Coronavirus

Vietnam has closed non-essential services and called on people to stay home until April 15.

Under the growing impacts of the pandemic, market demand is forecast to plunge, while oversupply and the burden of liquidating inventories would lead to lower selling prices.

Vietnam's trade turnover is expected to reach US$115.34 billion in the January – March period, down 0.7% year-on-year.

The CPI increased 5.56% year-on-year in the first quarter, the highest growth rate for a January-March quarter during the 2016 – 2020 period.

Six of the 10 new cases are linked to Bach Mai hospital in Hanoi and Buddha bar in Ho Chi Minh City.

A survey in the manufacturing and processing in Q1 revealed nearly 60% of enterprises saw stability and even improvements in business performance compared to the previous quarter.

A positive economic growth rate in the first quarter indicated strong efforts of both the government and the society in maintaining business production while combating the Covid-19.

Enterprises should not rely solely on the government’s support, but take this opportunity to restructure operation and develop new products, said a local government official.

The Ministry of Finance expects to expand the scope of the support to a wider public.

The newly-identified cases drove the infection in Hanoi to 53 and Ho Chi Minh City to 41.