The economic situation continues to trend positively

The conference

Positive picture of domestic production

According to Minister and Head of the Government Office Tran Van Son, on the same morning, the Government held a regular meeting in July chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to assess the socio-economic situation in July and the first 7 months.

Accordingly, the Government assessed that in July and the first 7 months of the year, the socio-economic situation continued to trend positively, in general, the results in July were higher than in June and the overall 7 months were better than the same period in 2023, the socio-economic situation in the past 7 months continued to trend positively.

Notably, the economy continued to grow positively in all 3 sectors. The macro-economy continued to be stable, inflation was controlled, and major balances were ensured.

The agricultural sector continued to grow steadily. The industrial sector recovered well, with an overall increase of 8.5% in the first 7 months. The service sector continued to grow quite well; Total retail sales of goods and consumer services revenue increased by 8.7% in 7 months. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) in July 2024 reached 54.7 points, the highest since November 2018 with a sharp increase in output and new orders.

In addition, exports continued to increase, with a large trade surplus, contributing to ensuring the balance of payments. Exports in July increased by 6.7% compared to June and 19.1% compared to the same period; in the first 7 months, it increased by 15.7%; imports increased by 18.5%; trade surplus was 14.08 billion USD.

Minister and Head of the Government Office Tran Van Son chaired the press conference.

At the same time, the state budget revenue increased sharply, the financial situation - state budget continued to improve. The total state budget for 7 months is estimated to reach 69.8% of the yearly estimate, up 14.6% over the same period; while 87.2 trillion VND of taxes, fees and charges have been exempted and reduced.

The Minister and Head of the Government Office also said that development investment continued to achieve positive results, creating momentum to promote growth. FDI attraction reached 18 billion USD, up 10.9%; realized FDI capital reached 12.55 billion USD, up 8.4%, the highest in the past 5 years. At the same time, business development continued to have a positive trend. In the first 7 months of the year, 139,500 enterprises were newly established and re-entered the market, up 5.9% over the same period.

According to Minister and Head of the Government Office Tran Van Son, in addition to affirming that the achieved results are fundamental, the Government members frankly acknowledged that there are still shortcomings, limitations, difficulties and challenges.

Notably, inflationary pressure is still high; the situation of the world financial, monetary and real estate markets still has many risks; the production and business situation in some sectors is still difficult; the number of enterprises withdrawing from the market is still high; accessing to credit capital is still difficult; the real estate market has initially stabilized, but difficulties and problems are still slow to be resolved; the implementation of the 140 trillion VND credit package for social housing is still slow, etc.

The Minister and Head of the Government Office added that from now until the end of the year, the Prime Minister requested each ministry, agency and locality to focus on promoting growth associated with maintaining macroeconomic stability; focus on renewing traditional growth drivers and strongly promoting new growth drivers.

At the same time, there are effective mechanisms and policies to strongly promote new growth drivers (especially in terms of institutions, mechanisms, policies; digital transformation, circular economy, technology such as semiconductor chips, AI, etc).

Resolutely further promote the disbursement of public investment capital, speed up the construction progress of important and key national infrastructure projects, especially the 500KV project of circuit 3 Quang Trach - Pho Noi); expressway system (striving to put about 3,000 km into operation by 2025).

Industrial production is recovering strongly

Sharing more about the industrial recovery situation, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang said that industrial production has many notable bright spots.

Accordingly, important indicators have increased sharply such as: the PMI index in July 2024 of the manufacturing industry reached 54.7 points, up 4 consecutive months and the highest level since November 2018; the industrial production index (IIP) after 7 months increased by 8.5% compared to the same period last year, the highest cumulative level since February 2024 to date, in which the processing and manufacturing industry increased by 9.5%.

Basic industrial production grew broadly in 60/63 localities in July, with only 3 localities recording a decrease. Some localities have high growth rates such as Khanh Hoa, Bac Giang, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, etc.

The consumption index of the processing and manufacturing industry increased, helping to reduce the inventory index compared to the same period last year. Some key industrial products increased compared to the same period last year such as steel bars, angle steel; natural fiber fabrics; rolled steel; NPK mixed fertilizer; electricity production, etc.

“The growth results of industry in general and the processing and manufacturing industry in particular mentioned above reflect a very positive picture of domestic production,” emphasized Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang.

According to the Deputy Minister, industrial production is recovering strongly compared to 2023, and is continuing to grow positively. In particular, the processing and manufacturing industry has returned to playing a leading role in economic growth.

Basic industrial production grew broadly in most localities across the country, especially in localities playing a key role in industrial development.

The production capacity of domestic industrial enterprises has recovered very positively and is ready to take advantage of opportunities to access new markets in the coming time.

The confidence of domestic and foreign manufacturing enterprises has been strongly reinforced thanks to positive signals in industrial production growth in the first months of 2024.