SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION IN SEVEN MONTHS OF 2019

1. Production of agriculture, forestry and fishery

a) Agriculture

As of July 15th, the whole country cultivated 1,087 thousand hectares (ha) of winter rice, equaling 102.5% of the figure in the same period last year, of which localities in the North cultivated 915.2 thousand ha, equaling 103.2%; provinces in the South cultivated 171.8 thousand ha, equaling 998.7%. As of mid-July, the whole country cultivated 2,009.8 thousand ha of summer-autumn rice, equaling 98.1% of the figure in the same period last year. Up to now, 563.2 thousand ha of early summer-autumn rice were harvested, equaling 125.5% of the figure in the similar period in 2018.

As of mid-July, localities over the country planted 780.4 thousand ha of maize, equaling 98.8% of the figure in the same period last year; 88.4 thousand ha of sweet potato, equaling 96.9%; 150 thousand ha of peanut, equaling 97%; 31.5 thousand ha of soya, equaling 97.2%; 811.5 thousand ha of vegetables and beans, equaling 103%.

As of July 22th, 2019, African swine fever has been detected in 6,016 communes, 558 districts of 62 provinces and centrally-run cities[1]. As of July, The whole country’s buffalo population decreased by 3% against the similar period last year; ox population increased by 2.6%; poultry population increased by 7.9%; pig herd reduced by 16%.

+ Agricultural production as of July 15, 2019

b) Forestry

Generally for seven months, the concentrated planted forest area were estimated to reach 124.8 thousand ha, a decline of 5.8% compared to the same period last year; the number of separate planted forestry trees gained 40.8 million trees, a decline of 3.1%; wood production achieved 8,500 thousand m3, a rise of 4.3%; firewood production recorded 1million steres, a decrease of 1.7%.

Generally for seven months, damaged forest area was 1,740.5 ha, 2.3 times as high as the figure in  the same period last year, of which burnt forest area was 1,409.9 ha, 3.8 times as high as the figure in the similar period last year; destroyed forest area was 330.6 ha, a decline of 10.5% from the identical period in 2018.

c) Fishery

Generally for seven months of 2019, estimated fishing production reached 4,521 thousand tons, increasing by 5.6% from the corresponding period last year, of which the output of aquaculture gained 2,321.2 thousand tons, a growth of 6.3%; the production of fishery caught achieved 2,199.8 thousand tons, a rise of 4.9% (the production of sea catching reached 2,099.6 thousand tons, up 5.1%).

2. Industry

Index of industrial production (IIP) for the whole industry in July 2019 was estimated to increase by 5.9% from the last month and by 9.7% compared to the same period last year. Generally for seven months of 2019, IIP was estimated to put up by 9.4% over the similar period last year, lower than the growth rate of 10.7% in the identical period in 2018 but higher than the increase rate of 7.2% in the same period in 2016 and 2017.

The number of employees working in industrial enterprises as of July 1st, 2019 climbed by 1.3% over the same period last month and by 1.9% against the similar period last year, of which employees in the State enterprise sector decreased by 0.8%; employees in the non-State enterprise sector grew by 1.4%; and employees in the FDI enterprise sector went up by 2.7%.

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

3. Business registration situation[2]

Generally for seven months of this year, the whole country had nearly 79.3 thousand enterprises  registered for new establishment with a total registered capital of 999.4 trillion dongs, a rise of 4.6% in the number of enterprises and an increase of 29.6% in the registered capital compared to the same period in 2018. Average registered capital per newly established enterprise reached 12.6 billion dongs, up 23.9%[3]. Total registered capital added to the economy in seven months of 2019 was 2,476.3 trillion dongs, including 1,476.9 trillion dongs of the additional capital of enterprises increasing their capital. In addition, there were 24.3 thousand enterprises returning to operation, a rise of 29.9% over the similar period last year, bringing the total number of newly registered enterprises and re-operated enterprises in seven months to 103.6 thousand enterprises. Total number of registered employees of the newly established enterprises in seven months of this year was 743.9 thousand persons, a rise of 19.3% against the same period last year.

The number of temporarily ceased enterprises with a certain time in seven months of this year was 23.1 thousand ones, an increase of 15.6% against the identical period last year. In seven months of this year, there were 24.8 thousand  enterpriseshas suspended operation waiting for dissolution procedures, of which 11.8 thousand enterprises had their business registration certificates revoked under the 2018 data standardization program, accounting for 47.4%; 7.6 thousand enterprises announced their dissolution, accounting for 30.6%; and 5.4 thousand enterprises were waiting for dissolution procedures, accounting for 22%.

The number of enterprises which completed dissolution procedures in seven months of 2019 was 9.3 thousand ones, a rise of 20% over the same period last year, of which 8.4 thousand ones had the capital size of less than 10 billion dongs, accounting for 90.4%, an increase of 18.9%.

+ Number of enterprises registered for new establishment
+ Number of re-operated enterprises by kinds of activity
+ Number of enterprises ceased for a certain period of time by kinds of activity
+ Number of enterprises completed dissolution procedures

4. Investment

Generally for seven months of this year, total realized investment capital under the State budget achieved 158.3 trillion dongs, equaling 44.9% of the annual plan and increasing by 3.9% against the similar period last year (it equaled 43.3% and increased by 9.7% in the same period in 2018), of which the capital under central management obtained 19.5 trillion dongs, equaling 40.2% of the annual plan and decreasing by 29.9% from the similar period last year; the capital under local management reached 138.8 trillion dongs, equaling 45.7% of the annual plan and increasing by 11.4% compared with the identical period in 2018.

From the beginning of the year to July 20, 2019, FDI attracted 2,064 newly licensed projects with the total registered capital of US$ 8,272.4 million, an increase of 24.6% in the number of projects and 37.4% in the registered capital against the similar period in 2018. In addition, there were 791 turns of license-granted projects from previous years registered to adjust investment capital with the additional capital of US$ 3,425.6 million, a decrease of 30.8% from the same period last year. Thus the total of newly registered capital and additional capital in seven months of this year reached US$ 11,698 million, reducing by 35.6% from 2018’s same period. Realized FDI capital in seven months of 2019 was estimated at US$ 10.6 billion, increasing by 7.1% over the identical period in 2018.  In seven months, there were 4,387 turns of capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors with a total contributory value of US$ 8.52 billion, a rise of 77.8% from the same period in 2018, of which 733 turns of capital contribution and share purchase increased the charter capital of enterprises with the contributed capital of US$ 5.70 billion and 3,654 turns of foreign investors bought back domestic shares without increasing charter capital with the value of US$ 2.82 billion.

In seven months of 2019, there were 48 provinces and centrally-run cities that received newly licensed foreign direct investment projects from 65 countries and territories.

Vietnam’s direct investment abroad in seven months of this year had 90 projects newly granted the Outward Investment Registration Certificate with Vietnam’s total investment capital of US$ 180.1 million; 21 projects adjusting the capital with additional capital of US$ 97.3 million. Generally, Vietnam’s total offshore investment capital (including newly granted and additional capital) in seven months of 2019 gained US$ 277.4 million.

+ Realized investment capital under the State budget in July and 7 months of 2019
+ Licensed FDI projects from January 01 to July 20, 2019

5. Government revenues and expenditures

Total estimated government revenues from the beginning of the year to July 15, 2019 achieved 777.7 trillion dongs, equaling 55.1% of the annual estimate, of which domestic revenues recorded 620.5 trillion dongs, equaling 52.9%; collecting from crude oil gained 31.1 trillion dongs, equaling 69.7%; from export-import balance obtained 123.9 trillion dongs, equaling 65.5%. In domestic revenues, revenue from State owned enterprises was 85.1 trillion dongs, equaling 47.9% of the yearly estimate; revenue from foreign-invested enterprises (excluding crude oil) was 103.2 trillion dongs, equaling 48.3%; 121.1 trillion dongs were collected from non-State industrial, commercial and service taxes, equaling 50.1%; personal income tax revenue was 62.6 trillion dongs, equaling 55.3%; 28.6 trillion dongs were collected from environmental protection tax, equaling 41.4%; land use fees reached 61.4 trillion dongs, equaling 68.2%.

Total government expenditures from the beginning of the year to July 15, 2019 was estimated at 726.2 trillion dongs, equaling 44.5% of the yearly estimate, of which regular expenditures were 522.8 trillion dongs, equaling 52.3%; expenditure on development investment achieved 130.5 trillion dongs, equaling 30.4%; expenditure on interest payment was 65.2 trillion dongs, equaling 52.2%.

6. Trade, prices, transport and tourism

a) Retail sales of consumer goods and services

Generally, in seven months of 2019, total retail sales of consumer goods and services reached 2,804.8 trillion dongs, increasing by 11.6% against the same period last year[4], if excluding the price factor, the growth rate was 8.74% (it increased by 8.72% in the same period in 2018).

By kinds of economic activity, retail sales of goods in seven months gained an estimate of 2,134.2 trillion dongs, accounting for 76.1% of the total and an increase of 12.5% over the similar period last year. Estimated sales of accommodation and catering services in seven months of this year recorded 337.5 trillion dongs, accounting for 12% of the total and moving up by 10% from the same period last year. Sales of travelling in seven months achieved an estimate of 25.8 trillion dongs, representing 0.9% of the total and climbing by 12.5% against the similar period last year. Sales of other services in seven months was estimated at 307.3 trillion dongs, taking 11% of the total and expanding by 6.7% compared to the identical period in 2018.

+ Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in July and 7 months of 2019

b) Exports and imports of goods

Total exports and imports of goods in seven months of 2019 gained an estimate of US$ 288.47 billion with the export turnover of US$ 145.13 billion, an increase of 7.5% over the similar period last year. Notably, the growth rate of export turnover of the domestic economic sector in seven months reached 12.2%, higher than the growth rate of the FDI sector (5.6%) and the proportion of this sector tended to increase, accounted for 30.3% of the total export turnover (it was 29% in the same period last year). Regarding trade balance, in seven months, Vietnam recorded estimated trade surplus of US$ 1.8 billion.

Export of goods

Generally for seven months of 2019, export turnover of goods was estimated at US$ 145.13 billion, a rise of 7.5% over the same period in 2018, of which the domestic economic sector achieved US$ 44 billion, moving up by 12.2%, accounting for 30.3% of the total export turnover; the FDI sector (including crude oil) gained US$ 101.13 billion, increasing by 5.6%, accounting for 69.7% of total export turnover (the proportion reduced by 1.3 percentage points from the corresponding period last year).

Regarding merchandize export market in seven months of 2019, the United States was the biggest export market of Vietnam with the turnover of US$ 32.5 billion, up 25.4% over  the same period last year; followed by EU with US$ 24.3 billion, an increase of 0.4%; China with US$ 20 billion, a rise of 0.1%; ASEAN with US$ 15.2 billion, an increase of 5.5%; South Korea with US$ 10.7 billion, a growth of 4.4%.

Import of goods

Generally, import turnover of goods in seven months of 2019 reached an estimate of US$ 143.34 billion, moving up by 8.3% from the same period in 2018, of which the domestic economic sector gained US$ 60.83 billion, climbing by 12.6%; the FDI sector achieved US$ 82.51 billion, jumping up by 5.3%.  

About merchandize import market in seven months of 2019, China was still the largest import market of Vietnam with turnover of US$ 42 billion, up 16.9% against the corresponding period last year; followed by South Korea with US$ 26.6 billion, decreasing by 0.8%; ASEAN with US$ 18.8 billion, climbing by 5.2%; Japan with US$ 10.5 billion, moving down by 0.4%; EU with US$ 8.29 billion, growing by 8.6%; the United States with US$ 8.27 billion, going up by 8.6%.

Generally for seven months of 2019, Vietnam had an estimated trade surplus of US$ 1.8 billion[5] (trade surplus of US$ 2.6 billion in the same period last year), of which the domestic economic sector recorded a trade deficit of US$ 16.8 billion; the FDI sector (including crude oil) saw a trade surplus of US$ 18.6 billion.

+ Exports
+ Imports

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

The major factors such as prices of some input materials increasing again, the increase of basic salary for cadres, civil servants, officials and armed forces from July 1st, 2019, the complicated evolution of African swine fever epidemic and the determination of flexible monetary policy to maintain the Governments macroeconomic stability goals made CPI in July 2019 increase by 0.18% compared to the last month, average CPI in seven months of 2019 expand by 2.61% from the similar period in 2018. This is the lowest average increase of seven months in the last three years[6].

Average core inflation in seven months of 2019 increased by 1.89% over the similar period in 2018.

Gold price index in July 2019 grew by 4.78% against the previous month, by 9.27% from December 2018 and by 8.3% from the same period last year.

The US dollar price index in July 2019 fell by 0.56% over the previous month, by 0.27% against December 2018 and increased by 1.1% compared to the same period last year.

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

d) Transport of passengers and cargos

Generally, in seven months of 2019, transport of passengers reached 2,923.5 million passengers, a rise of 10.1% over the corresponding period last year and 134.8 billion passengers-km, a rise of 9.7%, of which domestic transport gained 2,912.5 million passengers, an increase of 10.1% and 104.6 billion passengers-km, an increase of 11.1%; overseas transport achieved nearly 11 million passengers, an increase of 4.4% and 30.2 billion passengers-km, an increase of 4.9%. By type of transport, transport by road achieved 2,763 million passengers, a rise of 10.4% against the same period last year and 92.6 billion passengers-km, a rise of 10.4%; transport by inland waterway gained 118.2 million passengers, a growth of 5.5% and 2,304.8 million passengers-km, an increase of 6.7%; transport by seaway reached 4.5 million passengers, 5.1% increase and 265.4 million passengers-km, 5.3% growth; transport by airway recorded 32.5 million passengers, a rise of 8.9% and 37.4 billion passengers-km, a rise of 9.1%. Only transport by railway reached 5.3 million passengers, a decline of 5% and 2,235.5 million passengers-km, a decrease of 5.7%.

Generally for seven months, the freight reached 962.6 million tons, an increase of 8.7% against the similar period last year and 183.4 billion tons-km, going up by 7.2%, of which the domestic freight reached 943.3 million tons, an increase of 8.8% and 103 billion tons-km, an increase of 10.4%; oversea freight reached 19.3 million tons, a growth of 3% and 80.4 billion tons-km, an increase of 3.4%. By type of freight, freight by road in seven months reached 739.7 million tons, an increase of 9.9% compared to the identical period last year and 49.4 billion tons-km, a rise of 10.1%; freight by inland waterway reached 173.1 million tons, an increase of 5.2% and 36.2 billion tons-km, an increase of 5.9%; freight by seaway reached 46.7 million tons, an increase of 4.9% and 95.1 billion tons-km, a rise of 6.5%; freight by airway reached 247.1 thousand tons, a rise of 12.7% and 629.6 million tons-km, an increase of 12.2%; freight by railway reached nearly 3 million tons, a decrease of 10.9% and 2.1 billion tons-km, a drop of 5%.

+ Carriage of passengers and cargos

e) International visitors to Vietnam

Generally for seven months of this year, international visitors to Vietnam was estimated at 9,796.8 thousand arrivals, a rise of 7.9% compared to the same period last year, of which visitors coming by airway gained 7,704.9 thousand arrivals, moving up by 4.7%; visitors coming by road gained 1,934.3 thousand arrivals, increasing by 25.2%; visitors coming by seaway achieved 157.6 thousand arrivals, decreasing by 11.3%.

In seven months, visitors from Asia recorded 7,600.9 thousand arrivals, accounting for 77.6% of the total visitors coming to Vietnam, increasing by 8.8% over the identical period last year. Visitors from the Europe reached 1,298.1 thousand arrivals, a rise of 5.5% from the same period last year. Visitors from the America gained 607.1 thousand arrivals, increasing by 6.4% over the corresponding period last year. Visitors from the Australia 264.4 thousand arrivals, moving down by 0.8%. Visitors from the Africa achieved 26.3 thousand arrivals, put up by 8.5% against the same period in 2018.

+ International visitors to Vietnam

7. Social issues

a) Farmers’ food shortage

Generally, in seven months of 2019, there were 65.7 thousand households suffering from food shortage over the country, down 31.7% from the same period last year, corresponding to 265.6 thousand persons suffering from this difficulty, down 30.7%. 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 nearly 3.9 thousand tons of rice.

b) Epidemic diseases and food poisoning

Generally for seven months of 2019, the whole country had  96.4 thousand cases of hemorrhagic fever (6 cases died); 22.9 thousand cases of hand, foot, mouth disease (2 cases died); 333 cases of virus encephalitis (11 cases died); 13 cases of meningococcal disease (1 case died); 31 thousand cases of scarlet fever suspected for measles, of which 5.6 thousand cases tested positive for measles (3 cases died); and 1,372 persons suffering from food poisoning (9 persons died).

Total number of living HIV-infected persons over the country as of July 18, 2019 was 209.5 thousand persons and 96.69 thousand cases turned to AIDS. The number of persons died of HIV/AIDS nationwide as of above time-point was 98.35 thousand persons.

c) Traffic accidents

Generally, in seven months of 2019, 9,820 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, including 5,210 cases of traffic accidents from less serious to become and 4,610 cases of traffic collisions, causing 4,467 deaths, 2,794 injuries and 4,676 minor injuries. Compared to the same period last year, the number of traffic accidents in seven months of this year declined by 5.1% (number of traffic accidents of differently serious levels reduced by 2.2%; number of traffic collisions decreased by 8.2%); number of death fell by 5.3%; number of injuries went down by 2.2% and number of minor injuries dropped by 10.9%. On average, there were 46 traffic accidents occurred nationwide each day in seven months of 2019, including 24 traffic accidents from less serious to become and 22 traffic collisions, causing 21 deaths, 13 injuries and 22 minor injuries.

d) Damages caused by natural calamity

Generally for seven months, natural calamity made 34 persons died and lost, 47 persons injured, 156 houses collapsed and swept away, over 3,000 houses damaged and roof ripped-off, 3.7 thousand ha of rice and crops damaged. The total loss in asset caused by natural disasters in seven months was estimated at 239 billion dongs.

e) Environment protection, fire and explosion prevention

Generally, in seven months, 7,096 cases of violating regulations of environment protection were found over the country, of which 6,459 cases were treated with total fine of 66 billion dongs.

Generally for seven months, there were 2,404 fire and explosion cases occurring nationwide, causing 65 deaths and 113 injuries, with an estimated damage of about 781 billion dongs.

GENERAL STATISTICS OFFICE

[1] Ninh Thuan is the only locality that has not been hit by African swine fever virus.

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

[3] In seven months of 2018, the number of newly registered enterprises increased by 3.9% compared to the same period in the previous year; the registered capital went up by 11.6%; average registered capital per enterprise expanded by 7.4%.

[4] It was lower than the growth rate in seven months of 2018 but higher than the growth rate in seven months of the years 2015-2017. Namely, the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods and services in seven months of the years 2015-2017 compared to the same period of the previous year was in turn 10.8%; 10%; 10.4%; 12%; and 11.6%.

[5] Of which, trade surplus with EU was US$ 16 billion, down 3.4% from the same period last year; trade deficit with China was US$ 22 billion, up 38.2%; trade deficit with South Korea was US$ 15.9 billion, down 4%; trade deficit with ASEAN was US$ 3.6 billion, up 4.3%.

[6] The growth rate of average CPI in seven months of 2017, 2018, 2019 compared to the same period of the previous year was 3.91%, 3.45% and 2.61%, respectively.