AsemconnectVietnam - In the first quarter of 2024, Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 5.66% compared with the same period last year as exports increased sharply, according to the figures of the General Statistics Office (GSO).

In the first quarter of this year, all economic sectors grew at softer paces: services (6.12% vs. 7.29% in the fourth quarter of 2023), industry and construction (6.28% vs 7.35%), and agriculture, forestry, and fishing (2.98% vs 4.13%).
The government is targeting 6-6.5% growth in 2024. Meantime, the World Bank estimated the economy to advance 5.5% this year while the IMF projected an increase of 5.8%. The economy grew by 5.05% last year, less than the official target of 6.5%.
Vietnam’s trade turnover reached nearly 178 billion USD in the first quarter of 2024
In the first quarter of 2024, import-export turnover maintained a high increase compared to the same period last year, according to the preliminary statistics announced by the General Department of Customs.
Specifically, in the first quarter, the country’s export turnover reached 92.88 billion USD, up by 16.8% over the same period last year.
In the first quarter, many export product groups reached a turnover of 1 billion USD and all had high growth rates. Notably, there were 3 product groups with turnover of 10 billion USD or more.
Leading the way were computers, electronic products and components with 16.33 billion USD, up by 35.7% over the same period last year.
Phones and components ranked second with 14.2 billion USD, an increase of 5.9%; followed by machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts with 10.93 billion USD, an increase of 10.8%.
With a total turnover of approximately 41.5 billion USD, the three tens of billion dollar groups alone accounted for 44.72% of the country's total export turnover.
On the contrary, the country’s imports of goods in the first quarter reached 85 billion USD, up by 14% over the same period last year.
Among them, there were 2 product groups with a turnover of tens of billions of dollars: computers, electronic products and components with 24 billion USD, up to 24.1% over the same period last year; machinery, equipment, tools, and spare parts with 10.34 billion USD, an increase of 12.5%.
Thus, in the first quarter of 2024, the country's total import-export turnover reached 177.88 billion USD, with a surplus of 7.88 billion USD.
Vietnam’s CPI rises in the first quarter of 2024
Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, climbed 3.77% year-on-year in the first quarter, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The rise was attributed to a surge in domestic rice prices. This increase mirrored a rise in export rice prices and was further fueled by higher demand for glutinous and jasmine rice varieties during the Kitchen Gods' Day and Lunar New Year holidays. The rice price jumped 21.71% annually during the quarter, pushing up the overall CPI by 0.55 percentage points.
The core inflation, which excludes volatile items like food, energy, and health and education services, remained relatively stable, rising 2.81% annually in the first quarter.
Looking at monthly figures, the March CPI rose 1.12% compared to December 2023 and 3.97% year-on-year. However, it did see a slight decrease of 0.23% compared to February.
The prices of water, electricity, education, medicines, and health services recorded respective increases of 10.58%, 9.38%, 9.02% and 6.51%.
Meanwhile, those of food and dining services, education, and transportation all decreased slightly on a month-on-month basis, by 0.76%, 0.29%, and 0.03%, respectively.
Year-on-year comparisons also revealed a 1.47% decline in the cost of postal and telecommunication services.
On a different note, the prices of gold and US dollars experienced significant increases in March, rising 22.71% and 4.32% year-on-year, respectively.
Gold price increases 8% in the first quarter of 2024
The price of SJC gold bars rose to nearly 81 million VND (3,266 USD) per tael (one tael is equivalent to 1.33 ounces) in the last trading session of the first quarter (March 30), up by 8% from the outset of the quarter.
In March alone, the gold price rose by 1.25%, peaking at 82.5 million VND per tael in the period from March 10-12.
The global gold prices rallied 9% in March, driven by expectations of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve this year and high demand on safe assets.
According to Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Pham Thanh Ha, despite the complex price fluctuation, the gold market remained stable, causing no pressure on the official foreign exchange market.
Three-month FDI inflow into Vietnam increased by 13.4% year – on - year
By March 20, Vietnam had attracted 6.17 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI), a year-on-year rise of 13.4%, according to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Specifically, in the period, 644 new projects with total registered capital of 4.77 billion USD were granted investment certificates, up 23.4% in the number of projects, and 57.9% in value year-on-year.
A total of 934.6 million USD was registered to be added to 248 existing projects and 466.2 million USD earmarked for stake purchase and capital contribution.
The disbursed foreign investment rose by 7.1% in the first quarter to reach 4.63 billion USD, a signal that the disbursement will continue the positive trend, the agency said.
Foreign investors poured capital into 17 out of 21 economic sectors, among which, the manufacturing and processing industry took the lead with total registered capital of 3.93 billion USD, a slight decrease of 1.3% from the same period last year.
The real estate sector came second with total registered capital of 1.58 billion USD, 2.1 times higher than the figure of the same period last year, followed by the wholesale and retail industry and science and technology with investment of 224.8 million USD and 190.2 million USD, respectively.
The foreign investment influx came from 62 countries and territories. Singapore was the biggest investor in Vietnam in the period with total registered capital of over 2.55 billion USD, up by 51.3%, followed by Hong Kong (China) with 1.05 billion USD, 2.3 times higher.
The capital city of Hanoi was the top FDI destination with an influx of 970.8 million USD, rising by 6.1 times over the same period last year, followed by northern Bac Ninh province with 745.2 million USD.
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Source: VITIC/congthuong.vn/vietnamplus.vn