Vietnam's economy is estimated to grow 8.4 percent this year, but inflation is expected to rise even faster, with prices shooting up 12.6 percent in the same period, state media quoted the government as saying yesterday.
The economic growth estimate sets a new record for the nation, Vietnamese Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc told a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, according to the Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper.
Export revenues -- mainly from oil, textiles and footwear, electronics, seafood, rice and coffee -- reached US$48.3 billion, but the trade deficit hit a new peak of US$12.4 billion, doubling last year's gap, it said.
The newspaper report said the US had now replaced the EU as Vietnam's top export market, accounting for 22 and 19 percent of its export revenues respectively.
GDP for this year is estimated to rise 8.44 percent, representing per capita GDP of US$833 for the year, the minister said, although he warned that the gap between the rich and poor was growing.
Foreign investment pledges in Vietnam have surged by nearly 70 percent so far this year thanks to the country's admission to the WTO, said Nguyen Viet Cuong, an official with the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
As of Dec. 22, foreign investors have agreed to invest US$20.25 billion, up 68.7 percent from the same period last year, the official said.
Last year, Vietnam attracted US$12 billion in foreign direct investment, a record since the country began accepting foreign investment in 1998.
"This year we had expected to attract only US$13.5 billion, but this is beyond our expectation," Nguyen said.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,406 new projects have been licensed worth US$17.6 billion. Investment in 361 existing projects has increased by US$2.65 billion.
Major deals include Trustee Suisse's project to invest in a tourism complex in Phu Quoc, in the southern Kien Giang Province, and the Vung Ro oil refinery being built by Britain's Technostar Management Ltd and the Russian Tettoi Oil and Gas Co.
"The admission to the WTO has definitely made Vietnam more attractive to foreign investors," said Le Dang Doanh, an economist.
In exchange for joining the WTO, Vietnam was required to slash tariffs and open previously closed sectors of its economy to foreign investors.
Amid the rapid economic growth, strong capital inflows and higher world oil prices, the consumer price index shot up to a decade-high of 12.6 percent, hurting the poor especially through higher food and fuel prices.
The cost of goods and services is set to spiral up another 1.8 percent next month ahead of the traditional Tet Lunar New Year celebrations in February, the country's main holiday, said Trade and Industry Minister Vu Huy Hoang.
In tourism, Vietnam received more than 4 million foreign visitors, up 16.4 percent year-on-year, the report said.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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