December CPI picks up 0.21%

Vietnam’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 3.77% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024 due to rising prices for domestic rice and services such as electricity, water, education and healthcare.

Vietnam’s industrial sector posted significant growth in the first quarter of 2024, of an estimated 6.18% compared to the first quarter of 2023. In particular, manufacturing and processing saw robust growth of 6.98%.

A total of 36,244 new enterprises were set up in the first quarter of this year with combined registered capital of 332.2 trillion VND (13.3 billion USD), up 6.9% in number and 7% in capital.

China has long been Vietnam’s largest trading partner, with two-way trade consistently exceeding 100 billion USD since 2018. Trade between the two neighbours reached 171.85 billion USD last year.

Coconuts have been designated one of the six primary national industrial crops by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It is projected that the country’s coconut cultivation area will expand to 195,000-210,000 hectares by 2030, resulting in a substantial harvest of over 2 million tonnes.