Economic prosperity strengthens growth confidence

In 2022, the country's total import-export turnover is estimated at USD 731.5 billion, increasing by 9.5% compared to 2021, of which exports increased by 10.6%, imports by 8.4%, and trade surplus of USD 11.2 billion. With efforts to overcome difficulties, Binh Duong had a trade surplus of USD 9.1 billion out of the total USD 11.2 billion nationwide, which contributed to balance the trade balance, bringing a high surplus value. More than 50% of enterprises in a recent survey believed that in 2023 production and business operations will be stable and Binh Duong's economy will continue to grow.

More than 50% of enterprises in a recent survey believed that production and business opertions in the first quarter of 2023 will be stable in good growth prospects

Strong recovery

In 2022, despite the suffering from many negative impacts of the world economy, Binh Duong's economy recovered quite well after the epidemic thanks to the efforts to overcome and implement many solutions to remove drawbacks. The assessment of the provincial Statistics Office found that in the first 6 months of 2022, most of the province's socio-economic indicators had a rather high growth rate compared to the same period in 2021.

However, due to the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the rising price of petrol and gas has increased the cost of transportation, production and business operations of enterprises; and, inflation has increased in many countries around the world, leading to falling consumer demand of the market. Along with that, China's Zero Covid policy disrupts the supply of raw materials for production. In addition, the shortage of skilled labor force, slow disbursement of public investment capital, and increased spending on social security also cause development barriers.

Ngo Van Mit - Director of Binh Duong Statistics Office, said that statistical data showed that, in the last 6 months of 2022, the province's socio-economic situation faced many problems. The most obvious is that from July 2022 up to now, the export value of goods of the province has decreased sharply from an average of USD 3.3 - 3.4 billion a month in the first months of the year to USD 2.9 billion, which continued to decrease gradually until November 2022 to only USD 2.5 billion, decreasing from USD 500-900 million of exported goods per month compared to the first months of 2022.

However, with great determination, the provincial People's Committee has quickly implemented the resolutions and documents of the government, central ministries and the provincial Party Committee, and the provincial People's Council on socio-economic development in 2022 according to each situation on monthly and quarterly basis, production and business activities tend to recover stably and people's lives are improved; the socio-economic situation has achieved many positive results. Specifically, the province's gross domestic product (GRDP) is estimated to increase by 8% over the same period, which was planned to increase by 8 - 8.3%. It is encouraging when the province's GRDP per capita in 2022 increases by VND 10 million to reach VND 166 million a year compared to VND 156 million a year in 2021.

Great efforts

According to the Department of Planning and Investment, from the beginning of the year to December 15, the province has attracted 6,235 businesses to register for new business with a total capital of VND 40,165.5 billion; 1,681 enterprises adjusted to increase capital with the total increment by VND 62,900 billion. The foreign direct investment sector in 2022 attracted USD 3.1 billion, increasing by 48.8% over the same period. Of which, new investment certificates were issued for 69 projects with a total registered capital of USD 1.9 billion and 22 projects with capital adjustment of a total amounts of USD 23.7 million; capital contribution and share purchase of 172 projects are accounted for a total capital of nearly USD 1.17 billion, increasing by 74.3% compared to 2021.

The province's trade and service sectors also have many positive signs. Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in 2022 reached VND 269,290 billion, increasing by 16.8% over the same period. Investment capital for social development reached VND 150,188 billion, of which non-state capital was VND 79,327 billion, foreign direct investment capital VND 60,484 billion.

In 2022, despite facing many difficulties, the province has made good efforts to implement public investment, bringing the capital disbursement rate to the highest possible level. The reason for the implementation of public investment capital in 2022 has not met expectations because some general inadequacies of the whole country that cannot be completely overcome remained. In addition, a number of reasons such as the sudden increase in the price of construction materials in recent years also affect the implementation progress of public investment capital, material prices cool down, especially contractors who sign contracts with fixed unit prices.

The province has started construction of many key projects of regional linkage, and at the same time completed and put into use many key projects in the fields of the province as well as localities. Accordingly, the disbursement of the public investment plan was VND 4,404 billion, reaching 50.6% of the plan, making a significant contribution to socio-economic recovery and development.

In 2023, the province will focus on solving difficulties and obstacles with determination to manage and successfully implement the public investment plan, urgently complete legal procedures, allocate sufficient capital, carry out compensation, and start construction of a number of key transport infrastructure projects such as Vanh Dai 3, Vanh Dai 4, and Ho Chi Minh city - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway, drastically implement administrative reforms, digital transformation, build e-government and smart city,strongly improve business investment environment, and enhance competitiveness for sustainable development.

The results of the survey on business trends at 448 enterprises in the processing and manufacturing industry in the whole province showed that 13.5% of enterprises rated their production and business situation in the fourth quarter of 2022 as better than the previous quarter; 59.8% of enterprises rated it difficult and 26.7% of enterprises thought that the production and business situation was stable. Among the main factors affecting production and business of enterprises in the fourth quarter, 54% of enterprises rated because of low international market demand; 16.1% of enterprises said that they could not recruit workers as required; 17.8% of enterprises assessed the lack of raw materials; 31.6% of enterprises blamed financial difficulties; 5.3% of enterprises rated as outdated technology equipment. However, 50.4% of enterprises in the survey thought that in the first quarter of 2023 the production and business situation would be stable and better, of which 20% would evaluate the trend to be improved and 30.4% thought that the production and business situation would be stable.

Reported by Minh Duy – Translated by Vi Bao