Thanks to the control of the Covid-19 pandemic, import-export activities and tourism are gradually recovering, leading to a significant increase in the export turnover of transportation and tourism services in our country during the first 9 months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.
Vietnam’s service export revenue in 2022 increased steadily over the quarters: in the first quarter, it reached 1.609 billion USD, in the second quarter it reached 2.802 billion USD, and in the third quarter it was estimated at 3.759 billion USD, marking increases of 43.1%, 114.7%, and 174.6% compared to the same period in 2021. In total, for the 9 months, the export turnover of services reached 8.17 billion USD, an increase of 118.4% compared to the same period last year. It is expected that by the end of 2022, the export turnover of services will reach 12 billion USD, significantly higher than in 2021 (which was 5.262 billion USD).
Notably, the growth in export turnover was achieved across all types of services. Among them, transportation service exports reached the largest scale (3.7 billion USD), an increase of 164.1% compared to the same period in 2021. It is forecasted that for the entire year of 2022, transport service exports will far exceed the 2.11 billion of 2021 and the 1.154 billion USD of 2020, and may even surpass the levels before the pandemic.
The export of tourism services reached a considerable scale of 1.941 billion USD, showing a significant increase of 1,714% compared to the same period in 2021 – a time when tourism was “frozen” due to Covid-19. It is forecasted that in 2022, the export turnover of tourism services will far exceed the 149 million USD of 2021, potentially reaching the level of 3.232 billion USD of 2020.
The high growth rate of service exports compared to the same period in 2021 is attributed to several factors. That is, the number of international visitors to Vietnam has increased significantly compared to the same period in 2021; the trade turnover of goods has risen sharply (exports increased by 17.3%, imports increased by 13%). The increase in service exports has positively contributed to the GDP growth of the service sector in the first nine months of this year (up 10.57%) compared to the same period in 2021.
However, alongside the achieved results, service exports still face many limitations and challenges. The most noticeable thing is that the scale of service exports is still very small (only accounting for 2.8% of the country’s total export turnover); it is only about 6.7%. The GDP of the service sector is very low compared to the ratio of goods and services exports to GDP (about 96.4%).
Besides, the export of some service groups has a small scale and proportion in the total export turnover of services. Insurance service exports account for only 0.7%. Government services and financial services are somewhat better, but they still only account for just over 1.6%. The postal and telecommunications services account for 2%. Other services (including education and training, healthcare, culture and sports, labor and employment, etc.) account for 25.1%.
In particular, the trade deficit in services is quite large, with the deficit rate compared to exports reaching 138%.
The largest import transportation service reached up to 5.96 billion USD in the first nine months of 2022, accounting for 52.9% of the total trade deficit; the deficit-to-export ratio stood at 161.1%. The main reason is that the transportation activities for import and export goods in Vietnam are still weak.
The second largest trade deficit is in the tourism sector, amounting to 2.759 billion USD, accounting for 24.5% of the total trade deficit; the deficit-to-export ratio is 142.1%. The reason is that the scale of imported tourism services is larger than that of exports. This situation has emerged since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred.
Ranking third in terms of service trade deficit is other services, with a deficit of 1.97 billion USD, accounting for 17.5% of the total trade deficit; the deficit-to-export ratio is 96.1%. The ability to import services in 2022 will be the highest ever recorded. This warning is related to the demand for going abroad among the domestic population and the provision of foreign currency for these needs.
The remaining service items over the past 9 months are also in a state of trade deficit, although the deficit is lower, there are items with a significant deficit ratio. For example, postal and telecommunications services: 10 million USD; government services: 18 million USD; financial services: 85 million USD; insurance services: 470 million USD. These are warning numbers for the service sectors.
