Weekly News Bulletin - No. 02, October 2022

According to the Vietnam Logistics Service Association (VLA), the growth rate of the logistics industry in Vietnam in recent years has reached about 14 - 16%, with a scale of about 40 - 42 billion USD/year.

Ho Chi Minh City targets developing logistics into a spearhead service industry, with revenue growth to reach 15 percent by 2025 and 20 percent by 2030. The industry's contribution to gross regional domestic product (GRDP) will reach 10 percent by 2025 and 12 percent by 2030. Under the project on developing the city's logistics industry by 2025 and vision to 2030, it will have seven logistics centers. HCMC has the strength of geographical location when located between the North - South, East - West traffic axes, so it becomes the center of domestic goods flow and import and export for the southern provinces.

Focusing all resources on developing the maritime economy holds great significance and is also the fastest way for the Mekong Delta provinces of Tra Vinh and Ben Tre to become rich and strong sea-based localities. In the coming time, the two provinces aim to achieve strong and sustainable maritime economic development, with focus on renewables, fisheries and tourism. They are striving to effectively adapt to climate change, protect the marine environment, prevent coastal erosion, and conserve and promote maritime ecosystems. Tra Vinh has been selected by the Government as a key province for the development of both fisheries and international trade. Similarly, Ben Tre aims to become one of the localities with strong and sustainable development in the maritime economy, focusing on developing renewable energy, fisheries and tourism by 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Last week highlight

The COVID-19 pandemic has put the brake on Vietnam’s economic growth over the last two years but, on the other hand, it has also fueled a significant uptick in e-commerce which recorded a 16% growth to 13.7 billion USD in retail revenue in 2021, according to the White Book on Vietnamese E-business 2022.

Data from the General Statistics Office showed that retailing and wholesaling declined 0.21% year-on-year, causing the economy to decrease 0.02 percentage point. Warehouse and logistics plunged 5.02% and lodging and catering services 20.81%, leading to a drop of 0.3% and 0.51%, respectively, to the GDP growth. E-retailing is forecast to surge 20% this year to 16.4 billion USD, compared to 5 billion USD in 2015. A 2022 study by big data analysis company Metric.vn indicated that Vietnam is emerging as the second largest e-commerce market in Southeast Asia, only after Indonesia.

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Let’s look at some other key financial and business headlines during the past week