Vietnam says 8-month trade gap nears US$16b
27/Aug/2008 Intellasia | Reuters
Aug 27, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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Vietnam estimated on Monday its trade deficit in the first eight months of 2008 would rise to US$15.97 billion, nearly 8% above a sharply upwardly revised gap in the same period of last year.
The general Statistical Office revised up the trade deficit for the January-August period in 2007 to US$14.79 billion, more than double its preliminary estimated figure of US$6.41 billion. It gave no explanation for the revision.
Exports in January-August would jump 40.6% from a year ago to US$43.32 billion, while imports would rise 30% to US$59.29 billion, the office said in its monthly report.
Exports in August alone were estimated at US$6.1 billion and imports at US$7 billion, leaving a monthly deficit of US$900 million, up from a revised monthly deficit in July of US$753 million but still much smaller than May's deficit of US$2.85 billion.
Steel imports, including steel ingots, in the first eight months jumped 98.8% from a year ago to US$5.47 billion.
High steel and construction material prices this year have led to delays in property development projects and slowed demand for housing, officials from the Construction Ministry have said.
The Southeast Asian country, which relies almost entirely on refined oil imports as it lacks refineries, estimated imports of oil products in the first eight months nearly doubled from a year ago to US$9.12 billion due to high world crude prices.
Car and car parts imports in the eight-month period surged nearly 160% from a year ago to a record US$1.95 billion.
The surge in car imports has forced the government to impose a series of tax increases including a 83-% import tariff in recent months as it seeks to reduce the trade deficit and fuel consumption.
Vietnam's trade gap and inflation raced to multi-year highs this year on the back of higher energy and food prices, forcing the government to cut its 2008 growth target to 7% from 8.5-9%.
Earlier this month State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Van Giau forecast Vietnam's trade deficit to hit US$20 billion this year but the country would have sufficient foreign exchange funds to cover the gap.
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