Six-month GDP growth rate estimated at 6.11 %
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was estimated at 6.11 % in the first half of 2015, compared to the 5.18 % in the same period last year, statistics revealed at a meeting on June 24.
GDP in the agro-forestry-fishery sector rose 2.16 %, industry and construction upped 8.36 % and services climbed 6.18 %, said Bui Ha - Director of the Department for National Economic Issues under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
In the six-month period through June, the industrial production index hiked up 9.6 % from a year before, indicating a recovery trend in the economy.
Production value of the agro-forestry-fishery industries increased by only 2.41 % from the same period of 2014, a three-year low, to reach US$22.74 billion, according to Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Planning Department Nguyen Thuy Hien.
Nguyen Duc Hung from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development blamed the low growth partly on an array of difficulties the agricultural sector has faced since the year’s outset, mainly the acute drought in the central and Central Highlands regions.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development called for more investment in agriculture to address the difficulties.
At the meeting, data also showed export was a highlight in the first six months with US$77.7 billion worth of goods shipped abroad, rising by 9.3 % from the same period of 2014.