A view of Can Tho city - an economic hub of the Mekong Delta (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam posted a gross domesticgrowth (GDP) rate of 5.1 percent in the first quarter of 2017, signalling aslowdown compared to the first-quarter rates of 6.12 percent in 2015 and 5.48percent in 2016.
General Director of the General StatisticsOffice (GSO) Nguyen Bich Lam revealed the information at a press conference inHanoi on March 29.
He attributed the slower growth partly to theyear-on-year growth of 2.03 percent in the agro-forestry-fishery sector. Thesector’s growth is higher than the same period last year but still the secondlowest rate since 2011.
The industry and construction sector increasedby 4.17 percent from a year earlier, 2.99 percentage points lower than that inQ1 of 2016 and also the slowest pace since 2011, as the mining industrycontracted by 10 percent.
Meanwhile, the services sector enjoyed the bestperformance since 2012 as it posted a 6.52 percent rise in the reviewed time,according to Director of the GSO’s National Account Department Ha Quang Tuyen.
Export turnover is estimated at 43.7 billion USDin Q1, up 12.8 percent year on year, with big rises recorded in the shipmentsof electronic products, computers and components (42.3 percent); textile andgarment (10.2 percent); machinery, equipment and spare parts (34.6 percent).
About 80.5 trillion VND (3.54 billion USD) offoreign direct investment was registered in the three-month period throughMarch.
Meanwhile, retail sales of goods and servicestotalled 921.1 trillion VND (nearly 40.53 billion USD), climbing 9.18 percentfrom the same period last year. The rate is 6.2 percent if price hikes areexcluded, lower than the 7.5-percent expansion in Q1 of 2016, indicating slowergrowth in the economy’s aggregate demand and purchasing power, the GSO said.
This office added in the three months, 26,478businesses were set up with a combined registered capital of nearly 271.24trillion VND (11.93 billion USD), up 11.4 percent in the company number and45.8 percent in the capital year on year. Meanwhile, another 9,271 firmsresumed operations.
General Director Lam forecast more difficultiesand challenges, instead of favourable conditions, for the remaining months of2017. It will be hard to achieve the targeted growth rate of 6.7 percent thisyear if the economy does not make breakthrough from now to the end of the year.
Therefore, the Government, sectors, authoritiesat all level, the business community, and the entire society must be proactiveand flexible to overcome obstacles and realise the socio-economic developmenttargets set by the National Assembly, he added.-VNA
Export turnover is estimated at 43.7 billion USDin Q1, up 12.8 percent year on year, with big rises recorded in the shipmentsof electronic products, computers and components (42.3 percent); textile andgarment (10.2 percent); machinery, equipment and spare parts (34.6 percent).
About 80.5 trillion VND (3.54 billion USD) offoreign direct investment was registered in the three-month period throughMarch.
Meanwhile, retail sales of goods and servicestotalled 921.1 trillion VND (nearly 40.53 billion USD), climbing 9.18 percentfrom the same period last year. The rate is 6.2 percent if price hikes areexcluded, lower than the 7.5-percent expansion in Q1 of 2016, indicating slowergrowth in the economy’s aggregate demand and purchasing power, the GSO said.
This office added in the three months, 26,478businesses were set up with a combined registered capital of nearly 271.24trillion VND (11.93 billion USD), up 11.4 percent in the company number and45.8 percent in the capital year on year. Meanwhile, another 9,271 firmsresumed operations.
General Director Lam forecast more difficultiesand challenges, instead of favourable conditions, for the remaining months of2017. It will be hard to achieve the targeted growth rate of 6.7 percent thisyear if the economy does not make breakthrough from now to the end of the year.
Therefore, the Government, sectors, authoritiesat all level, the business community, and the entire society must be proactiveand flexible to overcome obstacles and realise the socio-economic developmenttargets set by the National Assembly, he added.-VNA
VNA
