Vietnam’s trade deficit was USD742 million in June, a month-on-month decrease of 14.6 percent, the lowest level since the beginning of the year, according to the General Department of Customs.
This positive development indicates that the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) as well as the country’s business community has effectively cut back on the trade deficit as the level for June was initially estimated at USD1.2 billion .
In the first six months of this year, the total trade deficit hit USD6.29 billion , equivalent to 19.4 percent of the country’s total export turnover, which fulfilled the National Assembly’s target to control the trade deficit to under 20 percent of total export revenues.
According to the MoIT, the constant increase in export turnover since April is one of the biggest factors that helped to reduce the trade deficit.
In the first half of the year, the country’s total export turnover had reached approximately USD32.5 billion, up 17 percent over the same period last year.
To continue reducing the trade deficit, the MoIT has asked businesses to step up the export of the country’s high value commodities and trade promotions as well as focus more on penetrating new export markets.
The ministry will also assist export businesses to access markets and take full advantage of all the country’s free trade (FTA) agreements.
