SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION IN THE SECOND QUARTER AND THE FIRST 6 BEGINNING MONTHS OF 2020

I. ECONOMIC SITUATION

1. Gross domestic product (GDP)

GDP in the first six months of 2020 was estimated to increase by 1.81% over the same period last year, the lowest six-month growth rate in the period of 2011-2020[1] (the second quarter of 2020 recorded the estimated rise of 0.36%[2]). In the 1.81% growth rate of the whole economy in the first half of 2020, the sector of agriculture, forestry and fishery expanded by 1.19%, contributing 11.89% to the overall growth; the sector of industry and construction rose by 2.98%, contributing 73.14%; and the service sector climbed by 0.57%, contributing 14.97%. The driving force of economic growth in the first six months of the year was the manufacturing with an increase of 4.96% and the market services (Wholesale and retail saw a rise of 4.3%; financial, banking and insurance activities showed an expansion of 6.78%).

Regarding the economic structure in the first quarter of 2020, the sector of agriculture, forestry and fishery accounted for 14.16% of GDP; the sector of industry and construction took 33.44%; the service sector represented 42.04%; the taxes less subsidies on production made up 10.36% (corresponding structure in the same period of 2019 was 13.54%; 34.20%; 42.03%; 10.23%, respectively).

According to the GDP structure by expenditure category in the first half of 2020, final consumption jumped up by 0.69% compared to that in the same period in 2019; accumulated assets moved up by 1.93%; export of goods and services suffered a drop of 0.31%; import of goods and services recorded an 2.54% decrease.

+ Gross Domestic Products at current prices
+ Gross Domestic Products at constant 2010 prices

2. Agriculture, forestry and fishery

a) Agriculture

The cultivated winter-spring rice area over the country this year reached 3,024.1 thousand hectares (ha), equalling 96.8% of that in the same period last year, of which Northern localities gained 1,097.8 thousand ha, equalling 98.3%; Southern localities achieved 1,926.3 thousand ha, equalling 96%. According to the preliminary report, the whole country’s estimated winter-spring rice productivity reached 6,580 kilograms per ha (kg/ha), an increase of 30 kg/ha compared to that in the similar period last year.

As of mid-June, localities over the country sowed 1,707.6 thousand ha of summer-autumn rice, equalling 94.4% of that figure in the identical period last year, of which the Mekong Delta recorded 1,350.5 thousand ha, equalling 96.5%. Up to present, 184 thousand ha of early summer-autumn rice in the Mekong Delta were harvested, equalling 109.8% of the figure in the similar period in 2019.

As of mid-June, the whole country cultivated 544 thousand ha of maize, equalling 95.5% of the recorded figure in the corresponding period last year; 73.4 thousand ha of sweet potato, equalling 91.9%; 23.6 thousand ha of soya bean, equalling 89.4%; 132 thousand ha of peanut, equalling 95.7%; and 722.8 thousand ha of vegetables and beans, equalling 100.1%.

In the first six months of 2020, the yield of perennial industrial crops increased compared to the same period last year, specifically as follows: Tea reached 475 thousand tons, up 2.4%; rubber achieved 383 thousand tons, up 8.8%; cashew gained 317 thousand tons, up 14.9%; pepper recorded 266 thousand tons, up 2.7%. The output of some fruit trees increased significantly, namely: dragon fruits gained 631 thousand tons, a rise of 7.7% over the same period last year; mango recorded 547 thousand tons, up 4.4%; orange attained 315 thousand tons, a 6.8% increase; pomelo achieved 220 thousand tons, moving up by 8.4%; litchi reached 144 thousand tons, increasing by 20%.

The whole country’s buffalo population in June continued to witness a reduction of 2% compared to the same period in 2019 because the economic efficiency was not high; cattle population recorded a significant increase of 3.4%. The whole country’s pig population in June 2020 was estimated to decrease by 7.5% from the similar period of 2019[3]. Estimated poultry population in June 2020 expanded by 7.4% over the identical period last year; the production of living weight of poultry in the first six months of 2020 reached 702.1 thousand tons, growing by 12.3%; poultry eggs attained 7.2 billion pieces, increasing by 11%. As of June 25, 2020, the whole country has had no longer bird flu and blue-ear pig disease. The foot-and-mouth disease less than 21 days has still existed in Kon Tum province. African swine fever recorded in 238 communes under 60 districts of 19 localities has not yet passed 30 days (in June, this epidemic disease has recurred in 122 communes of 12 localities).

+ Agricultural production as of June 15, 2020
+ Production of winter-spring crop in 2020
+ Cultivated area, productivity, yield of winter-spring rice in 2020 by province
+ Main products of animal husbandry

b) Forestry

The area of newly concentrated forest in the first six months of 2020 was estimated at 106.3 thousand ha, increasing by 0.2% over the same period last year (it reached 73.7 thousand ha in the second quarter of 2020, down 0.9%). The number of separately planted forestry trees gained 44.5 million trees, a decline of 2.2% (the second quarter recorded 22.8 million trees, down 3.8%). Wood production achieved 7,526 thousand m3, a rise of 2% (it gained 4,665 thousand m3, up 0.7%). 9.9 million steres of firewood was recorded, a decrease of 0.9% (5.2 miliion steres in the second quarter, down 1.9%).

In the first six months of the year, there were 1,304 ha of damaged forest, increasing by 43.8% over the same period last year, of which burnt area was 975.6 ha, up 71.9%; destroyed area was 328.4 ha, down 3.2%.

+ Outcome of forestry production

c) Fishery

In the first six months of this year, fish production was estimated at 3,864 thousand tons, increasing by 1.6% from the corresponding period last year (the second quarter recorded 2,360.9 thousand tons, up 1.3%), of which fish gained 2,890.5 thousand tons, a rise of 1.1%; shrimp achieved 422.8 thousand tons, an expansion of 4%; other aquatic products reched 550.7 thousand tons, an increase of 2.5%.

The output of aquaculture in six months was 1,977.1 thousand tons, recording a rise of 1.8% against the same period last year (it gained 1,315 thousand tons, up 1.7%), of which fish reached 1,415.8 thousand tons, growing by 0.2%; shrimp attained 347.3 thousand tons, climbing by 5.5%; other aquatic products recorded 214 thousand tons, increasing by 7.4%.

The production of fishery caught in the first 6 months of 2020 witnessed a growth of 1.4% with 1,886.9 thousand tons (the second quarter recorded 1,045.9 thousand tons of fishery caught, up 0.9%), including 1,474.7 thousand tons of fish, a rise 2%; 75.5 thousand tons of shrimp, a drop of 2.3%; 336.7 thousand tons of other aquatic products, a decline of 0.4%.

+ Fishing production

3. Industry

Index of industrial production (IIP) in the first six months of 2020 recorded a growth of 2.71% compared to the similar period last year, of which the manufacturing increased by 4.96%, lower than the growth of the same period in the years from 2011 to 2020[4].

In the opening six months of 2020, consumption index of the whole manufacturing witnessed a 4.3% increase compared to the same period last year (it rose by 9.6% in the similar period in 2019). Inventory index of the entire manufacturing as of June 30, 2020 grew by 26.7% over the similar period last year (it went up by 16.1% in the same period in 2019). Average inventory rate of the whole manufacturing in the first six months of 2020 reached the considerable growth of 78.9% (it was 74.9% in the identical period last year).

+ Industrial Production Index in June and six months of 2020
+ Industrial Production Index in quarters of 2020
+ Main industrial products in June and six months of 2020
+ Main industrial products in quarters of 2020
+ Consumption and stock indexes of the manufacturing
+ Labor employed index (LEI) for industrial enterprises
+ Labor employed index (LEI) for industrial enterprises by province

4. Enterprises

a) Business registration situation[5]

In June 2020, there were 13,725 newly established enterprises over the country with the registered capital of VND 139.1 trillion and 100 thousand registered  laborers, a rise of 27.9% in the number of enterprises, 23.4% in the registered capital and 9.4% in the number of laborers compared to the previous month[6]. Generally for the first six months of the year, the whole country had 62 thousand enterprises registered for new establishment with a registered capital of VND 697.1 trillion and 507.2 thousand registered laborers, decreasing by 7.3% in the number of enterprises, by 19% in the amount of registered capital and by 21.8% in the number of laborers compared to the same period last year. The average registered capital per new enterprise in six months was VND 11.2 billion, showing a drop of 12.5% against the same period last year. The total registered capital added to the economy in the first six months of 2020 was VND 1,681.5 trillion, including VND 984.4 trillion of the additional capital of 18 thousand enterprises registering to increase capital, falling by 22.5% from the same period last year. In addition, there were 25.2 thousand enterprises resumed operation, increasing by 16.4% over the similar period in 2019, bringing the total number of newly registered enterprises and re-operated enterprises in six months to 87.2 thousand ones, a decline of 1.5% against the similar period last year.

In six months, the number of enterprises suspending operation for a definite time was 29.2 thousand ones, increasing by 38.2% compared to the similar period last year; the number of enterprises ceased operation waiting for dissolution procedures was 19.6 thousand ones, reducing by 10.2%; 7.4 thousand enterprises completed dissolution procedures, showing a decline of 5%; 22.4 thousand enterprises have not operated at the registered address, expanding by 33.9%.

+ Some indicators on enterprises
+ Newly established enterprises
+ Number of re-operated enterprises
+ Number of enterprises suspending for a definite time
+ Number of enterprises completed dissolution procedures

b) Business trends of enterprises

Survey results on business trends of enterprises in the manufacturing in the second quarter of 2020 showed that: 27.3% of enterprises rated their business performance in the second quarter of 2020 better than the first quarter of 2020; 40.8% of enterprises pointed to difficulties and 31.9% of enterprises said that their business and production situation was stable[7]. Expected in the third quarter of 2020 in comparison with the second quarter of 2020, 49.1% of enterprises rated the trend would be better; 19.4% of enterprises forecasted more difficulties and 31.5% of businesses thought that the business and production situation would be stable.

5. Trade and transport activities

Generally for the first six months, total retail sales of consumer goods and services reached VND 2,380.8 trillion, down 0.8% over the same period last year, if excluding the price factor, it decreased by 5.3%, of which it was estimated to gain VND 1,154.9 trillion in the second quarter, falling by 5.8% from the previous quarter and by 4.6% against the same period last year. By kinds of economic activity, retail sales of goods in six months recorded VND 1,895.6 trillion, accounting for 79.6% of the total and going up by 3.4% over the similar period last year; Estimated sales of accommodation and catering services attained VND 234.7 trillion, taking 9.9% of the total and falling by 18.1%; Sales of travelling achieved VND 10.3 trillion, making up 0.4% of the total and dropping by 53.2%; Sales of other services reached VND 240.2 trillion, representing 10.1% of the total and moving down by 7.4%.

Generally for six months, transport of passengers reached 1,812.6 million passengers, a decrease of 27.3% from the corresponding period last year and 82.4 billion passengers-km, a decline of 32.7% (it achieved 681.1 million passengers in the second quarter, down 44.4% and 29.1 billion passengers-km, down 51.9%). The freight gained 807.9 million tons, moving down by 8.1% against the similar period last year and 159.8 billion tons-km, reducing by 7.1% (the second quarter recorded 379.1 million tons of goods carried, down 15.4% and 77.3 billion tons-km, down 12.1%).

Turnover of telecommunications in the first six months of 2020 reached VND 192.1 trillion, an increase of 3.5% compared to the same period last year (if excluding the price factor, it increased by 3%) . As of the end of June 2020, the total number of telephone subscribers was estimated to achieve 130.4 million subscribers, a decline of 5.3% from the similar period last year, of which mobile phone subscribers reached 126.9 million ones, falling by 5.1%. The number of fixed broadband Internet subscribers recorded 15.7 million ones, climbing by 13.7%.

Generally, international visitors to Vietnam in the first six months of the year was estimated at 3,744.5 thousand arrivals, moving down by 55.8% compared to the same period last year, of which visitors coming by airway gained 3,040.5 thousand arrivals, accounting for 81.2% of the number of international visitors to Vietnam, dropping by 54.3%; visitors coming by road achieved 559.6 thousand arrivals, going down by 66.8%; visitors coming by seaway witnessed a rise of 3.7% with 144.3 thousand arrivals. Visitors coming from Asia recorded 2,729.6 thousand arrivals, decreasing by 58.4% over the identical period last year; Visitors from Europe reached  666.1 thousand arrivals, down 42%; Visitors from America gained 234.4 thousand arrivals, down 54.8%; Visitors from Australia achieved 102.3 thousand arrivals, dropping by 54.4%; Visitors from Africa reached 12.1 thousand arrivals, reducing by 46.6% from the same period in 2019.

+ Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in June and 6 months of 2020
+ Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in quarters of 2020
+ Carriage of passengers in June and six months of 2020
+ Carriage of passengers in quarters of 2020
+ Carriage of cargos in June and six months of 2020
+ Carriage of cargos in quarters of 2020
+ International visitors to Vietnam in June and six months of 2020
+ International visitors to Vietnam in quarters of 2020

6. Banking, insurance and stock market

As of June 19, 2020, total payment means increased by 4.59% over the end of 2019 (it grew by 6.05% in the same period last year); capital mobilization of credit organizations witnessed a rise of 4.35% (its growth rate in the same period in 2019 was 6.09%); credit growth of the economy hit 2.45% (it was 6.22% in the corresponding period last year), this is the lowest credit growth rate at the time-point June 19 of the years 2016-2020[8].

The premium income for the entire market in the first half of 2020 hit an 11% growth compared to the same period last year (it was estimated to grow by 6% in the second quarter of 2020), of which life insurance premium revenues saw a rise of 13%; non-life insurance premium revenues expanded by 8%.

Generally, the stock market’s total capital mobilization for the economy in the first six months of 2020 reached an estimate of VND 94.6 trillion, down 37% compared to the similar period last year. In the stock market, as of 11 a.m, June 26, 2020, the VNIndex hit 857.38 points, decreasing by 0.8% from the end of the previous month and by 10.8% against the end of 2019; market capitalization as of June 18, 2020 gained VND 4,030 trillion, suffering a drop of 8.1% from the end of 2019; The average transaction value in the beginning six months of the year achieved VND 5,633 billion per session, a rise of 20.9% compared to the average in 2019. In the bond market, there were 492 listed bond codes with a listing value of VND 1,172 trillion, going down by 1.5% compared to the end of 2019. In the derivatives market, the average trading volume from the beginning of the year until now recorded 163,984 contracts per session, up 85% compared to that in 2019.

7. Social investment capital

Realized social investment capital at current prices in the first half of 2020 was estimated at VND 850.3 trillion, increasing by 3.4% over the similar period last year and equalled 33% of GDP (it reached VND 481.2 trillion, up 4%), of which the State sector’s capital reached VND 273.5 trillion, holding 32.2% of the total capital and expanding by 7.4% from the same period last year; the non-State sector’s capital achieved VND 375.9 trillion, accounting for 44.2%, increasing by 4.6%; the FDI sector’s capital gained VND 200.9 trillion, representing 23.6%, moving down by 3.8%.

The total foreign investment in Vietnam as of June 20, 2020, including the newly registered, adjusted capital, contributed capital and shares purchased by foreign investors, reached nearly US$ 15.7 billion, down 15.1% compared to the same period last year. In particular, there were 1,418 newly licensed projects with a total registered capital of nearly US$ 8.5 billion, a decline of 17.7% in the number of projects and a rise of 13.8% in the amount of registered capital against the similar period last year. In addition, there were 526 turns of license-granted projects from previous years registered to adjust investment capital with additional capital of US$ 3.7 billion, increasing by 26.8%; 4,125 turns of capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors with the total contributed capital of nearly US$ 3.5 billion, falling by 56.8%, including 866 turns of capital contribution, share purchase increasing the charter capital of enterprises with the contributed capital of US$ 1.6 billion, and 3,259 turns of foreign investors buying domestic shares back without increasing charter capital with contributed capital of US$ 1.9 billion. The realized foreign direct investment capital the first six months of 2020 was estimated at US$ 8.65 billion, down 4.9% over the similar period last year.

+ Realized social investment capital at current prices
+ Realized investment capital under the State budget in June and six months of 2020
+ Realized investment capital under the State budget in quarters of 2020
+ Licensed FDI projects from January 01 to June 20, 2020

8. Government revenues and expenditures

Total estimated government revenues from the beginning of the year to June 15, 2020 achieved VND 607.1 trillion, equalling 40.1% of the annual estimate, of which domestic revenues recorded VND 503.8 trillion, equalling 39.9%; collecting from crude oil gained VND 20.2 trillion, equalling 57.5%; from export-import balance obtained VND 82.8 trillion, equalling 39.8%.

Total government expenditures from the beginning of the year to June 15, 2020 was estimated at VND 676.2 trillion, equalling 38.7% of the yearly estimate, of which regular expenditures were VND 475.1 trillion, equalling 45%; expenditure on development investment achieved VND 140.3 trillion, equaling 29.8%; VND 56.4 trillion were spent on interest payment, equalling 47.8%.

9. Exports and imports

a) Merchandize exports and imports[9]

Generally for the first six months of the year, export turnover of goods was estimated at US$ 121.21 billion, a decline of 1.1% from the same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector achieved US$ 41.38 billion, jumping up by 11.7%, accounting for 34.1% of the total export turnover; the FDI sector (including crude oil) gained US$ 79.83 billion, reducing by 6.7%, accounting for 65.9%. There were 22 items with export turnover of more than US$ 1 billion, taking 86.2% of the total export turnover (4 export items with turnover of more than US$ 10 billion, accounting for 52.7%).

Generally, import turnover of goods in the first six months of 2020 reached an estimate of US$ 117.17 billion, moving down by 3% from the same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector gained US$ 51.55 billion, increasing by 0.1%; the FDI sector achieved US$ 65.62 billion, falling by 5.4%. There were 22 import items with turnover of more than US$ 1 billion, representing 81.2% of the total import turnover.

The trade balance of goods in the first six months of 2020 continued to record trade surplus of US$ 4 billion[10] (it had trade surplus of US$ 1.7 billion in the same period last year), of which the domestic economic sector had trade deficit of US$ 10.2 billion while the FDI sector (including crude oil) witnessed trade surplus of US$ 14.2 billion.

b) Export and import of services

In the first half of 2020, service export turnover was estimated at US$ 4.7 billion, down 50.3% compared to the same period last year (it gained US$ 951 million, down 79.2%), of which travel service reached US$ 2.4 billion (accounting for 51.5% of the total turnover), a decline of 56.1%; transportation service achieved US$ 510 million (accounting for 15.3%), decreasing by 31.9%. Estimated service import turnover in the first six months of this year reached an estimate of US$ 8.9 billion, down 14.4% over the identical period last year (it attained US$ 4 billion in the second quarter, down 25.2%), of which transportation service gained US$ 3.7 billion (accounting for 41.8% of the total turnover), falling by 2.4%; travel service achieved US$ 2.1 billion (making up 23.6%), showing a reduction of 32.6%. Trade deficit of services in the first half of 2020 was estimated at US$ 4.2 billion, equalling 88.6% of the service export turnover.

+ Exports
+ Exports in quarters of 2020
+ Imports
+ Imports in quarters of 2020
+ Exports and imports of services in quarters of 2020

10. Price indexes

a) Consumer price indexes (CPI)

In CPI’s increase of 0.66% in June 2020 compared to the previous month, the highest growth rate in the period 2016-2020[11], there were 7/11 main groups of goods and services with increased price index, of which the transportation group recorded the highest growth. CPI in the second quarter of 2020 decreased by 1.87% from the previous quarter and expanded by 2.83% against the similar period in 2019. Average CPI in the first six months of the year increased by 4.19% compared to the same period in 2019. Average core inflation in the first half of 2020 climbed by 2.81% over the similar period last year.

b) Gold and US dollar price indexes

The domestic gold prices increased according to the world gold price due to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic. US-China tensions as well as protests and riots in the US make gold a safe investment channel. Gold price index in June 2020 grew by 1.71% over the previous month, by 16.81% over December 2019, and by 30.18% against the same period last year.

The US dollar price index in June 2020 witnessed a 0.58% decrease from the previous month, a 0.47% growth against December 2019 and a reduction of 0.59% compared to the same period in 2019.

c) Producer price indexes (PPI) and export-import price indexes

PPI for agriculture, forestry and fishery in the second quarter of 2020 increased by 0.82% against the previous quarter and  by 8.31% over the same period last year; similarly, PPI for industry dropped  by 1.66% and by 1.69%; PPI for services moved down by 1.96% and by 2.28%. Generally for the first six months of the year, PPI for agriculture, forestry and fishery recorded a rise of 7.13% compared to the similar period in 2019; PPI for industry dropped by 0.33%; PPI for services grew by 0.07%.   

In the second quarter of 2020, merchandize export price index fell by 1.74% from the previous quarter and by 1.91% against the same period last year; similarly, merchandize import price index moved down by 0.74% and by 0.98%. Merchandize term of trade[12] in the second quarter of 2020 went down by 1% compared to the previous quarter and by 0.94% from the idendital period last year. Generally for the first half of 2020, merchandize export price index decreased by 1.22% against the corresponding period in 2019; merchandize import price index saw a decline of 0.45%; merchandize term of trade decreased by 0.78% from the same period in 2019.

+ Consumer price indexes, gold, US dollar price indexes and core inflation in June 2020
+ Producer Price Indexes
+ Price index of materials, fuels used for production
+ Transport and Warehouse Charge Index
+ Merchandize export price index
+ Merchandize import price index
+ Commodity term of trade

II. SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Social security

Generally, in the first six months of 2020, the whole country recorded 16.5 thousand households suffering from food shortage, corresponding to 66.5 thousand persons suffering from this difficulty, showing the sharp decrease of 74.6% compared to the similar period last year both in the turns of households and in the number of people suffering from food shortage. To overcome this problem, from the beginning of the year, all administrative levels, sectors and organizations from the central to local supported difficult households with 733.6 tons of rice.

According to the preliminary report, the total value of gifts given to policy beneficiary objects, people with merit, social protection beneficiaries in the first six months of2020 was over VND 8.1 trillion, of which VND 2.9 trillion were used to pay a compliment and support policy beneficiary objects; VND 2.6 trillion were used to support poor households; and VND 2.6 trillion were used for food aid and other social relief. In addition, more than 18.5 million free health insurance cards and health care books/cards were donated to the policy beneficiaries throughout the country. As of June 10, 2020, the country disbursed VND 10.5 trillion to support people in difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including over VND 10.4 trillion for people with meritorious services to the revolution, social protection beneficiaries, people in poor and near poor households; VND 50.5 billion for employees; VND 2.6 billion for business households.

2. Education and training

In the school year 2019-2020, the whole country has had 17 million pupils of general education, increasing by 2.9% compared to the last school year, including 8.7 million primary school pupils, up 2.3%; 5.6 million lower secondary school pupils, up 3.5%; and 2.7 million pupils in upper secondary schools, up 3.7%.

3. Health

In the first six months of 2020, the whole country had nearly 32 thousand cases of hemorrhagic fever (3 cases died); 5,693 cases of hand, foot, mouth disease; 240 cases of virus encephalitis (7 deaths); 6 cases of meningococcal disease; and  2,418 cases of scarlet fever suspected for measles, of which 208 cases were positive for measles.

Diphtheria has recently been showing signs of returning, easily spreading into epidemic with a high risk of death. As of June 24, 2020, in Dak Glong and Krong No districts of Dak Nong province, 12 cases were positive for diphtheria (1 death).

The total number of alive HIV-infected people over the country as of June 18, 2020 was 210.6 thousand ones; 97,175 cases turned to AIDS. The number of persons died of HIV/AIDS over the country as of above time-point was 98,739 ones.

Generally for the first half of 2020, the whole country recorded 40 cases of food poisoning with 1,087 poisoned persons (15 deaths).

4. Cultural and sport activities

Implementing the direction on the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, localities seriously stopped the organization of festivities with a large number of people and tourists as well as cultural and artistic activities, celebrations, traditional days, entertainment programs.

Regarding high performance sport activities, in the first six months of 2020, Vietnam Sports Delegation participated in 14 international sports tournaments, won 26 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 8 bronze medals in the international arena. Vietnam Sports Delegation has had 5 official tickets to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in archery, boxing, gymnastics and swimming.

5. Traffic accidents

Generally for the first six months of 2020, 6,790 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, including 3,864 cases of traffic accidents from less serious to become and 2,926 cases of traffic collisions, causing 3,242 deaths, 1,931 injuries and 3,008 minor injuries. Compared to the same period last year, the number of traffic accidents in the first half of 2020 declined by 19% (number of traffic accidents of differently serious levels reduced by 12.3%; number of traffic collisions decreased by 26.5%); number of death fell by 14.9%; number of injuries went down by 16.8% and number of minor injuries dropped by 25.5%. On average, there were 37 traffic accidents occurred nationwide each day in the first six months of 2020, including 21 traffic accidents from less serious to become and 16 traffic collisions, causing 18 deaths, 11 injuries and 16 minor injuries.

6. Natural calamity, environmental pollution, fire and explosion

According to localities preliminary report, natural calamity in the first six months of the year caused 40 deaths and 133 injuries; made over 118 thousand ha of rice and nearly 35.8 thousand ha of crops damaged, 1,167 houses collapsed, swept away,  nearly 64  thousand houses damaged. The total loss in asset caused by natural disasters was estimated at nearly VND 4 trillion. Drought and saline intrusion in the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta caused losses of nearly 90 thousand ha of rice and 22.5 thousand ha of crops; the total value of damages was up to 3.6 trillion VND. Total value in asset caused by natural disasters in the first half of 2020 was estimated at more than VND 4.8 trillion, 10 times as high as the damaged value in the same period in 2019.

In the first six months of the year, 5,028 cases of violating regulations of environment protection were found over the country, of which 4,458 cases were treated with total fine of VND 89.8 billion. In six months, there were 1,509 fire and explosion cases nationwide, causing 48 deaths and 111 injuries, with an estimated damage of VND 336.6 billion.

+ Selected indicators on labours
+ Unemployment and underemployment rate of laborers
+ Some key social and environmental indicators

GENERAL STATISTICS OFFICE

[1] GDP growth rate in the first 6 months compared to the same period in the years 2011-2020 was 5.92%; 4.93%; 4.90%; 5.22%; 6.32%; 5.65%; 5.83%; 7.05%; 6.77%; 1.81% respectively.

[2] GDP growth rate in the second quarter of the years 2011-2020 was 5.93%; 5.08%; 5.0%; 5.34%; 6.47%; 5.78%; 6.36%; 6.73%; 6.73%; 0.36% respectively.

[3] Total pig population of the country in June 2020 recorded 23.05 million heads, while it reached only 24.92 million heads in June 2019.

[4] The growth rate of added value of the manufacturing in the first 6 months compared to the same period in the years 2011-2020 was 13.37%; 8.96%; 5.61%; 6.61%; 10.0%; 10.5%; 10.52%; 12.87%; 11.18%; 4.96% respectively.

[5] Source: National Business Registration Information System, Agency for Business Registration, Ministry of Planning and Investment.

[6] Compared to the same period last year, the number of enterprises increased by 5.9%; the registered capital saw a decline of 26.9%; the number of laborers recorded a 10.5% drop.

[7] Corresponding rates for the first quarter of 2020 were as follows: 20.9% of enterprises rated their business performance year better than the previous quarter; 42% of enterprises pointed to difficulties and 37.1% of enterprises said that their business and production situation was stable.

[8] Credit growth rate as of June 19 in the years 2016-2020 was 6.2%; 7.54%; 6.35%; 6.22%; 2.45% respectively.

[9] The data for June 2020 was estimated by the inter-sectoral group including the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the State Bank, the General Department of Vietnam Customs - the Ministry of Finance and the General Statistics Office basing on export-import turnover data of the first period in a month (from day 01 to 15) collected by the General Department of Vietnam Customs combined with market information, proportion and trend of exports and imports of commodities.

[10] Of which trade surplus with EU in the first six months of 2020 reached US$ 9 billion, a reduction of 18.9% compared to the same period last year; trade deficit with China was US$ 15.3 billion, falling by 19.3%; trade deficit with South Korea recorded US$ 11 billion, an 18.3% decline; trade deficit with ASEAN was US$ 3.1 billion, down 2.4%.

[11] The growth/decrease rate of CPI in June compared to the previous month in the years 2016-2020 was a rise of 0.46%; a 0.17% decline; an increase of 0.61%; a reduction of 0.09%; a 0.66% growth respectively y.

[12] The ratio of the export price index to the corresponding import price index.