Six-month GDP growth estimated at 4.9 percent
Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first six months of 2013 was estimated to grow by 4.9 percent, almost equal to last year’s figure.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment’s report said the agriculture-forestry-seafood sector achieved a growth rate of 2.07 percent; industry and construction, 5.18 percent; and services 5.92 percent.
The country’s GDP growth in the second quarter of 2013 was 5 percent, up 0.24 percent against the first quarter.
Although the GDP growth rate in the second quarter and the first six months were not as high as expected, but reasonable when there remained a lot of difficulties for both domestic and global economies to overcome.
According to the Ministry the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) increased month-on-month to 5.2 percent in the first six months.
In addition, there were some positive signs of economic development with the number of newly registered businesses rising 7.8 percent and about 9,300 enterprises resuming their operations in the same period.