News Room - Business/Economics

Posted on 30 Jan 2008

Economic development continues in January

Viet Nam earned 4.5 billion USD from exports in January, registering an increase of 19.7 percent from the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.

Of the total, the foreign-invested sector's export value increased 22.3 percent to 2.5 billion USD and that of the locally-invested sector rose 16.6 percent to 2 billion USD.

In the month, crude oil was reported as the largest hard currency earner, grossing 826 million USD, up 46.5 percent. It was followed by garments, with 720 million USD, up 20.7 percent.

Latex, electronics, computer sets, and electric wire and cable further maintained their high export growth rates which ranged between 23.5-39 percent.

Among agricultural products, tea chalked an increase of more than 66 percent in export value. It was followed by pepper, up nearly 55 percent and cashew nut, over 50 percent.

During January, the country imported 5.5 billion USD worth of machineries, equipment and consumers' goods, an increase of 27 percent from the same period last year.

The country's industrial production registered an increase of 18.2 percent, with growth being seen in all economic sectors, namely the state-owned, non-state and foreign-invested sectors.

Viet Nam welcomed 420,000 foreign visitors in January – the lead-up to Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday with a number of cultural events and festivals. China had the highest number of visitors to the Southeast Asian country and it was followed by Singapore and Thailand.