Vietnam estimates damages of $3.31 bln from Typhoon Yagi

Hanoi: Asia's strongest storm this year, Typhoon Yagi, caused damages estimated at 81.5 trillion dong ($3.31 billion) across northern Vietnam, or twice as much as previous estimates, state media said on Saturday.

The typhoon, which killed 299 with 34 missing, devastated export-oriented industrial hubs, destroying factories and facilities, besides flooding farmland, damaging homes, and tearing up a bridge.

"The total economic damage is initially estimated at over 81.5 trillion dong, with most damage triggered by landslides and flash floods," state-run Vietnam News Agency quoted Agriculture Minister Le Minh Hoan as saying.

The figure exceeds a preliminary estimate of $1.6 billion made this month by the planning ministry that threatened to chip 0.15 percentage point from a forecast for economic growth of 6.8 per cent to 7 per cent this year.

Hoan urged authorities to help people resume production while ensuring supplies and holding down prices, as farm and agricultural land were among the areas hit hardest.

Live pig prices in Vietnam have risen steadily since Typhoon Yagi and subsequent flooding affected several pig farms, Reuters has reported.

On Thursday, rating agency SP Global said Vietnamese banks' profitability would be hit because of typhoon debt relief measures ordered by the central bank.

($1=24,590.0000 dong)