In the context of the world economy continuing to be complex and unpredictable, regional conflicts affecting the energy supply chain and creating more challenges than advantages, Vietnam's socio-economy in the first 6 months of 2026 still achieved many positive results, completing many important goals, and comprehensive development in most fields.
According to a report by the Ministry of Finance, GDP growth in the first 6 months of the year reached 8.18%, the highest level since 2011 and belonging to the group of high-growth economies in the region. Along with that, inflation continued to be controlled when the average consumer price index (CPI) increased by 4.38%, within the target range of about 4.5%.
State budget revenue achieved positive results with nearly 1.62 million billion VND, equal to 64.24% of the year's estimate (as of July 8, 2026). Meanwhile, disbursement of public investment capital reached 35.5% of the plan, equivalent to about 357 trillion VND, higher than the same period of 38.4 trillion VND. The work of ensuring electricity and gasoline supply is maintained stably in all situations.
Regarding institutional improvement, the Ministry of Finance said that it has issued 338 legal documents, of which the new term Government has issued 206 documents. At the same time, 11 Resolutions on cutting and simplifying administrative procedures have been passed, helping to reduce 53% of the time and 55% of compliance costs for people and businesses.
In the field of infrastructure development, the whole country has completed and put into operation 395 km of highways, and simultaneously started construction of 5 key urban railway lines in Hanoi. The work of removing difficulties and obstacles for prolonged backlog projects has also been promoted. Science and technology, innovation and digital transformation continue to record new advances.
In the field of culture and society, the average income of workers reached about 9 million VND/month, an increase of 8.6% compared to the same period last year. The whole country completed 96 social housing projects with a scale of 27.6 thousand apartments, while promoting the development of rental housing. The quality of education, training and medical examination and treatment continues to be improved; the policy of free medical examination and treatment with health insurance is implemented from July 1, 2026. National defense and security are maintained; the work of preventing and combating trade fraud, intellectual property violations and food safety is strengthened; foreign affairs and international integration continue to be bright spots, especially high-level foreign affairs, contributing to enhancing the country's position and expanding the development space.
Besides the achieved results, the Ministry of Finance also pointed out many difficulties and challenges. Inflation pressure is still present in the context of world gasoline and oil prices continuing to fluctuate. The disbursement progress of public investment has not met expectations due to problems with site clearance, labor shortages, lack of raw materials and lack of proactive implementation in some places. Trade deficit in the first 6 months of the year is still high, mainly due to fluctuations in gasoline and oil prices, electronic components, along with the demand for importing raw materials for production, investment in building data centers and artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, natural disasters, droughts and saltwater intrusion continue to be direct challenges for sustainable development.
For the last 6 months of the year, the Ministry of Finance determines to continue to flexibly coordinate fiscal and monetary policies to unlock capital flows for the economy, especially small and medium-sized enterprises; maintain policies of exemption, reduction, extension of taxes and fees and orient credit into production and export. At the same time, resolutely transfer public investment capital to agencies that are slow to disburse, practice regular spending savings, strive to disburse 100% of the public investment capital plan and focus on handling surplus public assets such as houses and land.
The Ministry of Finance also sets a goal to promote the role of large enterprises, state-owned enterprises and the FDI sector in developing the domestic supply chain; selectively attract FDI; promote production, consumption and export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products; and effectively exploit FTAs.
At the same time, developing the domestic market with a scale of 100 million people becomes an important driving force for growth; completing the construction of the program "Vietnamese people use Vietnamese goods" associated with the requirement to upgrade production industries; attracting international visitors and promoting domestic tourism associated with stimulating domestic consumption. Building a sustainable, safe, and healthy real estate market and promoting rental housing.
Along with that, the Ministry of Finance will continue to improve institutions, review the legal system, cut administrative procedures, minimize logistics costs; build a clean, interconnected, and safe national data infrastructure; develop strategic technology industries; effectively exploit new development spaces and new marine economic industries. At the same time, focus on training high-quality human resources, ensuring the progress of completing schools in border communes, striving to ensure that by the end of 2026, all people will have free periodic health check-ups, and proactively implement natural disaster response plans.
