Market and product

Vietnam has been hit hard by the current novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), but it will show signs of recovery in the post-coronavirus period, the World Bank said in its Vietnam Macro Monitoring report for May.

The World Bank cited the Vietnam General Statistics Office’s latest report as saying processing and manufacturing industries were most heavily impacted with 1.2 million jobs affected during the first quarter.

Unemployment among workers 15 years and above also reached a 5-year high, reaching 2.22% at end of March. As many as 18,600 companies temporarily suspended business in the first quarter, up 26% year-on-year.

The export value of the foreign-invested sector – the engine of Vietnam’s exports, grew by only 1.5% compared to 4.4% in the same period last year..

However, the economy has the chance to pick up its momentum again in the post-coronavirus period, said the World Bank, reasoning credit grow gradually rebounded in March after sluggish growth in the first two months of 2020./.VNA