Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s trade deficit in the first five months of this year reached 14.4 billion USD, already 3.5 billion USD over the 2008 target.

Economists from the General Statistics Office (GSO) attributed the deficit to high demand for materials, equipment and machines for production and construction, as well as a strong surge in auto and gold imports, which drove total import value 2.4 times higher than that of last year.

Other factors driving up imports included constant moves to lower or remove taxes according to World Trade Organisation and AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area) commitments, the economists said.

In the first five months of this year, import values surged by 67 percent to 37.8 billion USD, while export turnover increased by only 27.2 percent to 23.4 billion USD, according to the GSO.

While the domestic sector accounted for 26.34 billion USD of the total import value, up 80 percent, the foreign invested sector reached 11.476 billion USD, up 43.2 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, exports in the first five months saw the opposite trend with the domestic sector earning just 9.9 billion USD, up 23.1 percent, and the foreign invested sector netting 13.4 billion USD, up 30.4 percent.

GSO said the rise in export value was mostly due to soaring prices in the global market, not from the quantity of exports.

Exports enjoying higher prices included crude oil at 4.5 billion USD, up 45.5 percent from a year earlier, and coal at 565 million USD, up 34.9 percent.

Other export items that registered high growth rates include garments at 3.3 billion USD, up 19 percent; footwear at 1.75 billion USD, up 13.4 percent and wood products at 1.14 billion USD, up 20.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the country exported 2.1 million tonnes of rice, earning 1.17 billion USD in the first five months, up 94 percent, thanks to higher demand and price increases in the global market.

Import values on equipment and machines, blamed largely for the trade deficit, jumped to 5.7 billion USD, up 42.5 percent against a year earlier.

Imports of CBU (complete built unit) autos saw a sharp rise in the first five months at 625 million USD, up six times over 2007, while imports of gold in the first four months reached 71 tonnes worth 2.1 billion USD, up eight times over last year.