Vietnam’s economic situation for the 9 months of 2006

1. Major economic indicators

Gross domestic products (GDP) in 9 months of 2006, at 1994 constant prices, were estimated increasing by 7.84% against same period last year, of which the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector increased by 3.32%, lower than the rate of 9 months of 2005, mainly due to aftermaths of unfavorable weather and diseases in the last time; the industry and construction increased by 9.85%, 0.13 points percent lower than the rate of 9 months of 2005 because the construction rose slowly; the service rose by 8.03%, of which some main proportion sectors still maintained higher growth than the rate of same period of 2005: trade increasing by 8.31%, transportation, communication and tourism by 10.7%, state management and national security and defense by 7.38%.

The economic structure transfer has been running actively, the proportion of the industry and construction increased from 41.11% (9 months of 2005) up to 41.5% (9 months of 2006); the service from 38.14% up to 38.42%; but the proportion of the agriculture, forestry and fishery reduced from 20.74% to 20.08%.

Total government revenues in 9 months of 2006 were estimated increasing by 15.7% against same period last year and achieved 73.8% of the year estimate, of which domestic revenues gained 69.9%; crude oil revenues: 82.7%; trade budget revenues: 71.8%; aid revenues: 88%. State economic sector revenues achieved 71.9%; tax revenue from non-state industrial, trade and service sectors gained 76.9%; tax revenues applied for high income people achieved 75.1%; lottery revenues gained 82.3%.

Total government expenditure in 9 months was estimated increasing by 20.7% against same period last year and achieving 72.1% of yearly estimate, of which spending for investment and development was 69.2%, only for basic construction was 68.7%, debt and aid settlement 78.3%, current expenditure  77.3%, salary reform 55.5%. Significant items of current spending such as: spending for economic career gained 80.3%; for administrative management was 77.3%, for pension and social welfares 76.4%, for education and vacation training 76%, for health 76.5%. The state budget deficit in 9 months of 2006 was equal to 75.3% the year estimated deficit.

2. Agriculture, forestry and fishery

Output values of this sector in 9 months of 2006 were estimated at 130.3 trillion VND at 1994 constant prices, increased by 4.2% against same period last year; of which agriculture gained 95.9 trillion VND, rose by 3.1%; forestry 4.8 trillion VND, by 1.1%; fishery 29.6 trillion VND, by 8.6%.

a. Agriculture:

Rice cultivated areas for the whole year were estimated at 7346.9 thousand ha, increasing by 17.7 thousand ha against same period last year, the productivity was estimated at 4930 kg/ha, rising by 40 kg/ha against same period last year, of which the productivity of the  winter crop was estimated at 4320 kg/ha, rising by 370 kg/ha. The paddy productivity for the whole year was estimated achieving 36.2 million tons, increasing by 404 thousand tons over last year. If adding 3.7 million tons of maize and other cereals, the total cereal production in 2006 achieved 39.9 million tons, increasing by 0.8% over last year.

Production of perennial industrial crops increased highly over last year, due to the price of these products in the market increased that encouraged the production to develop: Tea rose by 5.2%, coffee by 9.6%, rubber by 11.8%, pepper by 2.4%.

Livestock feeding still maintained the growth. As of 01/8/2006, the country had a herd of 2.9 million buffaloes, approximately equal to the number of same period last year; 6.5 million cattle, increasing by 17.5%; 26.9 million pigs, equaling 97.9%; 214.6 million poultries, reducing by 2.4%. The bird-flu was constrained completely and the foot-and-mouth disease decreased over last month.

b. Forestry:

The forestry production was relatively stable, the area of concentrated forestation in 9 months of 2006 was estimated to achieve 147.7 thousand ha, rising by 2.3% over same period last year; wood cut production rose by 0.2%; the area of destroyed forest was 4.6 thousand ha, decreasing by 47.3%.

c. Fishery:

The aquaculture and fishing were growing rapidly to meet better the demand of domestic using and processing to export. The fishery production of 9 months was estimated at 2696.9 thousand tons, increasing by 8.1% over same period last year, of which farmed production achieved 1146.1 thousand tons, increasing by 19.6%, but the  caught aquatic products achieved 1550.8 thousand tons, rising by 1%, due to unfavorable weather.

3. Industrial output

Generally for 9 months, industrial output value was estimated at 365 trillion VND at 1994 constant prices, increasing by 16.8% against same period last year, of which state owned sector increased by 9.4%, non-state sector by 22% and FDI sector by 19.5% (oil and gas decreased by 4%).

The output value of mining and quarrying industry increased slowly, only 3.4% against same period last year because the production of crude oil decreased by 7.5%; electricity, gas and water production and supply rose by 12.2%, the processing industry accounted for high proportion with the highest growth rate 18.6%.

Almost localities with large scale of industrial production gained high growth rate in 9 months: Ha Noi rose by 18.3%, Hai Phong by 18%, Vinh Phuc by 17.6%, Ha Tay by 22.9%, Hai Duong by 23.3%, Quang Ninh by 17.5%, Binh Duong by 19.4%, Dong Nai by 18.4%, Can Tho by 21.2%, Ho Chi Minh city by 13.7%.

4. Investment

Realized investment for development in 9 months of 2006 at current prices was estimated achieving 287.8 trillion VND, equaling 76.4% of the yearly plan. Of the total investment, state investment was 140.5 trillion VND, equaling 72.6% of the yearly plan; non-state investment 102.7 trillion VND, equaling 80.9%; FDI investment 44.6 trillion VND, equaling 79.6%.

Capital construction investment under the concentrated State budget in 9 months was estimated to gain 44.4 trillion VND and account for 79.1% of the yearly plan. Central investment was 13.6 trillion VND, equaling 78.2% of the yearly plan, of which Ministry of Construction gained 2.39 trillion VND, equaling 115.9%; other ministries achieved from 66% to 78% of the yearly plan. Local investment was 30.8 trillion VND, equaling 79.5% of the yearly plan, of which some localities had huge investment: Ho Chi Minh city: 4.9 trillion VND, Ha Noi: 3.1 trillion VND, Da Nang: 1.7 trillion VND, Ba Ria – Vung Tau: 1.6 trillion VND.

Foreign direct investment: from 1^st January to 20^th September 2006, there had been 580 projects licensed with a total capital registered 3.85 billion USD, increasing by 1.8% in number of projects and 47.7% in capital registered against same period last year. On average a new project licensed achieved 6.6 million USD, higher than the rate 4.6 million USD/project of same period of 2005, mainly focusing on the industry and construction sector with 402 projects and 2.6 billion USD, the service sector 143 projects and 1.19 billion USD, the agriculture, forestry and fishery 35 projects and 62 million USD.

Some localities attracted strongly the foreign investment: Ho Chi Minh was in the first rank with 166 projects and 1065.9 million USD, Ha Noi had 84 projects and 513.7 million USD; Ba Ria – Vung Tau: 8 projects and 349.5 million USD; Binh Duong: 95 projects and 255.8 million USD; Dong Nai: 59 projects and 222.2 million USD; Quang Ngai: 1 project and 556 million USD.

Hong Kong (China) had the highest investment with 636.1 million USD, accounting for 16.5% of the total capital registered; South Korea: 599.2 million USD, accounting for 15.6%; Cayman Islands: 576 million USD, accounting for 15%; Japan: 482.6 million USD, accounting for 12.5%, America: 467.3 million USD, accounting for 12.1%…

Generally for 9 months of 2006, new granted capital and added one were 5.15 billion USD, increasing by 25.9% against same period last year and equaling 79.2% of the yearly plan.

Capital construction investment under concentrated state budget, 9 months of 2006

Foreign direct investment, 01/01 – 20/9/2006

5. Trade, price and tourism

Total retail sales of goods and services in 9 months were estimated at 418.5 trillion VND; increasing by 20.4% over same period last year. The state sector accounted for 12.5% and raised by 9.5% against last year; the individual sector accounted for the highest proportion of 62.7%, rising by 21.7%; the private sector 21.2%, rising by 23.8%.

The total value of export turnovers for 9 months was estimated at 29.4 billion USD, rising by 24.2% against same period last year, of which domestic sector gained 12.3 billion USD, rising by 20.7%; FDI sector was 17.1 billion USD, increasing by 26.9%. Among export commodities, crude oil achieved 6.47 billion USD, equivalent to 12.5 million tons, accounting for the highest proportion of 22%. Export turnovers of textiles & sewing products accounted for 15.2% and the export markets of these products such as America, EU, Japan were quite stable… Exporting footwear increased by 21.4%, but the consumption of this product in EU market tended to be at standstill and moved to Australia market. Other items with over 1 billion USD turnover still maintained a high growth: electronic commodity & computer rose by 19.1%; fishery by 19.2%; wood & wood products by 23.8%, of which fishery was able to compete strongly with other countries in the region. Exporting rice only achieved 4.1 billion tons, reduced 8.4% in volume and 7.2% in value, other agricultural products such as coffee, rubber, cashew nut had higher export turnovers than their volume of export due to their rising prices in the international markets: Coffee decreased by 8.2% in volume but increased by 37.2% in value; rubber increased by 32.5% in volume and 97.1% in value; pepper rose by 22.3% in volume and 35.4% in value.

The total value of import turnovers for 9 months was estimated at 32.75 billion USD, increasing by 19.3% against last year’s same period, trade gap was 3.4 billion USD, equaling 11.4% of export, that reduced much as compared with the rate of 16% of the same period of 2005. Machines, equipment and raw materials for domestic production had high import turnovers, of which import value of machines and equipment rose by 22.1%; electronic commodity, computer and spare parts rose by 18.8%, petroleum by 25.1%.

Consumer prices in September 2006 increased by 0.3% against last month, of which prices of eating commodity and services decreased by 0.2% because the prices of food reduced by 0.7%; but prices for other group of commodities increased: beverages & cigarettes by 0.3%, textiles, hats and footwear by 0.7%, furniture and household equipments by 0.4%; education by 0.7%, culture, sport and entertainment by 0.4%.

Gold price in September 2006 decreased by 2.9% over last month, USD price rose slightly by 0.1%.

Passengers carriage in 9 months of 2006 was estimated at 1037.4 million and 44.1 billion passengers-kilometers, increasing by 9.2% in passengers and 10% in passengers-kilometers against same period last year. Passengers carriage by land still maintained a high growth of 10.2% in passengers and 10.1% in passengers-kilometers, river-way: 4% and 4.9%; airway: 13.1% and 17.7%; sea-way: 11.9% and 10.6% respectively. Only railway decreased 7.8% and 2.8% respectively.

Volume of cargos carried in 9 months was estimated at 256.3 million tons and 64.6 billion tons-kilometers, increasing by 8% in tons and 9.1% in tons-kilometers against same period last year. Generally, cargo carriage by almost transport types increased in tons and tons-kilometers: land-way: 9% and 9%, sea-way: 5.9% and 8.9%, river-way: 6.4% and 6.2%, railway: 5.3% and 20%, airway: 14.3% and 18.1% respectively.

International arrivals to Vietnam in 9 months of 2006 were estimated at 2.68 million, increasing by 4.6% against same period last year. Of which arrivals by airway increased by 15.5%, by sea-way: 16.8%, but by land decreased by 23.3%.

Countries having large and increasing number of visitors to Viet Nam were: South Korea rose by 30.6%, United States by 15.2%, Japan: 20.2%, Australia: 16.4%. Visitors from China achieved the highest rate with 414.9 thousand but decreased by 25.9% against same period last year. Notably, the number of visitors from other countries was smaller but in high increased rates like Thailand: 45%; Norway: 29.7% and Singapore 28.8%.

The Post and Telecommunication was speeding up the progress of international integration. There were 6.6 million new telephone subscribers and 964,100 new internet subscribers over the last nine months. As of end of September 2006, the country had 22.5 million telephone subscribers and 3.87 million internet subscribers. Total turnovers from communication in nine months were estimated at 26.3 trillion VND. Only the Viet Nam Post and Telecommunication Corporation gained 24.6 trillion VND, increasing by 17.8% over same period last year.

Tags: Vietnam economic 2006, Vietnam economic statistics, Vietnam's economy situation