In 2014, Vietnam gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.98% in comparison to the previous year. The GDP grow was higher than the expected number (5.8%) set up by the Government in early 2014. Accordingly, the proportion of agriculture, forestry and fishing sector; industry and construction area; and service sector were 18.12%, 38.5%, and 43.31% respectively. From the figures, it can be seen that in the structure of Vietnam economy scale, service sector accounted for the largest proportion and followed respectively by the industry and construction area and agriculture, forestry and fishing sector.
CPI 2014 reached 1.84% in comparison to 2013. It was much lower than the expected target set by the National Assembly and become the lowest level in 13 years. In 2014, CPI gained the highest number in January (an increase of 0.69% compared to December 2013) and the lowest number in March (a decrease of 0.44% compared to February 2014). Since 1998, the decrease of CPI in December happened only twice, one in 2008 and another in 2014.
The export turnover of the whole country was estimated to reach at 150 billion USD, increased 13.6% compared to 2013. Meanwhile, Vietnam import turnover reached 148 billion USD, fell 12.1% in comparison to the same period. From the figures, it can be calculated that the trade surplus of Vietnam reached 2 billion USD. 2014 became the 3rd consecutive year when Vietnam gained the trade surplus. Notably, the trade surplus entirely depended on FDI enterprises in Vietnam.
In 2014, FDI registered capital was estimated at 20.23 billion USD, which was equal to 93.5% compared to 2013 and increased 19% in comparison to the 2014 plan. Up to December 15th, 2014, FDI projects were disbursed at 12.35 billion USD, an increase of 7.4% compared to the same period in 2013. Manufacturing and processing industry attracted the largest FDI capital in 2014, which accounted for 71.6% of total registered capital in the whole country. Thai Nguyen is the province received the largest FDI in comparison to other provinces. When referring to foreign investors, Korea is the largest investor in this year.
In 2014, there were 74,842 units registered for the establishment of new enterprises. The number of new enterprises fell 2.7%, nonetheless, the total registered capital rose 8.4%. Meanwhile, the number of recovery enterprises and enterprises forced to dissolve or suspended operations were 15,419 and 67,823 respectively.
The total retail sales and service revenues in 2014 were estimated to reach 2945.2 trillion VND, an increase of 10.6% compared to 2013.
The industrial production in 2014 had signs of recovery, especially in terms of manufacturing and processing industry. In details, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) 2014 rose 7.6 % in comparison to the same period in 2013, in which, the increase of Quarter I, II, III, IV were respectively 5.3%, 6.9%, 7.8%, and 10.1%.
The government budget revenues in 2014 were estimated to exceed the estimates with the number of 814,100 billion VND up to the middle of December (104% of the estimates). Meanwhile, the budget expenditure in the same period was about 968,500 billion VND (96% of the estimates). The estimated budget overspending was approximately 154,400 billion VND (5.7% of GDP at constant prices).