Vietnam’s GDP expands 7.02 percent in 2019

The steel mill of the Hoa Sen Nghe An Co. Ltd in Dong Hoi Industrial Park, Nghe An province (Photo: VNA)

At a press conference in Hanoi on December 27, GSO General Director Nguyen Bich Lam said the country’s GDP growth this year is impressive, surpassing the target of 6.6 – 6.8 percent set by the National Assembly.

Although the figure in 2019 is lower than 7.08 percent in 2018, it still outpaces the rates between 2011 and 2017, he noted.

In particular, the agro-forestry-fishery sector grew 2.01 percent, the industrial – construction sector expanded 8.9 percent, and the service sector rose 7.3 percent. They respectively contributed 4.6 percent, 50.4 percent and 45 percent to the overall economic expansion.

In the fourth quarter alone, the GDP rose 6.97 percent from the same period last year, including 1.62 percent in the agro-forestry-fishery sector, 7.92 percent in the industrial – construction sector, and 8.09 percent in the service sector.

Lam also emphasised the improved growth quality and economic effectiveness, elaborating that the contribution of total factor productivity to this year’s GDP growth reached 46.11 percent, compared to the average of 44.46 percent during 2016-2019 and 33.58 percent during 2011-2015.

Meanwhile, the economy’s openness has been becoming greater. In 2019, total export and import revenue of goods and services is equivalent to 210.4 percent of the GDP, indicating that Vietnam has managed to capitalise on the domestic economy’s advantages and make use of global markets, the official said.

He added that the economic structure this year has continued to shift in a positive direction as the agro-forestry-fishery sector’s proportion in the GDP dropped 0.72 percentage point from 2018 to 13.96 percent, the industrial – construction sector up 0.26 percentage point to 34.49 percent, and the service sector up 0.52 percentage point to 41.64 percent.