Vietnam reports 177 million USD trade deficit in May

Hanoi, June 24 (VNA) – Vietnam saw a trade deficit of 177 million USD in May after two months enjoying slight surplus, according to statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs. The country shipped 14.37 billion USD worth of products to foreign countries (up 0.1 percent) while imports ballooned to 14.55 billion USD (up 3.4 percent) in the month. During the first five months of this year, Vietnam’s foreign trade totalled 133.25 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 2.2 percent. The national balance of trade saw a surplus of 1.64 billion USD with export turnover at 67.44 billion USD and import value at 65.8 billion USD. Foreign-invested enterprises posted 8.34 billion USD in trade surplus while domestic businesses ran a trade deficit of nearly 6.7 billion USD./.