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Vietnam’s Inflation Surges to 6-Year High, Exports Plunge

Vietnam’s Inflation Surges to 6-Year High, Exports Plunge

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Vietnam’s inflation accelerated to its highest in more than six years in January, while exports plunged, putting the economy on an uncertain footing at the beginning of the year.

Consumer prices rose 6.4% in January from a year ago, the fastest pace since August 2013, according to data from the General Statistics Office in Hanoi. Exports contracted 14.3%, compared with expansion of 10.3% forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Key Highlights

  • The price of pork, the main protein, has been increasing because of swine fever, while fuel costs have climbed, pushing up inflation. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has requested ministries and local officials to use the government’s price-stabilization funds to keep the cost of essential goods, such as pork, rice, milk from rising during the Lunar New Year holiday
  • Imports dropped 11.3% in January from a year ago, compared with a median estimate for growth of 10.6%. Trade data are collected in the first two weeks of the month, and may have been affected by the public holidays

Get More

  • Click here for a breakdown of industrial production data, and here for retail sales

To contact the reporter on this story: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi at uyen1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Boudreau at jboudreau3@bloomberg.net, Nasreen Seria

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