Vietnam’s economic growth accelerates on industry, exports

Vietnam’s economic growth accelerated in the third quarter as exports and manufacturing began recovering from the pandemic-induced slump of the first half of the year.

Gross domestic product rose 2.62% from a year earlier, up from a revised 0.39% in the second quarter, the General Statistics Office said Tuesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of five economists was for growth of 2.7%.

“Improving industrial production with an impressive increase in manufacturing has been the main momentum for the country’s economic growth in the ‘new normal’ situation,” Nguyen Thi Huong, head of the statistics office, said at a briefing in Hanoi.

In a recent survey, about 81% of manufacturers said manufacturing should continue its strong improvement into next year, according to Pham Dinh Thuy, director of statistics office’s industrial department.

“The government is aggressively accelerating public investment, and that will surely help boost GDP growth in the fourth quarter,” Thuy said.

Household spending is also expected to surge in the final quarter of the year, according to Duong Manh Hung, head of the GSO’s GDP department.

Full-year GDP growth above 2% “is quite possible on increases in manufacturing, exports and state and family spending,” Duong said.

Other details from the report:

• The economy grew 2.12% in the first nine months of the year compared to a year earlier, data from the statistics office showed
• Exports surged 18% in September from a year earlier, compared to the 6.5% growth expected by economists. Imports rose 11.6%, versus estimates for 4.0% growth
• For the first nine months of the year, exports rose 4.2% compared to the same period in 2019. Imports declined 0.8% during that time
• Consumer prices rose 2.98% in September from a year earlier. Average inflation for the first nine months of the year was 3.85%, close to the government’s 4% target