Vietnam’s nine-month GDP growth hits 9-year record high

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General Director of the General Statistics Office (GSO) Nguyen Bich Lam speaks at a press conference held to announce the nine-month economic data. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam’s GDP expanded 6.98 percent in the January- September period, the highest nine-month growth rate over the past nine years, said General Director of the General Statistics Office (GSO) Nguyen Bich Lam on September 28.

The third-quarter GDP grew by 7.31 percent year on year, higher than 6.82 percent of the first quarter and 6.73 percent of the second quarter, Lam told a press conference held in Hanoi by the GSO to announce the latest economic data.

In the first three quarters, industry and construction rose by 9.63 percent and services by 6.85 percent, contributing 52.6 percent and 42.6 percent to the country’s GDP, respectively.

Agriculture, forestry and fishery expanded just 2.02 percent and contributed 4.8 percent to the GDP as the sector has been struggling to cope with impacts of climate change and African swine fever while major foreign buyers have set stricter import rules.

Agriculture has yet to rebound, inching up 0.74 percent year-on-year, lower than that of 2017 and 2018. Fishery was the sector’s best performer which increased 6.12 percent while forestry grew by 3.98 percent.

The GSO leader said manufacturing and processing remained the main engine driving the industry sector as well as the entire economy, growing at 11.37 percent.

In the services industry, wholesale and retail posted the highest growth at 8.31 percent, followed by finance, banking and insurance segment (8.19 percent), transportation and logistics (7.82 percent), and information and communications (7.65 percent), he added.

Total nine-month retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 3.63 quadrillion VND (154.8 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of 11.6 percent, excluding inflation.