Vietnam News Today (May 31): Heavy Rains Forecast to Continue in Northern Localities

Covid-19 testing. Photo: VNA

Vietnam reports additional 1,118 Covid-19 cases on May 30

Vietnam logged 1,118 new Covid-19 cases on May 30, said the Ministry of Health.

The northern province of Bac Ninh recorded the highest number of infections, with 265 cases.

It was followed by the capital city of Hanoi and northern Yen Bai province, with 261 and 62 infections, respectively.

The new infections brought the country’s total caseload to 10,718,369.

Meanwhile, 8,189 patients were declared to be free from coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, raising the total number of recoveries to 9,456,541, cited VNA.

The country has recorded no fatalities over the past seven days. Its death toll from the pandemic has so far reached 43,078, equivalent to 0.4 percent of the total infections.

More than 220.77 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered so far.

Vietnam aims to meet this year's export growth target of 8%

Despite existing risks continuing to impact production and exports, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is still making every effort to fulfill this year’s export growth target of 8% set by the National Assembly (NA).

According to figures given by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, despite facing an array of difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict which pushed up fuel prices and transportation charges, exports and imports continued to see positive growth. This has therefore made an important contribution to macroeconomic stability and socio-economic development.

Over the past five months, total export turnover continued to maintain a high growth rate compared to the same period from last year, with total import-export turnover estimated to stand at US$311 billion. Of the figure, export turnover hit an estimated US$156.5 billion, up 29.8% on-year, while imports reached US$155 billion, an annual rise of 22.6%.

The balance of trade in goods during the five-month period is estimated to have recorded a trade surplus of US$1.53 billion, thereby helping to increase foreign exchange reserves, stabilize exchange rates, and contribute to macroeconomic stability.

Among the three main growth pillars, including investment, export, and consumption, exports represents one of the important contributory factors to national GDP growth, this pillar continues to see strong growth, even over the past two years of suffering from the impact of the pandemic.

Over the past five months, overall import-export turnover is estimated to stand at US$311 billion.

Most notably, 2021 saw export turnover reach US$336.3 billion, up 19% from the previous year, with a trade surplus of roughly US$ 4 billion, while in 2020, export turnover reached US$282.66 billion, up 7%, with a trade surplus of more than US$19 billion, according to VOV.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh emphasized that exports still enjoy many growth opportunities, largely through free trade agreements (FTAs) coming into effect. Up to the present, enterprises have been utilizing these FTAs for export activities.

Over recent months, export turnover to new markets in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), such as Mexico and Canada, have increased sharply. In addition, export turnover to the EU soared by over 22% after the first five months of the year and to ASEAN it expanded by more than 20%.

Despite recording high growth in some key markets and new markets, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that it will strive to maintain a relatively cautious forecast for export turnover for the year ahead due to future risks.

However, one existential risk remains high global inflation. High inflation has forced many countries to gradually reduce the size of their economic stimulus packages, while simultaneously raising interest rates to curb inflation as a mean of reducing investment and consumption demand.

The second biggest risk can be viewed as supply chain disruption and raw material shortages, which are increasingly serious globally and stem from the serious political conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as China's zero-Covid policy.

For a long period, Vietnamese goods have been part of regional and global supply chains, meaning that when a problem occurs with the supply chain, exports will be duly affected.

Heavy rains forecast to continue in northern localities

The northern midland and mountainous regions are forecast to witness moderate and heavy rain on May 30 – 31, with rainfalls of 50-100 mm, even over 120 mm, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

The northern delta region, and areas from the northern central province of Thanh Hoa to the central province of Thua Thien – Hue will continue to see showers and thunderstorms, and heavy rain locally.

Illustrative image. Photo: VNA

Additionally, the Central Highlands and southern regions are expected to have showers and thunderstorms with rainfalls of 20-60 mm, even over 60 mm in some areas. Thunderstorms in the Central Highlands and southern regions are likely to last until June 2, coupled with whirlwinds, lightning, hails and strong winds.

There is a high risk of flash floods and landslides in the mountainous localities in the North, North Central and Central Highlands regions; and flooding in low areas, cited VNA.

Moderate and heavy rain have been recorded in the northern mountainous provinces of Ha Giang, Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Lai Chau and Son La on May 30 morning.

Showers and thunderstorms, with risks of tornadoes and strong winds, are forecast to hit the middle and southern areas of the East Sea, the waters of Binh Thuan to Ca Mau, and Ca Mau to Kien Giang and the Gulf of Thailand. Meanwhile, strong southwest winds of level 5-6 are forecast for the waters of Binh Dinh to Ca Mau and the western waters of the Bien Dong Sea’s south area on the same day.

Vietnam has highest increase in tourism development index

Vietnam’s tourism has stepped up eight places on the 2021 Tourism and Travel Development Index (TTDI), according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Report.

Vietnam experienced the greatest score improvement, rising by 4.7 percent to leap from 60th to 52nd on the overall index. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia also had great improvements in rank, with an increase of 3.4 percent to the 32nd place and 2.3 percent to the 33rd place, respectively, the report said.

The WEF report shows that Vietnam’s improved rankings have resulted from its achievements in Covid-19 prevention, measures of safe and flexible adaptation to the pandemic, and continuous efforts to develop safe tourism.

The report noted that relatively stagnant TTDI results reinforce the difficult situation the Travel and Tourism (T&T) sector faces. On average, TTDI scores increased by just 0.1 percent between 2019 and 2021.

According to the report, aside from the United States (2nd), the top 10 scoring countries are high-income economies in Europe and Eurasia or Asia-Pacific regions.

Japan tops the ranking, with fellow regional economies Australia and Singapore coming in 7th and 9th, respectively. Meanwhile, Italy joined the top 10 (up from 12th in 2019) in 2021.

The remaining top 10 TTDI performers are Spain (3rd), France (4th), Germany (5th), Switzerland (6th) and the United Kingdom (8th).

The Asia-Pacific region is the second-highest performer in the ranking. Of its 20 constituent economies, 12 score above the TTDI average and 13 have improved their scores since 2019.

Many of the more developed economies in the region have world-class transport, tourism, healthcare and ICT infrastructure, high levels of international openness and investment in T&T, conducive business environments, high performance for socio-economic resilience and qualified and productive workforces.

Foreign tourists visit Hoi An. Photo: NDO

On the other hand, the region’s less developed economies’ advantage in price competitiveness and rich natural assets are often offset by gaps in the aforementioned factors such as tourism, healthcare and ICT infrastructure, international openness and socio-economic resilience, NDO reported.

However, these gaps are being bridged somewhat as the Asia-Pacific region’s lower-middle-income economies have improved their performance, with particularly strong growth in areas such as ICT readiness.

The TTDI 2021 is an evolution of the 15-year-old Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) series, according to the WEF. Over the past two years, the severe damage to the tourism sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed its approach in that the forum changed the ranking of TTCI to TTDI.

The transformation of the TTCI into the TTDI reflects the index’s increased coverage of T&T development concepts, including sustainability and resilience impact, on T&T growth. It is designed to highlight the sector’s role in broader economic and social development as well as the need for T&T stakeholder collaboration to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, bolster the recovery and deal with future challenges and risks.

Covering a total of 117 economies, the TTDI ranking is based on the assessment of a set of tourism development capacity indexes which consists of five sub-indexes, focusing on evaluating the role of the tourism industry in broader economic and social development.

Ho Chi Minh City enjoys strong economic recovery

Ho Chi Minh City, the largest economic hub in southern Vietnam, has enjoyed socio-economic recovery and development with strong growth in terms of both production and business activities.

In May, the southern metropolis’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) surged by 6.5% over the previous month and 9% on-year. As a result, the city’s IIP in the first five months of the year grew by 2.6% annually.

Sharp increases were recorded across many sectors, including processing-manufacturing at 44.8% and rubber and plastic product production 33.1%.

Photo: VOV

A representative from the municipal Department of Industry and Trade said that trade and service activities in the city had started to recover several months ago. Despite the strong increase in petrol prices, local firms have struggled to overcome difficulties caused by the rise in material prices and they seek to move towards recovery and development, said the representative, cited VOV.

Statistics highlight that total revenue from retail and service activities in the southern city in May hit VND96.28 trillion, equal to US$4.15 billion, up 0.8% over April and 10.4% compared to the same period from last year. In the first five months of the year, this figure had reached VND456.15 trillion, equivalent to US$19.67 billion, a year-om-year rise of 0.6%.

Local firms attributed this increase to recovery occurring in the number of tourist arrivals following the Government deciding to fully open the tourism sector from March, especially during the 31st Southeast Asian Games, as well as the increase in wedding party bookings.

Meanwhile, the expansion of online shopping, coupled with the development of logistics technologies, have boosted trade activities. The country therefore ranks second in Southeast Asia in terms of e-commerce, with the sector’s value forecast to reach US$39 billion in 2025.

As of the end of the first quarter of the year, over eight million consumers in the nation became involved in online shopping, 55% of whom come from urban areas. A survey indicates that 99% of them intend to continue to shop online moving forward.

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