Speaking at the announcement of the socio-economic report for the first quarter of 2026 on the morning of April 4, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong - Director of the Statistics Department (Ministry of Finance) said that the gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2026 is estimated to increase by 7.83% compared to the same period last year (the first quarter of 2025 increased by 7.07%).
In which, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector increased by 3.58%, contributing 5.60% to the total added value increase of the entire economy; the industry and construction sector increased by 8.92%, contributing 44.08%; the service sector increased by 8.18%, contributing 50.32%.
The situation of total foreign investment capital registered in Vietnam as of March 31, 2026 includes: Newly registered capital, adjusted registered capital and the value of capital contribution and share purchase of foreign investors reached 15.20 billion USD, an increase of 42.9% compared to the same period last year.
Foreign direct investment capital implemented in Vietnam in the first 3 months of 2026 is estimated at 5.41 billion USD, an increase of 9.1% compared to the same period last year. This is the highest foreign direct investment capital implemented in the first 3 months of the year in the past 5 years.
Providing information on the import and export situation, Ms. Huong said that the total import and export turnover of goods reached 93.55 billion USD, an increase of 39.2% compared to the previous month and an increase of 23.9% compared to the same period last year. In the first quarter of 2026, the total import and export turnover of goods reached 249.50 billion USD, an increase of 23.0% compared to the same period last year, of which exports increased by 19.1%; imports increased by 27.0%. Trade balance of goods trade deficit of 3.64 billion USD.
In the first quarter of 2026, the export turnover of goods reached 122.93 billion USD, an increase of 19.1% compared to the same period last year. In the first quarter of 2026, there were 20 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 86.8% of total export turnover (there were 5 items with export turnover of over 5 billion USD, accounting for 62.4%).
In the first quarter of 2026, the import turnover of goods reached 126.57 billion USD, an increase of 27.0% compared to the same period last year, of which the domestic economic sector reached 35.2 billion USD, down 4.3%; the foreign-invested sector reached 91.37 billion USD, up 45.3%.
In the first quarter of 2026, there were 22 imported items worth over 1 billion USD, accounting for 82.8% of total import turnover (there were 2 imported items over 5 billion USD, accounting for 49.8%).
Regarding the consumer index, Ms. Huong said that domestic gasoline and oil prices increased sharply according to world fuel prices, along with the increase in construction material prices due to increased input and transportation costs, which are the main reasons for the consumer price index (CPI) in March 2026 to increase by 1.23% compared to the previous month.
Compared to December 2025, the CPI in March increased by 2.44% and increased by 4.65% compared to the same period last year. In the first quarter of 2026, the CPI increased by 3.51% compared to the same period last year; core inflation increased by 3.63%" - Ms. Huong informed.
