According to the WB report, available data suggest continued recovery of domestic economic activities, with industrial production growing by 8.5 percent year on year and a broad-based improvement in manufacturing despite a strong surge of new COVID-19 cases.

Meanwhile, with imports growing much faster than exports, trade balance deteriorated from a surplus of 1.4 billion USD in January to a deficit of 2 billion USD in February.

The WB brief also indicated that FDI commitment slowed while FDI disbursement continued to recover strongly. CPI inflation remained subdued thanks to relatively stable food prices and still weak domestic demand, it added.

WB experts noted that Vietnamese authorities should encourage exporters to seek new markets and innovate into new products./.

VNA