The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or VCCI, has repeated its proposal that the Ministry of Finance abolish the special consumption tax on gasoline.

Gasoline is currently subject to import, environmental protection, special consumption and value-added taxes. Among the four taxes, the special consumption and environmental protection taxes are intended to discourage consumption.

But gasoline is an essential consumer product widely used in production and daily life, while the special consumption tax should only be levied on non-essential goods to discourage consumption, such as cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and luxury cars, VCCI said.

Therefore, VCCI proposed eliminating the special consumption tax on gasoline. If needed, the Ministry of Finance could adjust the environmental protection tax.

Currently, the special consumption tax, or excise tax, is 10% for ordinary gasoline, 8% for bio-gasoline E5, and 7% for gasoline E10.

VCCI made this proposal in September 2022 while providing feedback on a draft resolution of the National Assembly on halving both the special consumption tax and the value-added tax on fuel to cushion the impact of the steep global fuel price rises.

However, the Ministry of Finance rejected it and emphasized that the application of the special consumption tax on gasoline is reasonable as Vietnam has been striving to fight climate change and commit to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Measures needed to remove obstacles for transitional wind, solar power plants

The Government Office recently sent an urgent dispatch to the Minister of Industry and Trade regarding recommendations to deal with shortcomings in the building and issuance of a pricing mechanism for electricity generation of transitional wind and solar power plants.

On March 20, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien also signed and sent a document to the Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN), requesting it to urgently coordinate with investors of transitional renewable energy projects to reach a consensus on electricity prices before March 31, in order to put the plants into operation soon and avoid wastage of renewable resources.

Previously, on January 9, the Ministry of Industry and Trade asked the EVN and relevant investors to agree on power generation prices to ensure they do not exceed the price bracket promulgated by the ministry.

In early 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Trade introduced new ceiling prices for solar and wind energy in Viet Nam.

On October 3, 2022, it released a circular which sets out a framework for the EVN to enter into tariff negotiations with developers of transitional solar and wind energy projects by reference to some specific ceiling prices.

On January 7, the ministry set the ceiling prices at VND1,184.90 (5.05 US cents) per kWh for ground-mounted solar projects, VND1,508.27 for floating solar projects, VND1,587.12 for onshore wind projects, and VND1,815.95 for offshore wind projects.

The EVN will now use these ceiling prices to negotiate tariffs with transitional projects, which are not subject to any tariff so far. 

HCMC seeking ways to promote green growth

HCMC is developing a specific route for each aspect to reach the aim of carbon neutrality by 2050, as stated in the formal scientific discussion ‘Establishing and Developing Green Economy in HCMC’, held by the HCMC Institute for Development Studies.

Chairwoman Vu Kim Hanh of the Business Association of High Quality Vietnamese Products stressed at the beginning of the discussion that green economy has displayed its effects on nearly all fields of the society. It is a tough challenge for businesses unable to convert to green production or farmers incapable of proving their produce being grown on natural forest land to export their goods.

On a larger scale, if HCMC and Vietnam in general cannot adopt solutions to turn the current infrastructure (traffic, logistics, waste treatment, energy) into more environmentally friendly one, it is extremely difficult for them to attract more international investments.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Thanh Binh stated that for Vietnam to fulfill the net zero carbon emissions by 2025, the Government must introduce policies effective enough to raise the awareness of the public, while preparing strong legal corridors, mechanisms, finance, and technologies to support all economic sectors to transfer into greener activities like changing from fossil fuel to recycling energy.

The agricultural sector needs to consider making plant products that are environmentally safe from the growing stage to the waste treatment phase while increasing the surface area for forest.

Solutions required as fee cut proposal nixed

Car dealers are continuing to circumvent the rejected proposal to have registration fees cut for new vehicles by instigating their own promotions.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) pointed out last week that as the pandemic was now broadly under control, it was no longer appropriate to continue to reduce the registration fee for domestically manufactured and assembled cars.

It is estimated that about 40 models of domestically assembled vehicles enjoyed the reduction in registration fees during the recent pandemic.

The ministry also said that this policy was considered to have a negative impact on the implementation of international commitments. If it is necessary to reduce the registration fee for cars, it must be applied to both domestically manufactured and assembled cars and completely imported cars.

The manufacturers’ association proposal and the request of carmakers and imported dealers to cut registration fees has been rejected previously, leading to an increase in other sales promotions to attract customers in the context of low demand.

The Association of Vehicle Importers Vietnam had called for registration fee incentives for both domestically assembled and imported cars to ensure fairness as in 2020 and 2021. On both of those occasions, the market recovered and became active again, and auto sales increased sharply and maintained growth until the end of 2022.

“This decline did not come from the same cause as the pandemic period, but from many factors. Prominent reasons include bank interest rates not cooling, and customer sentiment looking forward to the new year production of cars,” said Nguyen Thanh Ha, chairman of SBLaw.

He added that for many reasons, car dealers and sales staff were going through a difficult time because there had been a decline in purchasing power in Vietnam. Thus, many manufacturers, as well as dealers, have implemented incentive programmes and discounts to stimulate demand. Some carmakers offered the registration discount out of their own revenues.

According to data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the total number of cars added to the Vietnamese market is estimated at 96,450 vehicles since the beginning of the year, including domestically produced and imported cars. As a result, dealers have prepared an abundant source of goods for Vietnamese customers, should the market pick up.

Vietnam, Australia promote trade, tourism exchange

A Vietnam-Australia trade and tourism promotion conference was held by Vietnam Airlines, Thien Minh Group and Vinpearl JSC in Sydney on April 19, drawing a large number of Australian businesses and travel firms from different Australian localities.

Statistics from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam showed that Vietnam welcomed 3.66 million foreign visitors in 2022 and 3 million in the first quarter of this year, of whom 85% arrived by air.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Vietnam is among the top 10 favourite destinations for Australian tourists.

Currently, Vietnam Airlines is operating direct air routes to the majority of the other nine destinations like the UK, India, the US, and Indonesia.

The airlines is operating 16 flights between Vietnam and Australia each week. Particularly, the Hanoi-Melbourne route will be officially launched from June 15 with two flights per week, making it easier for Australian visitors to explore northern tourist destinations of Vietnam and transit to other countries such as Germany, France, the UK, the Republic of Korea, and Japan.

Many Australian travel firms said that Australian tourists are increasingly interested in Vietnam and tend to choose the Southeast Asian country for their future vacations.

Yvonne Chapple from Flight Centre said that the firm has received many requests from its customers for Vietnamese tourism information, especially destinations in the north.

Chapple held that although Thailand and Bali (Indonesia) have received the largest bookings, Vietnam has still been among the top five most popular Asia destinations chosen by Australian visitors.

Austrian firms eye investment cooperation with Hanoi

Austrian companies want to cooperate with Hanoi in areas that they are strong in, especially the development of smart cities and urban transport, said Philipp Gady, Vice President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber who accompanied Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg during a visit to Vietnam from April 16-18.

At a meeting on April 18 with Vice Chairman of Hanoi's People's Committee Nguyen Manh Quyen, Gady said Austrian companies hope to early finalise an MoU on cooperation with Hanoi authorities to promote bilateral relations.

For his part, Vice Chairman Quyen said that in the capital's development master plan, which is scheduled to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval in October, smart city development is a top priority, along with the adoption of technologies to manage traffic and the transition to green energy.

During this process, the capital will need the support of experienced and capable international partners.

Therefore, he said Hanoi welcomes Austrian companies to the city for exploring cooperation possibilities.

Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Alexander Schallenberg made an official visit to Vietnam from April 16-18 at the invitation of Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.

Austria now ranks among Vietnam's top 10 European trading partners. In 2022, bilateral trade was worth 2.8 billion USD, with Vietnam exporting nearly 2.5 billion USD worth of products to the European nation.

Diversifying material sources opens door to sustainable supply chain

Diversifying sources of materials and stepping up digital transformation have been regarded as the key to the building of a smart, sustainable supply chain in the garment-textile sector, insiders said.

Pham Van Viet, General Director of Viet Thang Jean Co., Ltd., said major importers like the US, Europe and Japan prefer supply-chain linkage, which, however, remains weak in Vietnam.

Given this, the domestic garment-textile sector should make greater efforts and take solutions to integrate more intensively and extensively into the global supply chain, he stressed.

Building a sustainable supply chain requires a long-term, well-designed strategy, Viet said, urging Vietnamese enterprises to adopt a long-term mindset in supply chain restructuring and reposition themselves in the market.

Viet pointed out that the cut, make and trim (CMT) manufacturing generates low profits and causes price pressure, forcing firms to shift to the business of freight on board (FOB), original design manufacturer (ODM), or original brand manufacturer (OBM).

Without a long-term mindset and vision, domestic enterprises would not be able to integrate into the global supply chain more deeply, he continued.

To raise their self-reliance in material supplies and reduce their dependence on imports, economist Vu Dinh Anh proposed the State perfect laws and policies on support industries, which, he said, should direct the planning of support industry clusters to attract more foreign investments.

Trade counsellors should play a more active role in seeking and expanding import and export markets, and supporting businesses in technological transfer, thus raising their competitiveness in the global value chain, he said.

In another view, Viet suggested building a design centre in Ho Chi Minh City which makes up more than 40% of the country’s total garment-textile export revenue.

The centre will serve as a playground for designers and apparel enterprisers nationwide, he explained.

The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association said it will continue raising policy proposals to competent agencies to facilitate the operation of domestic firms, while enhancing coordination with other domestic and foreign organisations in supporting them in terms of both technological and capital.

Thousands of businesses close in Q1 as they struggle to access funds

Nearly 43,000 thousand businesses temporarily shut during the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 20.1 per cent compared to the same period last year, and 12,800 closed down permanently, according to a report by the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Pham Dinh Doan, Chairman of Phu Thai Group, said businesses would likely face greater challenges in the near future as the market had been experiencing lower demand for consumption on top of rising input costs and difficulty in securing capital.

A survey by the HCM City Business Association showed 83, out of 100 businesses, are currently struggling to stay afloat. Of these, 43 said they had problems with high-interest rates, 40 with difficulty in accessing capital sources, and 38 with the complexity of procedures to apply for loans.

The association urged the central bank to take measures to address these issues, namely lowering interest rates to around 8-8.5 per cent annually and streamlining loan procedures.

Another survey by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) indicated access to credit had become a major problem among the business community with 55.6 per cent, out of 12,000 businesses that participated saying credit was the biggest concern, steadily increasing from 34.8 per cent in 2019, 40.7 per cent in 2020 and 46.9 per cent in 2021.

Regarding the government's 2 per cent interest support package, most businesses said it remained extremely difficult to meet the lending conditions set by banks, especially for small to medium-sized businesses.

Tran Thi Hong Minh, head of the Institute of Central Economic Management Research under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), said while demand was great the number of businesses able to access the support package remained low, particularly among cooperatives and household businesses.

She said post-loan inspection was a major concern among businesses, as well as meeting the loan conditions, which had been said to be unclear by many.

Minh said the government must step up efforts in the implementation of support programmes as they are vital to the country's ability to maintain and strengthen macroeconomic stability, keep inflation in check and stabilise the forex market.

Nguyen Quoc Hiep, chairman of the Viet Nam Construction Contractors Association, said liquidity had been a problem in his industry as developers found themselves unable to make sales, putting them at risk of mounting debt and bankruptcy.

Mac Quoc Anh, secretary-general of the Ha Noi Small and Medium Enterprises Association, said borrowing from credit institutions remained an important channel for SMEs and urged the government to soon put out a guideline for the institutions in credit evaluation for SMEs.

In a recent interview with the press, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said there was an urgent need to speed up the government's plans for exempting, reducing, extending, postponing, and deferring taxes, fees, charges, and land use fees applied to 2023.

He also called for the Ministry of Finance to expedite the value-added tax refund process, maximising convenience for businesses in import-export and construction procedures. 

Dairy businesses expect to improve profit margin

Dairy producers will see gross profit margin recover in 2023, as pressure from raw material costs eases.

Analysts believe that milk powder prices will cool down in 2023 due to reduced import demand from China and global demand for milk may weaken in the short term. Therefore, dairy producers will see gross margin recover in 2023, when the pressure from raw material costs eases.

According to VNDIRECT Securities Joint Stock Company (VNDIRECT), the gross profit margin of dairy businesses is likely to improve in 2023 because the price of milk powder - the raw material for milk production - has cooled down. As of March 21, 2023, the price of milk powder has decreased by 29.8 per cent year-on-year and 32.1 per cent lower than the peak in March 2022.

Milk powder prices are forecast to continue to decline in 2023 due to reduced import demand from China and weak global demand for milk in the short term, while milk powder production will increase in 2023.

The dairy industry is facing both advantages and challenges. Therefore, businesses are not confident in setting high growth targets.

PM urges Long Thanh International Airport project to be hastened

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed an official dispatch on April 18 demanding relevant ministries and agencies to speed up the Long Thanh International Airport project, which is lagging behind schedule.

The dispatch was sent to the ministers of transport, planning and investment, construction, natural resources and environment, public security, national defence, finance, and agriculture and rural development; the chairperson of the Committee for Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC); the chairperson of the Dong Nai provincial People’s Committee; and the director general of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam.

It noted that the project is of national importance and has its schedule and completion target set by the National Assembly. The Government and the PM highly valued efforts by relevant ministries, sectors, the Dong Nai People’s Committee, and other agencies in resolving difficulties and obstacles during the project implementation, especially the site clearance and resettlement for Phase 1.

However, the main sub-projects are lagging behind schedule. Given this, it is necessary to clarify causes and responsibilities of relevant parties while taking timely solutions to accelerate the project.

The PM requested investors of sub-projects, the Transport Ministry, the CMSC, and related agencies to review their assigned tasks, identify causes as well as responsibilities of each poor-performing individual and collective, and send reports to the Transport Ministry to sumit to Deputy PM Tran Hong Ha by April 23.

In particular, the People’s Committee of Dong Nai province, which houses the airport, was told to quickly complete site clearance and hand over the land area for Phase 1, 1,180ha, and for two roads connecting with the airport before June 30. It was also asked to coordinate with relevant authorities to guarantee order, security, safety, and environmental hygiene in the construction site and thoroughly deal with local residents’ petitions in a timely manner.

In the dispatch, PM Chinh also gave out concreate tasks to related ministries and agencies.

Bright prospect for fruit, vegetable exports in Q2

Despite declines in the export of some agricultural products, overseas shipments of fruits and vegetables remain positive, promising a bright prospect in the second quarter of 2023.

Vietnam exported nearly 1 billion USD worth of fruits and vegetables in Q1, rising 7% from a year earlier, reported the Centre for Digital Transformation and Statistics under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Dang Phuc Nguyen, Secretary General of the Vietnam Fruit Association (Vinafruit), said thanks to high demand in China, which reopened in Q1 after the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have promoted exports to this neighbouring market. Prices of such fruits as durian and dragon fruit have also soared.

Due to China’s strong fruit import, many border gates of Vietnam have extended their working time to 10pm every day. 

Good demand for fruit imports in China can help raise total fruit and vegetable exports in Q2 by 10% or higher, Nguyen noted, predicting that the revenue can reach about 2 billion USD in the first half of 2023.

Giving further details, he said that since Vietnamese durian was licenced to be exported via the official channel to China last year, this market has continually placed durian import orders. However, the first three months of the year was not the peak harvest time so the export volume of this fruit remained small. When the harvest season begins in April, supplies will become abundant and businesses can better meet importers’ demand.

Aside from durian, jackfruit, banana, and dragon fruit are also among staple exports to China, which will help increase fruit and vegetable shipments to this 1.4-billion-people market to at least 2.5 billion USD this year, according to Nguyen.

Localities asked to speed up transport projects

he Ministry of Transport has called on localities to speed up the construction of transport projects as many are reportedly lagging behind schedule.

The request was made by Minister Nguyen Van Thang at an online meeting between the transport ministry with local departments of transport to review the progress, quality and disbursement of assigned transportation projects.

As many as 30 transportation projects with a total investment of 20.3 trillion VND (864 million USD) are assigned to the Department of Transport and Project Management Unit (PMU) of Dak Lak province. Of 18 ongoing constructions, there are 10 behind schedule that were unable to be completed in 2022.

Delays are blamed on difficulties in land clearance in the areas of these projects. Many projects have recalled the costs of land clearance higher than the fund given. For example, the Highway 32 project between Hien Luong and Yen Bai city got delayed since the cost for clearance exceeded 100 billion VND (4 million USD).

The Transport Construction Investment Management Authority also mentioned some projects due to finish in 2023 but may be delayed. The reasons are the slow progress in construction, difficulties in land clearance of which costs exceeded the fund given, long settlement as well as scarce sources of sand materials for construction.

Some contractors have not gathered enough equipment and finance to start work.

Thang confirmed that the Ministry of Transport will fully allocate capital to meet construction progress.

In 2023, the ministry received 94.1 trillion VND (4 billion USD) from the State budget. Up to now, they have detailed plans on capital to allocate to transportation projects. Accordingly, the projects that are headed by the local departments of transport were assigned 2.8 trillion VND (110 million USD), accounting for 3% of the total capital.

With projects due to finish in 2023, Minister Thang urged contractors to accumulate the workload to finish it this year. With those that haven’t finished in 2022, the minister urged local departments to complete procedures to update progress and completion time after being approved by the Prime Minister.

E-commerce still the brightest economic sector

E-commerce will remain the fastest growing and most stable economic sector this year, according to the Viet Nam Online Business Forum 2023 in Ha Noi on Tuesday.

During the event, the Viet Nam E-commerce Association (Vecom) highlighted that global and domestic economic challenges had adversely impacted trade.

Nonetheless, maintaining the momentum from the two previous waves of growth, Vecom has predicted that e-commerce in our country will still grow at a rate of more than 25 per cent, reaching a scale of over US$20 billion.

Vecom estimated that last year, the retail e-commerce transaction scale comprised about 8.5 per cent of the total retail sales of consumer goods and services of VND5,680 trillion ($240.5 billion).

Regarding retailing of goods alone, the proportion of online retail sales of goods compared to the total retail sales of goods was about 7.2 per cent last year, higher than the corresponding rate of 6.7 per cent in 2021.

According to the General Statistics Office, the national gross domestic product increased by 3.3 per cent in the first three months of this year over the same period last year.

The total retail sales of consumer goods and services were estimated at VND1,505.3 trillion, up 13.9 per cent over the same period last year. If excluding the price factor, it rose by 10.3 per cent.

The two fastest-growing service sectors are accommodation and food services, up 26.0 per cent, and wholesale and retail, up 8.1 per cent.

The economy's great difficulties from mid-2022 have extended to the first quarter and possibly until the end of this year.

Vecom assessed that e-commerce grew by over 22 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter and could still reach over 25 per cent for the whole year.

Nguyen Ngoc Dung, Vecom Chairman, said that in the context of businesses facing difficulties due to the economic recession and difficulties in accessing credit capital, it was urgent to provide smart financial solutions to help businesses make better use of the capital of financial institutions.

Business on social networks about to surpass e-commerce floors

More and more businesses were choosing to do business on social networks, especially TikTok Shop, reported Vecom.

In terms of e-commerce business activities of e-commerce floors and social networks, a survey by Vecom shows that up to 65 per cent of businesses have implemented business activities on social networks.

The number of employees at enterprises who regularly use tools such as Zalo, Whatsapp, Viber, and Facebook Messenger has continuously grown.

Selling on social networks is also considered the most effective, surpassing other forms such as websites or business applications, as well as e-commerce.

A representative of Vecom said that the most prominent among social networks was the birth and strong growth of TikTok Shop.

Doing business on this platform had great appeal to many traders across the country, said the representative.

Besides, business activities on e-commerce floors continued to grow steadily. According to a survey by Vecom, 23 per cent of businesses sold products on e-commerce floors last year.

According to Data Science Joint Stock Company, the total sales of the top four e-commerce platforms, along with Tiktok Shop, amounted to about $6 billion.

Shopee and Lazada are the two largest e-commerce platforms.

Although only operating since mid-2022, Tiktok Shop has become the third largest retail e-commerce platform in Viet Nam. 

VinFast opens its first store in Vancouver

VinFast has officially opened its first store in Vancouver in the Canadian province British Colombia, marking its first presence on the West Coast of the North American country.

This marks its eight store in Canada. According to VinFast, it is planning to open more stores throughout the country, adding that the company will co-operate alongside distribution partners in a bid to bring more VinFast products to Canadian customers.

The strategic retail location will allow customers easy access to the store and allow them to directly experience VinFast's premium brand and services.

At the latest store, located at Park Royal shopping centre in North Vancouver, customers will be able to learn more about VinFast’s premium offerings and explore the interior and exterior details of VinFast’s electric SUVs, the VF 8 and VF 9. In addition, they can experience advanced technologies and engage in one-on-one conversations with VinFast product experts.

This comes after VinFast exported a second batch of nearly 1,900 VF 8 vehicles to the United States and Canada on April 16. As planned, the cars will be sold in the Canadian market in June.

Previously, on November 25, 2022, VinFast exported its first batch of smart electric cars, including 999 units of VF 8 City Edition, to the international market by private charter ship Silver Queen of Panama. This represented the first batch of cars exported to the international market among 65,000 orders for VinFast VF 8 and VF 9 electric cars globally.

On March 2, VinFast handed over the first 45 VF 8 City Edition cars to US customers at nine VinFast stores.

VCCI again proposes abolishing special consumption tax on gasoline

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or VCCI, has repeated its proposal that the Ministry of Finance abolish the special consumption tax on gasoline.

Gasoline is currently subject to import, environmental protection, special consumption and value-added taxes. Among the four taxes, the special consumption and environmental protection taxes are intended to discourage consumption.

But gasoline is an essential consumer product widely used in production and daily life, while the special consumption tax should only be levied on non-essential goods to discourage consumption, such as cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and luxury cars, VCCI said.

Therefore, VCCI proposed eliminating the special consumption tax on gasoline. If needed, the Ministry of Finance could adjust the environmental protection tax.

Currently, the special consumption tax, or excise tax, is 10% for ordinary gasoline, 8% for bio-gasoline E5, and 7% for gasoline E10.

VCCI made this proposal in September 2022 while providing feedback on a draft resolution of the National Assembly on halving both the special consumption tax and the value-added tax on fuel to cushion the impact of the steep global fuel price rises.

However, the Ministry of Finance rejected it and emphasized that the application of the special consumption tax on gasoline is reasonable as Vietnam has been striving to fight climate change and commit to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Vietnam’s biggest rice buyer to ramp up imports

The National Food Authority (NFA) of the Philippines has proposed importing an additional 330,000 tons of rice to cover an expected deficit in its reserves.

The NFA needs to beef up its buffer stocks for emergency relief operations. However, boosting purchases from local farmers could drive up domestic prices, according to the Philippine presidential office’s statement released on April 14.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, also the country’s Minister of Agriculture, said he was seeking measures to curb rice prices.

The NFA has suggested rice imports be done through a government-to-government contract as the current law allows only private traders to import rice.

Though the NFA’s function has been limited to stocking the emergency buffer, the presidential office or its designated agency can decide to bring in rice for the NFA to improve the country’s rice reserves.

The Philippines’ year-end rice reserves were estimated at 1.69 million tons, equal to a 45-day buffer stock, just half the volume needed to stabilize prices.

The move may be seen as good news for Vietnamese rice exporters, as the Philippines is the biggest buyer of Vietnamese rice.

Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that Vietnam sold 3.2 million tons of rice valued at US$1.49 billion to the Philippines in 2022.

Rice exports to the Philippines in the first quarter of this year surged by 33% in volume at 893,200 tons and 44.8% in value at US$450.4 million year-on-year.

Efforts to improve production and business environment

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has been making great strides in improving production and the business environment.

At yesterday’s online conference on solutions to promote production, business and import-export development in 2023, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien informed that many localities were considered as the economic locomotive, but growth was very low in the first quarter of 2023, some localities increased by less than 1 percent.

The Minister revealed that according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s report, the global economic slowdown was faster than expected, affecting industrial production and import and export in the first quarter of the Southeast Asian country. Specifically, the industrial production index decreased by 2.2 percent, the export turnover decreased by 11.9 percent and the import turnover decreased by 14.7 percent.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is making every effort to improve the business and production environment, promote domestic trade, and supply chains of domestic goods to connect production with the market while giving priority to developing the supply chain of agricultural products and food.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP/Hanoitimes