GDP in 2021 will increase by 2.58%

The negative economic growth in the third quarter caused the full-year GDP growth to be lower than the previous year and mark the lowest level in a decade.

This morning (December 29), the General Statistics Office (GSO) held a press conference on the socio-economic situation in 2021. In the fourth quarter, the economy grew by 5.22%, higher than the growth rate of the same period last year.

For the whole year, Vietnam’s GDP increased by 2.58%, lower than the rate of 2.91% in 2020 and the lowest increase in the recent decade.

According to the statistics agency, this result is because the Covid-19 epidemic seriously affected all areas of the economy, especially in the third quarter, of which many important localities had to implement prolonged social distancing. However, GSO said that this is still “a great success” in disease prevention and production and business maintenance.

In the general growth rate of the whole economy, the agriculture, forestry, and fishery sector increased by 2.9%, contributing nearly 14% to the growth rate of the total added value of the whole economy. Industry and construction increased by 4.05%, contributing 63.8%, while the service sector grew by 1.22%, contributing 22.2%.

In  ​​agriculture, forestry, and fishery, the productivity of most crops is quite good compared to the previous year, livestock has grown steadily, and the export turnover of some agricultural products will increase in 2021, contributing to maintaining the growth rate.

In December, goods import and export continued to be a bright spot of the economy with the total import and export turnover of goods estimated at 66.5 billion USD, up 6.4% over the previous month and up 19.7% over the same period last year. In general, this year, the total export and import turnover of goods reached more than 668 billion USD, up 22.6%, of which exports increased by 19%, imports increased by 26.5%.

In the industry and construction sector, the processing and manufacturing industry continued to be the growth engine of the whole economy, with a growth rate of 6.37%. Electricity production and distribution increased by 5.24%. Meanwhile, the mining industry decreased by 6.21% due to a decrease in crude oil production by 5.7% and a decrease of 19.4% in gaseous natural gas.

The complicated development of the Covid-19 epidemic since the end of April has seriously affected the service industry. The negative growth of some service industries accounted for a large proportion, reducing the overall growth rate of the service sector and the entire economy. The wholesale and retail industry decreased by 0.21% compared to the previous year, the transportation and warehousing industry fell by more than 5%, the accommodation and catering services sector sharply reduced by 20.81%.

The health sector and social assistance activities achieved the highest growth rate in the service sector with 42.75%, financial and banking activities increased by 9.42%, the information and communication industry increased by nearly 6%.

(Source: VnExpress)