Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s socio-economicperformance in July continued to see positive developments with equal growth inall the three sectors, namely macro economy, industrial production and services.

According to the General Statistic Office, theindex of industrial production (IIP) in the month rose 14.3 percent, thehighest level since February this year.

In the first seven months of this year, thecountry’s IIP recorded the highest rise of 10.9 percent since 2012. 

The processing and manufacturing industry postedthe strongest growth of 13.1 percent.

Despite a year-on-year decline of 1.7 percent to19.5 billion USD in July export turnover, that in the seven months rose 15.3percent to 133.7 billion USD.

The total retail sales of goods and services inJuly saw the highest growth of 13.3 percent since 2014.

The newly-registered and increased foreigndirect investment (FDI) in January-July period reached 18.15 billion USD, down3.5 percent against the same period last year. However, the disbursement wasestimated at 9.85 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 8.8 percent.

The number of newly-established firms in Julydecreased 7.8 percent against the previous month and 3.5 percent over the samemonth last year to 11,262 enterprises.

In the seven months, the country saw 75,793 newbusinesses, up 3.9 percent compared to the same period last year, but lowerthan the six-month growth of this year (5.3 percent).

The consumer price index (CPI) in July declinedby 0.09 percent against June after three consecutive months of increase (April0.08 percent, May 0.55 percent, and June 0.61 percent).

Economists said Vietnam’s economy will encountera number of challenges in the remaining months of this year; hence, the countryshould adopt a number of measures to realise the growth target of 6.7 percentin 2018.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade,from now to the year’s end, there are still many unpredictable factors in theglobal economic environment, including the rising trade protectionism that willincrease the risk of global trade war.

In this context, a flexible adjustment ofexchange rates could help Vietnam boost exports if the country is able tomaintain macroeconomic stability, experts suggested.

To ensure the economic growth target in 2018,Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung said his ministry willcontinue watching of the market, create an equally competitive environment, andprotect the interests of domestic production industries, especially steel,automobile, fertilizer, and chemicals sectors, in association with reforming theeconomic structure and improving competitive edge.

To keep the inflation rate below 4 percent asplanned, the ministry will further work with relevant ministries, departmentsand localities to monitor the developments of goods supply and demand, as wellas domestic prices.

At a recent meeting of the National Financialand Monetary Policy Advisory Council, participants suggested managing effectivelymonetary and fiscal policies to bring inflation under control and keeping aclose watch on the developments of raising interest rates of the US FederalReserve (Fed) as well as issues arising in the China-US trade conflict.-VNA