Vietnam reports $933m trade deficit in H1

Vietnam hit a trade deficit of 933 million U.S. dollars in the first six months of this year after it earned 61.539 billion dollars from exports and disbursed 62.472 million U.S. dollars for imports during the period. The figures, reported by the country's Ministry of Planning and Investment on Friday, are lower than those listed by the Vietnam General Statistics Office in early July, which reported that the country's trade deficit was at 1.4 billion U.S. dollars. The updated figures also revealed that the foreign direct investment sector's export value accounted for 66.4 percent of the country's total export value, a year-on-year increase of 23.8 percent, while the domestic sector made up 33.6 percent, a rise of 1.1 percent. In about 80 markets for its exports, Vietnam posted a trade surplus in 53 markets, including the United States with over 8.27 billion U.S. dollars, the United Arab Emirates with nearly 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, Britain with 1.47 billion U.S. dollars, and Cambodia with 1.18 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the country faced a trade deficit in 25 import markets, including China with 10.76 billion U.S. dollars, South Korea with 6.85 billion U.S. dollars, China's Taiwan with 3.3 billion U.S. dollars and Thailand with 1.39 billion U.S. dollars. According to the ministry, the country will likely record a trade deficit at around 2.6 billion U.S. dollars this year.