Vietnam’s trade deficit was estimated at 3.08 billion USD in the first seven months of this year. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’strade deficit was estimated at 3.08 billion USD in the first seven months ofthis year, according to the latest data released by the General StatisticsOffice (GSO).
The trade deficit from January-July equaled 2.7 percent of the country’sexport revenue in the period, GSO said.
The office said the trade deficit was driven by an upward trend inimports, due to high demand for manufacturing, processing, and exporting.
During the period, the trade deficit incurred by the domestic sectortotaled 14.7 billion USD, while the foreign-invested sector continued its tradedeficit with a mark of 11.69 billion USD.
Import turnover during the first seven months jumped by 24 percentyear-on-year to 118.3 billion USD, with imports by the domestic sector touching46.9 billion USD, an 18.4 percent increase, while those of the foreign-investedsector were 71.4 billion USD, an increase of 24 percent.
The import value registered a year-on-year surge of 37.4 percentfor machines, equipment, tools and components to reach 21.4 billion USD, 30.6 percentfor telephone and its components to reach 7.3 billion USD, 27.4 percent forelectronic products, computer and their components to reach 19.2 billion USDand 16.7 percent for steel to reach 5.2 billion USD.
China still accounted for the largest share of Vietnam’s importsat 31.7 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 15.8 percent. The Republic ofKorea and ASEAN came second and third with 26.7 billion USD and 16 billion USD,respectively.
Meanwhile, export turnover during the seven months rose 18.7 percentyear-on-year to 115.2 billion USD. Of the estimate, exports by the domesticsector totaling 32.2 billion USD, a 14.6 percent increase, while those of the foreign-investedsector reached 83.1 billion USD, an increase of 20.3 percent.
The first seven months of 2017 continued to see steady growth of Vietnam’smain exports, with phones and components up 15 percent to 22.6 billion USD,garments up 8.1 percent to 14.2 billion USD and footwear up 12.9 percent to 8.4billion USD.
Other key exports such as machinery, seafood, timber and coffeeposted strong growth.
The United States remained the largest consumer of Vietnamesegoods at 23.4 billion USD, followed by the EU and China at 21.5 billion USD and15.5 billion USD, respectively.-VNA
VNA
