The figures were released Thursday at the Government’s monthly teleconference between the Prime Minister and localities in Vietnam.

Trade and services grew 20%; the trade surplus was an estimated 3.6 billion USD; 871,000 international visitors arrived in Vietnam; nearly 11,000 new businesses were established; and people's lives continued to improve.

The meeting reviewed socio-economic performance last month, set key tasks for February, and discussed the implementation of socio-economic recovery programs, the disbursement of public investment capital over the past 13 months, and the plan to build a national data center.

At the meeting, PM Pham Minh Chinh asked participants to give opinions on pending issues and propose specific solutions to deal with these problems in the coming months.