trade deficit

Vietnam's trade turnover is likely to have reached US$440.09 billion in the January–October period, up 2.7% year-on-year.

Vietnam ran a trade surplus of $2.8 billion in the first quarter of this year, higher than 1.5 billion USD recorded in the same period last year, despite the growing COVID-19 pandemic in the country’s major export markets.

If the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic lingers, production, trade and State budget revenue will be greatly affected, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

In the first month of the year, Vietnam imported goods worth US$18.42 billion, while its export revenue totaled some US$18.2 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of US$232 million.

Vietnam reported a trade deficit of US$100 million in January, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

After being relatively stable last year, the foreign exchange rate of the Vietnamese dong against the US dollar is forecast to be under greater pressure in 2020 due to both internal and external headwinds.

Viet Nam had a trade deficit of more than US$1 billion with Australia last year, one year after the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) came into effect.

Import-export turnover between Vietnam and China continued to hit new heights in 2019 by reaching a milestone of approximately US$117 billion.

Vietnam ran a trade deficit of more than US$31 billion with neighboring China between January and November this year, a record high compared with the same periods in previous years.

The US-China trade war may be behind such a record figure.

Vietnam earned a trade surplus of US$9.01 billion in the January-October period this year, the highest ever, up 23% year-on-year due to the strong export of phones, computers and textiles.

Vietnam recorded a trade surplus in the past four years, but the National Assembly (NA), wary of uncertainties over global trade conflicts, has set the target of containing the country’s trade deficit versus its total export value below 3% for 2020.

Though ASEAN is an open market for Vietnam, it has not been easy to export products to the large market.

Vietnam has a trade surplus of $20 billion a year with the US, while the current account surplus is over 2 percent of GDP per annum.

“Unlike two years ago, many analysts have warned that Vietnam will m witness a trade deficit. However, I believe the trade deficit will still be within control,’ said Vo Tri Thanh, a respected economist.

The US-China trade war and Chinese yuan devaluation have increased the risk of a widening trade gap, with more imports from China flowing to Vietnam.

Vietnam’s trade balance sustained an estimated deficit of up to US$1.3 billion during May, leading to the total trade deficit amounting to US$548 million for the year’s first five months.