Negative growth forecast for Singapore and Thailand as unemployment escalates

Raw material imports from China are no longer the concern for many Vietnamese industries, and it is now the frequent cancellation of orders by US and EU customers, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Craft associations believe that a host of enterprises are poised to face insurmountable difficulties, with millions of workers facing the prospect of being laid off as the economic impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) begins to be felt.

Vietnam's textile, auto and timber industries are facing challenges with plummeting revenues threatening massive job cuts as the Covid-19 pandemic intensifies.

The pandemic is giving the people an economic blow and around the world they are losing their jobs in large numbers. Large gatherings are cancelled and people undertake social distancing, making it impossible for many businesses to continue.

Fruits exports to China in the first quarter fell 29.4 percent year-on-year as the coronavirus pandemic halted trade activities.

Việt Nam’s economic growth rate is expected to slow sharply to 4.8 per cent this year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, said a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report released on Thursday.

Vietnamese enterprises shipped around 500 tonnes of goods, including coffee, instant noodles, sweet potato, cabbage, pineapple, watermelon, and dragon fruit, to Singapore in March, according to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Singapore.

With the initial outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) occurring over two months ago, the scale of the virus has begun to take a heavy toll on many Vietnamese firms, prompting them to either scale back production and lay off staff or face bankruptcy.

While Việt Nam remained significantly exposed to the COVID-19 outbreak and ongoing turbulence in global financial markets, its economy remained resilient to external shocks in the first few months of 2020, according to the World Bank (WB).