Typhoon Yagi, which hit northern Vietnam more than a week ago, has caused an estimated loss of over $1.6 billion, possibly lowering the country’s 2024 GDP growth by 0.15 percentage points from the earlier forecast rate, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The ministry released the estimates at a conference chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Sunday to address authorities of all northern localities affected by Yagi, the strongest storm to have hammered Vietnam in over 30 years.

Typhoon Yagi swept through a series of northern provinces and cities after landing in Quang Ninh Province and Hai Phong City on September 7, causing a total loss estimated at about VND40 trillion ($1.64 billion).

Among 26 provinces and cities affected by the typhoon, Quang Ninh accounted for the most damage, $972 million, followed by Hai Phong with $450.2 million, the ministry said.

The typhoon destroyed or damaged some 257,000 houses, 1,300 schools, and 305 dikes, along with many other infrastructures.

The storm submerged about 262,000 hectares of various crops, damaged 2,250 aquaculture farms, killed 2.3 million livestock and poultry animals, and uprooted 310,000 urban trees.

The affected localities, including all 25 localities of the northern region and north-central Thanh Hoa Province, represent an estimated 41 percent of Vietnam’s annual GDP and 40 percent of the country’s population.

The Vietnam News Agency quoted Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung as addressing the devastating aftermath of the typhoon and acknowledging its likely impact on GDP growth in the second half of the year.

The GDP expansion in the third and fourth quarters might drop by 0.35 and 0.22 percentage points against earlier forecast rates, the official said.

For the whole year, the economic growth may lower by 0.15 percentage points compared to the scenario of 6.8 to seven percent announced at the end of the second quarter.

The minister elaborated that among the economic sectors, agroforestry and fishery are expected to decline by 0.33 percentage points, industry and construction by 0.05 percentage points, and services by 0.22 percentage points in their growth.

In those localities severely affected by the disaster, such as Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thai Nguyen, and Lao Cai, their GRDP growth rates might drop by more than 0.5 percentage points.

PM Chinh asked authorities in all impacted localities to arrange safe living places for those made homeless, restore traffic, devise support policies for all suffering families, and exempt or reduce school fees for students, the Vietnam News Agency reported. 

He also urged them to continue searching for the missing, treating the injured, holding burial services for the dead, delivering food, clean water, and other essential supplies to affected people, cleaning up the environment, preventing disease outbreaks, repairing infrastructure, and recovering and maintaining electricity, telecommunications, and other essential services.

The prime minister requested that relevant agencies provide support for businesses that continue suffering from damage induced by the storm, preventing supply chain disruptions.

The banking system should extend debt repayment deadlines or launch zero-interest-rate loan packages for Yagi victims, he added. 

Super typhoon Yagi and the subsequent floods and landslides have wreaked havoc on many localities, causing over 350 to die and go missing while injuring thousands of others, since the storm made landfall in northern Vietnam on September 7, according to the Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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