Vietnam ’s economy accelerated strongly as the second quarter’s year-on-year growth in gross domestic product rose to 6.4 percent from the first quarter’s 5.83 percent, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

At a press briefing in Hanoi on July 1 to announce the official socio-economic statistics in the first half of this year, the GSO said the GDP rose 6.16 percent compared to the first half of 2009.

The main contributors to the GDP growth rate are the industrial and construction, services and agro-forestry and seafood sectors, which expanded by 6.5, 7.05 and 3.31 percent respectively.

Rises of the three pivotal sectors show that Vietnam ’s economy is gathering steam quickly and likely to hit higher growth rates in the near future, the GSO, an agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment said.

Exports increased slightly during the first quarter, yet started to gather speed from April and May. By the end of June, the export turnover has risen by 15.7 percent

However, exports in the first half of this year were outstripped by imports, which currently account for 21.9 percent of the total export turnover.

Concerning electricity supply in recent time, the GSO said electricity production has increased by 15.5 percent against 7.9 percent in the first half of 2009. Yet, prolonged droughts have diminished the running capacity of hydropower plants, thus restricting power supply to the people.

The average monthly growth in the consumer price index (CPI) fell to 0.21 percent in the second quarter from 1.35 percent in the first quarter and was half the growth rate of CPI in the same period last year./.