HANOI, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam spent nearly 1.4 billion U.S. dollars importing evidence-based medicines in the first half of this year, increasing just 0.1 percent against the same period last year, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade on Tuesday.

Vietnam's medicine import turnovers were over 2.8 billion U.S. dollars last year, mainly coming from France, India, Germany, South Korea, the United States, Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Thailand, according to the ministry.

According to global research firm BMI Research, Vietnam's pharmaceutical market in 2017 grew some 10 percent against 2016 to 5.2 billion U.S. dollars, and it would continue to grow at a double-digit rate in the next five years.

On average, one Vietnamese person's annual spending on pharmaceutical products rose to 37.97 U.S. dollars in 2015 from 22.25 U.S. dollars in 2010 and 9.85 U.S. dollars in 2005, said local ratings company Vietnam Report.

The spending will surge to 85 U.S. dollars by 2020 and 163 U.S. dollars by 2025, the Vietnamese company predicted.