Vietnam Aims to Rein Trade Deficit Below 20 per cent of Export Value This Yr

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) will continue taking measures to curb the trade gap below 20 per cent of the country’s total export turnover this year, said Minister Vu Huy Hoang in a meeting with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in early this week.

 

Governor Nguyen Van Giau of the SBV also proposed the MOIT to work closely with the banking sector in implementing the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 497 on managing forex exchange and import-export values, and tightening market management, especially prices quotation in foreign currencies.

 

In late April, the MOIT decided to lower this year’s expected export growth to just 3 per cent or US$64.5 billion from the previously targeted 13 per cent or US$71.07 billion due to adverse impacts of the existing global financial crisis.

 

In the first five months, Vietnam is estimated to have had a trade deficit of US$1.13 billion, compared to US$11.57 billion of the same period last year, said the government’s General Statistics Office said Monday. (Financial Investment)