Viet Nam’s index of industrial production (IIP) in the first quarter of this year gained the highest year-on-year growth rate of 11.6 per cent in the past three years.

This was reported by the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The index saw a year-on-year growth rate of 9.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, 8.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 and 5.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2017.

Announcing the results of socio-economic development in the first quarter of 2018 at a press conference on March 29, GSO director Nguyen Bich Lam said the high growth of the industry contributed to maintaining the domestic economic development since the previous year.

The manufacturing and processing sector, accounting for 90 per cent of the industrial value, saw the strongest IIP growth at 13.6 per cent since 2012. The robust growth of IIP contributed significantly to the 7.38 per cent growth rate of the gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year, the best first-quarter performance in the last 10 years.

Lam said the manufacturing of electronic products, computers and optical products as well as steel production contributed strongly not only to the growth of the industry but also to overall economic development.

In the first quarter of 2018, the mining sector experienced a growth rate of 0.4 per cent in IIP due to the recovery of coal, metal and gas production, after two consecutive years of IIP reduction.

Electricity production and distribution had a stable IIP growth rate of 10.5 per cent, while IIP increased 13.7 per cent for the textiles and garment industry and 12.8 per cent for beds, wardrobes and tables.

Some major industrial products posted high growth in the first three months of this year, including raw steel, powdered milk, television and fish feed.

However, some other products recorded a low growth or reduction in IIP, such as animal feed, fertilisers and crude oil.

According to GSO, the high growth rate of industrial production in the first quarter of this year was partly due to the high growth rate of consumption market at 14.2 per cent year-on-year, with high consumption of pharmaceuticals, electronic products, computers and motor vehicles.

The high consumption supported lower growth in inventory at 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to the growth rate of 13.5 per cent in the same period last year.

In the first quarter of 2018, the industry had low inventory of motor vehicles, electrical equipment, paper and paper products, leather and leather products, drugs and pharmaceuticals.

60% enterprises expect better business in second quarter

Some 60 per cent of local enterprises in a survey expect their business to do better in the second quarter of 2018 against the first quarter.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) said this on March 29 while releasing the results of the survey on business trends of manufacturing and manufacturing enterprises in the first quarter of 2018.

According to the survey, 33 per cent of businesses said they had better business performance in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter, while 24.6 per cent of them faced difficulties in doing business and 42.4 per cent of them said their businesses were stable.

In the second quarter of this year, 55.7 per cent of surveyed enterprises expect their businesses to do better, while 10.4 per cent of them predict difficulties and 33.9 per cent of the enterprises expect stable business.

The GSO also said in the first quarter of this year, 26,785 newly established enterprises were registered, with a total capital of VND278.5 trillion, up 1.2 per cent in terms of the number of enterprises and 2.7 per cent in terms of registered capital year-on-year. — VNS