Vietnam’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was estimated to grow by 4.96 percent in the first quarter of this year- the highest level over the last three years, showing signs of “bottoming out,” according to the General Statistics Office.

Although GDP in first quarter of 2014 was lower than five percent and weakly went up, it was higher than 4.76 percent in the same period of 2012 and 4.75 percent in 2013, the Vietnam Government Portal cited the source as saying.

Specifically, agro-forestry and fishery production surged by 2.37 percent, higher than 2.34 percent of the same period last year. Industry and building soared by 4.9 percent from 4.59 percent last year. The service sector picked up by 5.95 percent against 4.68 percent in 2013.

Official development assistance (ODA) disbursement was estimated at 364 million USD in January-March, up five percent against the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Two biggest ODA projects included a 251.7-million-USD one funded by the World Bank to improve efficiency and sustainability of the road asset management and maintenance practices in Viet Nam and the non-refundable aid worth 13.56 million USD for the second phase of the Vietnam-Finland Innovation Partnership Programme.

In the first quarter, FDI inflows valued 3.33 billion USD, down 49.6 percent against the same period last year.

However, the FDI sector still operated efficiently, shipping 22.47 billion USD worth of crude oil abroad and occupying 62.3 percent of total export turnover. It gained a trade surplus of 3.92 billion USD, including those earned from crude oil.

According to the MoPI, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) increased by 5.2 percent in the reviewed period, representing a year-on-year increase of 4.9 percent.

The processing and manufacturing industries expanded by 7.3 percent; electricity production and distribution 9.2 percent; water supply and sewage treatment 5.7 percent. The mining industry declined by 2.9 percent.

In the third month, the IIP was forecast to increase by 4.7 percent against the same period last year.

The agro-forestry-fishery sector earned 2.64 billion USD in export turnover in March, bringing the total figure to 6.9 billion USD in the first quarter of this year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Export of agriculture products valued 3.35 billion USD; aquatic products 1.61 billion USD and forestry items 1.47 billion USD.

Especially, Vietnam shipped over 1.31 million tonnes of rice abroad, pocketing 616 million USD in value.

Export of aquatic products boomed with 1.61 billion USD in revenue, jumping 35 percent against the same period last year.-VNA