Vietnam Posts 7.2 per cent Economic Growth in First Quarter

Vietnam Posts 7.2 per cent Economic Growth in First Quarter

Vietnam's economy expanded by 7.2 per cent in the first quarter of the year in comparison to the same period last year, with gross domestic product (GDP) totalling VND164.243 trillion (US$10.5 billion) for the period.

The on-year growth rate in the first quarter was much less than the full-year's target set by the Vietnamese government of 8.5 per cent. However, it was still higher than the 7 per cent on-year growth rate in the first quarter of 2004, and 6.88 per cent in the January-March period in 2003.

Vietnam reported export growth of 16.2 per cent in the period (15.1 per cent in the same period last year), reaching US$6.72 billion. The country is on track to pull in US$1.732 billion in FDI in the first quarter. Of the total new FDI, US$1.31 billion comes from 109 new projects and US$422 million from the expansion of 72 existing projects, up 200 per cent and 43 per cent in terms of capital, respectively.

GDP growth is targeted at 8.5 per cent this year compared with 7.24 per cent last year.

• L.D