Vietnam’s GDP is positively growing amidst the pandemic

Covid-19 certainly slowed down the Vietnamese economy growth. However, by the end of the day, the little South East Asia country still came out on top by being one of the few positive-growth countries in the first half of 2020.

Vietnamese GDP in the first half of 2020 was approximately 1.81%, reported by the General Statistics Office. This is the lowest growth of the decade for the first 6 months in Vietnam, tracing back since 2011.

To put the number into perspective, these are GDPs of Vietnam in the first two quarters over the years since 2011, respectively: 5.92%, 4.93%, 4.90%, 5.22%, 6.32%, 5.65%, 5.83%, 6.77% and of course 1.81% for the remarkable 2020.

In the midst of the Global pandemic, even though being severely hit by the Coronavirus, Vietnam is proudly known as one of a few countries still able to maintain positive growth rates around the world. From the latest OECD report, of all the countries in G20, only Turkey and India managed to pull off the same positive result for the first quarter of 2020.

Given the complexity of the pandemic’s development, US$2.2 billion had been spent so far in order to combat the Covid-19 fight, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance. On a meeting in March this year, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also stated that: we are fighting the pandemic and developing the economy at the same time. However, the utmost priority of the Government is to protect the well-being of the citizens. Health and lives are irreplaceable.

This direction was proven a winning strategy, for Vietnamese businesses are step by step transiting into normal operation — prior to the pandemic stage.

Manufacturing and Constructions is still the major contributor to the GDP with 73.14%. However, the fastest growing sectors are Processing industry, Retail, and Financial Services.

Externally, the prolonged trade war between China and the US, the tension in Iran — America relations and the disagreements between UAE countries also negatively affects the Vietnamese Economy this year. Stated in an Economic Forecast from May, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced that Vietnam has a chance to grow between 4 to 5% this year if the Government successfully attracts more Overseas Investments.

Source: Vietnamtimes