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According to the information from the Conference on Summarizing the Work in 2024 and Deploying Tasks for the Industry and Trade Sector in 2025, despite numerous difficulties, Vietnam’s economy continued to show a clear recovery, with each month and quarter performing better than the previous one.
It is expected that Vietnam’s economic growth rate in 2024 can reach and exceed 7%, belonging to the group of few countries with high growth in the region and the world.
In the context of implementing salary increases from July 1, 2024, and adjusting the prices of some goods and services at the end of the year… but inflation is controlled below 4%, which is a very positive result.
Major balances were ensured, especially energy security and the balance of supply and demand for essential goods, raw materials, and inputs for production…
Along with that, the Vietnamese economy recorded many high achievements and unprecedented records in history.
Trade turnover reaches the historical milestone of about $800 billion
Import and export activities in 2024 have strongly recovered. Total trade turnover is expected to reach $800 billion, up 15%, nearly 2.5 times higher than the government’s target of about 6%. Of which, exports reached over $400 billion, up 14.4%; imports increased by 16.4%, and the trade balance maintained a high surplus of about $25 billion, marking the 9th consecutive year of trade surplus.
There were 36 commodity groups with an export turnover of over $1 billion (compared to 33 in the same period last year), accounting for 94.1% of the total export turnover (including 7 export commodities with a value of over $10 billion, accounting for 66.5%). There were 44 import commodities with a value of over $1 billion, accounting for 92.6% of the total import turnover (including 5 import commodities with a value of over $10 billion, accounting for 51.4%).
The miracle of the 500 kV Line 3 with a series of records
The 500kV Line 3 Quang Trach – Pho Noi project, with a total length of about 519 km, consists of 1,177 towers; the tallest tower is 145 m high, and the heaviest tower weighs up to 415 tons. The project was carried out in harsh weather conditions and through difficult terrain.
However, after more than 6 months of construction with a huge amount of work, the project set records in terms of construction time, workload, resource mobilization, and problem-solving mechanisms. This is a miracle not only of the electricity industry but also of Vietnam when a difficult project was constructed at a record speed in a very short time. Especially in difficult and unfavorable weather conditions and complex and dangerous terrain.
E-commerce surpasses $25 billion
Although the global and regional economies are still facing many challenges, Vietnamese e-commerce continues to maintain an impressive growth rate of 18-25% annually.
In 2024, the e-commerce market size is expected to exceed $25 billion, up 20% compared to 2023, accounting for about 9% of the country’s total retail sales of goods and service revenue.
Currently, the e-commerce market size accounts for 2/3 of the country’s digital economy value and has helped Vietnam enter the Top 10 countries with the fastest e-commerce growth in the world, creating a driving force for economic development and leading digital transformation in enterprises.
Breakthrough in opening up a large potential market
On October 28, 2024, after more than a year of negotiations, Vietnam and the UAE successfully signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Vietnam and the UAE (CEPA Agreement). This is the first FTA that Vietnam has signed with an Arab country, opening a new chapter in economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and the UAE.
The signing of the Agreement after more than a year of negotiations also set a new record, reflecting the proactive and leading role of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in connecting international economic cooperation. The CEPA Agreement has increased the total number of FTAs that Vietnam has signed and negotiated to 19; further expanding Vietnam’s global trade integration highway.
This agreement opens up countless opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to enter the Halal market. Currently, the Halal industry is developing strongly with more than 2 billion Muslims worldwide. The global Halal economy is valued at over $7,000 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach about $10,000 billion by 2028.
Establishing Halal standards from production to distribution is becoming an important trend, creating great opportunities for Vietnamese businesses. Products serving the Halal market are mainly agricultural products, so opening up this market will basically solve the problem of agricultural product exports of Vietnam.
Industry recovers strongly with spectacular growth
In 2024, domestic industrial production for the first 11 months of the year is estimated to increase by 8.4%, much higher than the growth rate of 0.9% in the same period in 2023.
In particular, the processing and manufacturing industry increased by 9.7% (up 1.0% over the same period in 2023), contributing 8.5 percentage points to the overall growth, regaining its role as the main driver of economic growth. Industrial production also recovered and grew on a large scale, with industrial production growth in 60/63 provinces and centrally-run cities.
In addition, in 2024, agricultural, forestry, and fishery production and export achieved a breakthrough. The production value increased by over 3.2%, and agricultural exports exceeded $60 billion for the first time (estimated at $62.7 billion in 2024), up over 18% compared to 2023, with 11 commodities continuing to maintain an export turnover of over $1 billion.
Moreover, the domestic market grew steadily (nearly 9%). Trade promotion was strongly innovated with the largest series of events ever, and the value of Vietnam’s national brand exceeded $500 billion, ranking 32nd in the world.
