Vietnam raises foreign reserves to US$68 billion
Vietnam raises foreign reserves to US$68 billion
Vietnam’s foreign reserves hit a record high of US$68 billion at the end of June, chiefly built upon the country’s robust foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows.
Quoting experts at a seminar held by the Banking University of HCMC today, July 22, Thanh Nien said that the current foreign reserves were equivalent to 13.4 weeks of imports. Despite strong purchase of the greenback, there are no pressures on inflation, while money supplies and credit remained under control.
The ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China have escalated, marked by unpredictable developments and causing huge impacts on economic activities worldwide. In Vietnam, the export growth rate slowed to 7.3% in the first half of 2019, much lower than the 17.8% over the same period last year.
As a result, the nation again reported a trade deficit of US$37 million during the period, after posting a surplus of US$4.12 billion one year ago.
According to experts, the problem suggested that the local economy was still heavily dependent on the foreign sector. Over the past years, FDI enterprises have accounted for up to 70% of total export revenues.
Between January and June this year, the domestic sector reported an export growth rate of 10.8%, failing to offset the modest growth rate of only 5.9% posted by the FDI sector. For years, the trade surplus in the FDI sector had made significant contributions to balancing the nation’s trade deficit.
