dropping by 1.9%; 884 turns of capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors with the total contributed capital of US$ 534.8 million, down 29.8%. Of turns of capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors, there were 135 turns of capital contribution, share purchase increased the charter capital of enterprises with the contributed capital of US$ 0.19 billion, and 749 turns of foreign investors bought domestic shares back without increasing charter capital with the value of nearly US$ 0.34 billion. The realized foreign direct investment capital in January was estimated at US$ 1.6 billion, up 3.2% over the similar period last year. There were 26 countries and territories with newly licensed investment projects in Vietnam in January, 2020.

Vietnam’s direct investment abroad in January this year recorded 7 projects newly granted the Outward Investment Registration Certificate with Vietnam’s total investment capital of US$ 3.8 million; 01 projects adjusted the capital with additional capital of US$ 135.7 thousand. Generally, Vietnam’s total offshore investment capital (including newly granted and additional capital) in January gained US$ 4 million. In January, 4 countries and territories received Vietnam’s investment.

+ Realized investment capital under the State budget
+ Licensed FDI projects from January 01 to January 20, 2020

5. Government revenues and expenditures

Total estimated government revenues in the first 15 days of January 2020 achieved VND 39.1 trillion, equalling 2.6% of the annual estimate, of which domestic revenues recorded VND 23.8 trillion, equalling 1.9%; collecting from crude oil gained VND 4.2 trillion, equalling 11.8%; from export-import balance obtained VND 11.1 trillion, equalling 5.4%. In domestic revenues, revenues from State owned enterprises was VND 1,018 billion, equalling 0.6% of the yearly estimate; revenues from foreign-invested enterprises (excluding crude oil) was VND 2,286 billion, equalling 1%; VND 4,008 billion were collected from non-State industrial, commercial and service taxes, equalling 1.5%; personal income tax revenue was VND 2,239 billion, equalling 1.7%; 97 billion dongs were collected from environmental protection tax, equalling 0.1%; collecting from land use fees reached VND 6,344 billion, equalling 6.6%.

Total government expenditures in the early 15 days of January 2020 was estimated at VND 48.6 trillion, equalling 2.8% of the yearly estimate, of which regular expenditures were VND 34.5 trillion, equalling 3.3%; expenditure on development investment achieved VND 2.8 trillion, equalling 0.6%; VND 11.2 trillion were spent on interest payment, equalling 9.4%.

6. Trade, prices, transport and tourism

a) Retail sales of consumer goods and services

Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in January 2020 reached VND 448.1 trillion, increasing by 3.6% over the previous month and by 10.2% against the same period last year, if excluding the price factor, the growth rate was 7.2% (it expanded by 10.9% in the same period in 2019).

By kinds of economic activity, retail sales of goods in January gained VND 346.2 trillion, going up by 6.3% from the previous month and by 10.7% over the similar period last year. Estimated sales of accommodation and catering services in January 2020 recorded VND 50.6 trillion, a decline of 2.6% compared to the previous month and a rise of 6.8% against the similar period last year. Sales of travelling in the month achieved an estimate of VND 4.2 trillion, falling by 2% from the previous month and jumping up by 7.4% in comparison with the same period last year. Sales of other services in January was estimated at VND 47.1 trillion, down 6.6% against the previous month and up 10.7% over the identical period last year.

+ Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in January, 2020

b) Merchandize exports and imports

Merchandize exports

Export turnover of goods in January 2020 was estimated at US$ 19.0 billion, a decrease of 15.8% from the previous month, of which the domestic economic sector achieved US$ 6.31 billion, moving down by 23.1%; the FDI sector (including crude oil) gained US$ 12.69 billion, dropping by 11.6%.

In comparison with the same period last year, export turnover of goods in January 2020 decreased by 14.3%, of which the domestic economic sector saw a reduction of 11.4%; the FDI sector (including crude oil) witnessed a 15.7% decline.

Merchandize imports

Import turnover of goods in January 2020 reached an estimate of US$ 19.1 billion, moving down by 14.4% from the previous month, of which the domestic economic sector recorded US$ 8.7 billion, reducing by 17.7%; the FDI sector gained US$ 10.4 billion, dropping by 11.3%.

Compared to the similar period last year, January 2020 witnessed an estimated decline of 11.3% in import turnover of goods, of which the domestic economic sector recorded a drop of 5.5%; the FDI sector saw a 15.7% decrease.

The trade balance of goods in December 2019 witnessed trade surplus of US$ 259 billion[3]. 2019 recorded a total merchandize export and import turnover of US$ 517.3 billion, trade surplus of US$ 11.1 billion[4], equivalent to 4.2% of export turnover, of which the domestic economic sector had trade deficit of US$ 25.5 billion while the FDI sector (including crude oil) had trade surplus of US$ 36.6 billion. It was estimated that trade deficit was US$ 100 million in January 2020[5], of which the domestic economic sector had trade deficit of US$ 2.4 billion; the FDI sector (including crude oil) had trade surplus of US$ 2.3 billion.

+ Exports
+ Imports

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

Lunar New Year is the main reason for the CPI in January 2020 to increase by 1.23% compared to December 2019 and by 6.43% compared to January 2019, the highest increase of CPI in January for the last 7 years[6].

In the 1.23% increase of CPI in January 2020 compared to December 2019, there were 10/11 groups of goods and services with increased price indexes.

Core inflation in January 2020 moved up by 0.76% from December 2019 and by 3.25% over the similar period last year.

Domestic gold price index in January 2020 increased by 4.37% from the previous month and by 18.64% against the same period last year.

The US dollar price index in January 2020 witnessed a 0.02% growth over December 2019 and a drop of 0.35% compared to the same period in 2019.

+ Consumer price indexes, gold, US dollar price indexes and core inflation in January, 2020

d) Transport of passengers and cargos

Transport of passengers in January 2020 reached an estimate of 482.7 million passengers, a rise of 15.1% over the corresponding period in 2019 and 23.6 billion passengers-km, a rise of 16.9%, of which domestic transport gained 481.1 million passengers, an increase of 15.1% and 18.6 billion passengers-km, an increase of 16.9%; overseas transport achieved 1.6 million passengers, an increase of 13.9% and nearly 5 billion passengers-km, an increase of 17%. By types of transport, transport by road in January achieved 459.3 million passengers, a rise of 15.5% and 15.2 billion passengers-km, a rise of 11.5%; transport by inland waterway gained 17 million passengers, a growth of 4.8% and 357.7 million passengers-km, an increase of 7.7%; transport by airway recorded 5.2 million passengers, a rise of 27.9% and 7.6 billion passengers-km, a rise of 30.5%;  transport by seaway reached 608 thousand passengers, 2.6% increase and 42.7 million passengers-km, a 7% growth; only transport by railway reached 597.9 thousand passengers, a decline of 2.1% and 275.1 million passengers-km, a rise of 10.7%.

The freight in January 2020 reached an estimate of 156.6 million tons, an increase of 10.7% against the similar period last year and 30.1 billion tons-km, a rise of 8.5%, of which the domestic freight reached 153.5 million tons, an increase of 10.8% and 16.8 billion tons-km, an increase of 11%; oversea freight reached 3.1 million tons, a growth of 6.1% and 13.3 billion tons-km, an increase of 5.4%. By types of freight, freight by road in January reached 122.1 million tons, a rise of 12.1% compared to the identical period last year and 8.2 billion tons-km, a rise of 11.2%; freight by inland waterway reached 26.7 million tons, growing by 6.1% and 5.7 billion tons-km, increasing by 6.7%; freight by seaway reached 7.4 million tons, a 7.2% increase and 15.1 billion tons-km, a rise of 7.1%; freight by airway reached 45.6 thousand tons, a growth of 45.4% and 767.8 million tons-km, an increase of 35.6%; freight by railway reached 390.8 thousand tons, a decrease of 7.2% and 271.7 million tons-km, a drop of 13.7%.

+ Carriage of passengers and cargos

e) International visitors to Vietnam

International visitors to Vietnam in January was estimated at 1,994.1 thousand arrivals, moving up by 16.6% from the previous month and by 32.8% compared to the same period last year, of which visitors coming by airway gained 1,621.6 thousand arrivals, jumping up by 38.9%; visitors coming by seaway achieved 80.1 thousand arrivals, going up by 231.5%; only visitors coming by road witnessed a drop of 5.8% with 292.4 thousand arrivals.

In the month, visitors coming from Asia recorded 1,543.9 thousand arrivals, accounting for 77.4% of total international visitors to Vietnam, increasing by 39.9% over the identical period last year. Visitors from Europe in January reached an estimate of 259.2 thousand arrivals, a rise of 11.5% from the same period last year. Visitors from America in January gained an estimate of 125.4 thousand arrivals, increasing by 19% over the corresponding period in 2019. Visitors from Australia achieved 59.7 thousand arrivals, climbing by 7.8% against the similar period last year. Visitors from Africa reached 6 thousand arrivals, growing by 22% over the same period last year.

+ International visitors to Vietnam

7. Some issues

a) Farmers’ food shortage

In January, the whole country had more than 2.9 thousand households suffering from food shortage, corresponding to 10.1 thousand persons suffering from this difficulty. According to the preliminary report, to overcome this problem, all administrative levels, sectors and localities supported difficult households with about 157.6 tons of rice.

The Government has allocated nearly 6.5 thousand tons of rice from the national reserve to localities to support the people on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2020.

b) Epidemic diseases and food poisoning

In the month (from December 19, 2019 to January 18, 2020), the whole country had nearly 6 thousand cases of of hemorrhagic fever; 1.3 thousand cases of hand, foot, mouth disease;  23 cases of virus encephalitis and  442 cases of scarlet fever suspected for measles, of which 16 cases were positive for measles.

In January, 7 cases of food poisoning occurred with 161 persons poisoned, of which 1 case died.

On January 23, 2020, the Prime Minister sent an urgent message to the ministries, branches and localities on the prevention and control of respiratory infections caused by new strain of coronavirus.

Total number of alive HIV-infected persons over the country as of January 18, 2020 was 210.2 thousand persons and 97.07 thousand cases turned to AIDS. The number of persons died of HIV/AIDS as of above time-point was 98.6 thousand persons.

c) Traffic accidents

In January (from December 15, 2019 to January 14, 2020), 1.3 thousand traffic accidents occurred nationwide, including 702 cases of traffic accidents from less serious to become and 598 cases of traffic collisions, causing 591 deaths, 359 injuries and 609 minor injuries. Compared to the same period last year, the number of traffic accidents declined by 14.9% (number of traffic accidents of differently serious levels reduced by 15%; number of traffic collisions decreased by 14.7%); number of death fell by 18.9%; number of injuries went down by 14.9% and number of minor injuries dropped by 14.8%. On average, there were 42 traffic accidents occurred nationwide each day in January, including 23 traffic accidents from less serious to become and 19 traffic collisions, causing 19 deaths, 12 injuries and 20 minor injuries.

d) Natural calamity, environmental pollution, fire and explosion

In January 2020, appropriate authorities detected 720 cases of environmental violations, of which 556 cases were treated with a total fine of more than VND 8.2 billion. During the month, there were 224 fires and explosions in the whole country, killing 7 people and injuring 12 people, the value of damage was estimated at VND 70 billion.

GENERAL STATISTICS OFFICE

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

[2] In particular, Bac Lieu Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Power Plant Project in the Bac Lieu LNG Thermal Power Center invested by Singapore has a total registered capital of US$ 4 billion with the goal of producing electricity from LNG.

[3] Trade deficit was estimated at US$ 1 billion.

[4] Total estimated export and import turnover in 2019 reached US$ 519.96 billion; trade surplus was US$ 9.9 billion.

[5] Of which trade surplus with EU gained US$ 1.4 billion, a decline of 43.4% compared to the same period last year; trade deficit with China was US$ 2.5  billion, a 36% decrease; trade deficit with South Korea was US$ 1.9 billion, a reduction of 17.6%; trade deficit with ASEAN was US$ 888 million, a rise of 150.3%.

[6] The growth rate of CPI in January compared to the previous month in the period 2014-2020 was 0.69%, 0.2%, 0%, 0.46%, 0.51%, 0.1%, 1.23% respectively.The increase rate of CPI in comparison with the same period last year in the period 2014-2020 was 5.45%; 0.94%; 0.8%; 5.22%; 2.65%; 2.56%, 6.43% respectively.