The contraction was led by the reduction in the agriculture output during the period and the falling global oil prices. The agro-forestry-fishery sector slipped 0.2%, the first time ever the sector witnessed a downturn due to the impacts of the cold spell in the north, the prolonged drought and saltwater intrusion in the south and the mass fish death in the central region. Relative authorities have been tasked with achieving the target of 6.7% GDP growth for this year.​

Retail sales and international arrivals increase 

Vietnam’s​ retail sales and service turnover increased 9.5% y-o-y in 1H16. Foreign arrivals to Vietnam recovered strongly after a year of lukewarm performance, reaching a record high number in 2Q16. Vietnam received more than 4.7 million foreign visitors in 1H16, an increase of 21.3% compared with 1H15. According to the General Statistics Office, the number of Chinese visitors to Vietnam soared by 47.9% y-o-y in 1H16. The number of South Korean visitors, the second biggest market in 1H16, was up 34% from 1H15. Other markets that benefit from a similar visa policy saw increases of between 6% and 35% in 1H16. However, starting from 3Q16, the visa-exempt policy applied for 5 current European countries will expire, which may result in a lower number of arrivals from these countries.

FDI flow up significantly

The disbursement of FDI reached USD 7.3 billion in the first six months, up 15.1% y-o-y. The country attracted USD 11.3 billion in FDI during 1H16, a robust y-o-y growth of 105.4%, including USD 7.5 billion from 1,145 newly registered projects and USD 3.8 billion from 535 added FDI projects. South Korea retained its ranking as the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, with USD 3,132 million in newly registered capital, accounting for 41.8% of total FDI, followed by Singapore (USD 1,017 million), Taiwan (USD 531 million), Japan (USD 496 million) and Hong Kong (USD 455 million). Major projects include an investment of USD 1.5 billion from LG Display (South Korea) and the USD 226 million real estate project named Midtown by Cayman Islands.

CPI rises in June

Vietnam’s CPI in June 2016 increased by2.4% y-o-y and 0.5% m-o-m, which was the third highest m-om ​growth since early 2015. Among the 11 groups of products ​and services, the highest increases were seen in transportation services and housing & construction materials with growth rates of 3% and 0.6% respectively. In addition, increases were also recorded in most of the other nine categories, with the exception of telecommunication services in which prices dropped by 0.1%. The CPI of 1H16 saw a slight increase of 1.7% y-o-y, remaining at a low level.​

Vietnam trade surplus USD 1.5 billion 

According to the​ General Statistics Office, the country recorded a trade surplus of USD 1.5 billion in 1H16, accounting for 1.8% of export revenues. In 1H16, Vietnam achieved USD 82.2 billion in export revenue and USD 80.7 billion in import value, up 5.9% and down 0.5% y-o-y, respectively. The United States remained Vietnam’s largest importer in 1H16 with USD 17.7 billion, up 12.8% y-o-y, followed by the EU with USD 16.3 billion (up 9.8%) and China with USD 9.2 billion (up 14.3%). Vietnam’s imports from major markets saw y-o-y declines, including from China (USD 23.3 billion, down 2.9%), ASEAN (USD 11.5 billion, down 3.4%), Japan (USD 6.8 billion, down 6.3%) and the EU (USD 4.6 billion, down 6.5%).

Number of newly registered enterprises increases 

The number of newly registered enterprises reached 54,501 in 1H16 with total registered capital of VND 427.8 trillion, an increase of 20.0% in the number of enterprises and 51.5% in the registered capital ​compared with 1H15. The average registered capital per newly established enterprise stood at VND 7.8 billion, up 26.2% y-o-y. The number of enterprises that finished the procedure for dissolving and terminating business activity in 1H16 increased by 17.0% to 5,507 enterprises.​ 

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