Vietnam’s economy this year grew at its fastest pace in five years, official figures released yesterday showed, shaking off regional economic worries with strong exports, record foreign investment and buoyant domestic consumption.
The communist nation recorded a GDP growth rate of 6.68 percent, easily surpassing the government’s 6.2 percent target with a figure that looks set to be one of Southeast Asia’s strongest showings for the year.
“This growth rate is very important for the Vietnamese economy in the coming years in the context of falling world oil prices and instabilities in the international financial markets,” General Statistics Office director Nguyen Bich Lam said.
Many Asian economies have been rattled by troubles in China, where the world’s second-largest economy has suffered with its worst annual growth rates in 25 years.
While regional neighbors like Thailand have suffered, Vietnam has proved resistant to the slowdown of its giant northern neighbor, partly through state intervention.
The State Bank of Vietnam weakened the dong three times this year to spur exports after China depreciated the yuan, dragging exchange rates lower across Asia.
Exports rose 8.1 percent in the 12 months through December, while imports climbed 12 percent.
Much of the growth has been fueled by a flurry of international interest with disbursed foreign investment surging 17.4 percent compared to last year with a record high of US$14.5 billion.
The strong showing is a significant jump on the past two years.
Last year, Vietnam’s GDP growth was just under 6 percent, while that of 2013 was only 5.42 percent.
Senior Vietnamese economist Le Dang Doanh said that strong industrial growth also helped boost the economy, as well as “lower oil prices in the world market which has greatly reduced the cost of imported raw materials for Vietnam.”
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