Q2 GDP growth highest since 2011

By Minh Son June 28, 2022 | 11:27 pm PT

A customer (R) shops at a market in Ho Chi Minh City on June 22, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnam’s GDP rose 7.72 percent year-on-year in Q2, the highest since 2011, driven by a strong rebound in manufacturing as the economy recovers from two years of Covid-19.

The growth rate helps bring Vietnam’s economic growth in the first six months to 6.42 percent, the highest in three years. Last year, the first-half expansion rate was 5.74 percent.

Manufacturing and processing in the first six months expanded by nearly 9.7 percent.

Industry and construction expanded by 7.7 percent, while the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors saw growth of 2.78 percent.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in the first six months surged in some key sectors, like garment (23 percent), electric equipment manufacturing (22 percent), and medicines production (17.5 percent).

Sixty-one out of 63 localities in the country posted IIP growth, except for the provinces of Ha Tinh and Tra Vinh where the energy production sector posted a decline.

Exports in the first six months rose 17.3 percent year-on-year to $186 billion, while imports increased by 15.5 percent to $185 billion.

Retail and services revenue rose by nearly 12 percent year-on-year to over VND2,700 trillion.

A total 602,000 foreign visitors came to Vietnam, a seven-time jump from the first six months of last year as Vietnam reopened its borders.

This figure, however, is 93 percent lower than in 2019 when the Covid-19 pandemic had yet to occur.

The consumer price index, which measures inflation, rose 2.44 percent year-on-year.