Nine-month GDP grows 5.93 percent year on year

Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first nine months of 2016 expanded by 5.93 percent from a year earlier, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The country posted continuous quarter-on-quarter GDP rises during the period with 5.48 percent in Q1, 5.78 percent in Q2 and an estimated 6.04 percent in Q3, GSO Director General Nguyen Bich Lam told the media on September 29.

However, the nine-month figure is still slower than the 6.53 percent recorded in the same period of 2015.

“That growth rate falls short of expectations,” Lam said.

The industrial sector’s stable growth rate at about 7 percent is attributable to the strong development of processing and manufacturing sectors.

The agro-forestry-fishery sector grew 0.65 percent – the lowest year-on-year rate in the last six years, contributing 0.11 percentage point to the overall GDP.

Industry and construction increased by 7.5 percent while the services sector rose by 6.66 percent, respectively adding 2.52 and 2.55 percentage points to the nine-month figure.

Although mining, especially crude oil and coal exploitation, has kept contracting, the industrial sector’s stable growth at about 7 percent is attributable to the strong development of processing and manufacturing, said Director of the GSO’s National Accounts Department Ha Quang Tuyen.

The GSO also noted the low inflation and a year-on-year increase of 6.7-percent in exports between January and September. While credit growth was posted at over 10 percent, the banking system’s Vietnamese dong liquidity has been ensured, and credit institutions’ activities and the monetary market remain stable.

To achieve this year’s GDP growth target of 6.7 percent, State agencies need to continue a proactive and flexible monetary policy in close coordination with the fiscal policy and inflation control, Lam said.

Interest and exchange rates must be aligned with domestic and global fluctuations. Agricultural restructuring and rural development must also be accelerated, the GSO Director General said, asking for continued business support and State-owned enterprises restructuring.

Le Thi Minh Thuy, Director of the GSO’s Trade and Service Statistics Department, called for augmenting the shipment of competitive goods and enhancing trade promotion.

Tuyen believed that if those suggested solutions are taken, GDP in Q4 will enjoy a breakthrough growth compared to the previous quarters.