Gov't reviews socio-economic performance in Jan-Feb period
VGP - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Saturday chaired a Cabinet meeting to scrutinize the socio-economic performance in January-February period.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (C) presides over a Cabinet meeting, Ha Noi, March 2, 2024 - Photo: VGP
Cabinet members also discussed the allocation and disbursement of public investment capital, and the implementation of the three national target programs.
Addressing the meeting, Pham emphasized the need to promote new growth drivers such as digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, sharing economy, knowledge economy; as well as renew other growth drivers such as investment, export, and consumption.
Viet Nam lured over US$4.29 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first two months of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 38.6 percent, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).
Specifically, the above figure includes US$3.6 billion poured in 405 newly-registered projects, up 55.2 percent in value against the same period last year.
Foreign investors pledged to increase investments by US$442.1 million in 159 other projects, said GSO..
Capital contributions and share purchases by foreign investors saw a year-on-year drop of 68 percent, equivalent to US$ 255.4 million.
Meanwhile, US$2.8 billion in FDI was disbursed in the two months, up 9.8 percent from the same time of 2023.
Trade between Viet Nam and the rest of the world is estimated at US$113.96 billion in the first two months of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 18.6 percent.
Viet Nam earned US$59.34 billion from exporting during January-February period, up 19.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the Southeast Asian nation spent US$54.62 billion on imports, up 18 percent compared to the same period last year.
The nation saw more than 22,000 newly-established firms in the first two months of this year with total registered capital amounting to VND218.71 trillion (over US$8.87 billion). The figures represented yearly increases of 12.4 percent in the number of firms and 32.8 percent in capital.
During the reviewed period, nearly 18,970 enterprises resumed their operations, rising 4.4 percent over the same period last year.
The S&P Global Viet Nam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) posted 50.4 in February, up fractionally from 50.3 in January and above the 50.0 no change mark for the second consecutive month. The rate of improvement in the health of the sector signaled by the index remained only marginal.
Viet Nam welcomed over 3 million foreign tourists in January-February period, a year-on-year increase of 68.7 percent against the same period last year./.
