HANOI – The Ministry of Industry and Trade is confident that the country’s target to keep trade deficit under 20% of the export value this year is well within reach given the strong export growth in the year to date.
Vu Van Chinh, head of the ministry’s Import-Export Department, told an online review meeting on Monday that “keeping trade deficit at less than 20% of the total export value this year is highly probable unless there occur sharp changes in the rest of the year.”
Export value in the January-August period increased by 19.7% year-on-year to US$44.85 billion, while import expenditure in the period totaled US$52.67 billion, leaving a trade deficit equivalent to 18.32% of export earnings, Chinh said.
Trade deficit stood at US$0.9 billion in August, which is the fourth straight month the deficit is kept below the bar, according to Chinh.
Therefore, “the trade deficit target is within reach if there are no upsurges in imports due to speculation on commodities,” he remarked.
Chinh predicted that exports would remain upbeat in the rest of the year, and the total export value for 2010 would likely hit US$68.5 billion if more efforts are made to keep monthly export revenue at US$5.9 billion. Import spending is estimated at US$80-82 billion.
However, Chinh also pointed out that challenges remained to be addressed, including the lack of materials for export processing in the fishery sector, the shortage of labor in the garment, footwear and furniture industries, and technical barriers in importing countries.
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