Vietnam’s GDP grows by 2.58 percent in 2021: GSO

 Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 grew by 2.58 percent over the previous year, due to the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national economy, according to data released by General Statistics Office (GSO).

“This is a great achievement of Vietnam as in the third quarter of 2021, many key economic localities had to implement prolonged social distancing to prevent the pandemic from spreading,” said GSO General Director Nguyen Thi Huong at a press conference held on December 29.

Fourth-quarter growth was 5.22 percent, up from the same period last year but lower than the average fourth-quarter growth rates of the 2011-2019 period.

The agricultural-forestry-fishery sector rose by nearly 3.2 percent; the industry and construction by 5.6 percent and the service sector by 5.4 percent in the period.

Over the whole year, the agricultural-forestry-fishery sector expanded by 2.9 percent, contributing nearly 14 percent to overall growth, while the industrial and construction sector grew by 4.05 percent, a contribution of 63.8 percent, and the service sector by 1.22 percent, or 22.2 percent to the growth.

In the industry and construction sector, manufacturing and processing served as the driving force for the economy with an expansion rate of 6.8 percent, contributing 1.61 percent. Electricity production and distribution posted a growth rate of 5.2 percent, a contribution of 0.19 percent, while mining was down by 6.2 percent, contributing 0.05 percent.

The GSO director emphasised that the complicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic since the end of April has seriously affected trade and service activities. Accordingly, some service industries suffer negative growth, resulting in a reduction in the overall growth of the service sector, as well as the entire economy.

Specifically, wholesale and retail were slightly down by 0.2 percent against last year’s figure, logistics shrunk by five percent and hospitality and catering services fell by 20.8 percent.

However, healthcare and social assistance activities recorded a growth of 42.8 percent, the highest in the services sector. It was followed by finance-banking, telecommunications and IT with 9.4 percent and nearly 6 percent, respectively.

In the year, final consumption rose by 2 percent against 2020 while accumulated assets increased by 4 percent; exports of goods and services hiked by 14 percent and imports were up by 16 percent.

Labour productivity of the whole economy at the current price in 2021 is estimated at 171.3 million VND (7,398 USD) per worker, 538 USD higher than that of 2020. The labour productivity in 2021 increased by 4.7 percent due to improved qualifications of workers, with the proportion of trained workers with degrees and certificates in 2021 reaching 26 percent, higher than the 25 percent in 2020.

Slow recovery

According to Huong, Vietnam's socio-economic in 2021 took place in the context of the world economy was on the recovery. Most countries promoted vaccination programmes against COVID-19 but the emergence of the new variants has slowed down the economic recovery process.

Recently, the International Monetary Fund forecast that the global economy will grow by 5.9 percent in 2021. Besides, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the European Union, Fitch Ratings, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development predicted that global economic growth in 2021 would be 5.6 percent, and 5.8 percent, 5.7 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively.

In the international market, prices of many commodities increased sharply compared to 2020; inflation increased but remained under control worldwide. The pandemic has caused bottlenecks in the global value chain, increasing the price of input materials, which is a significant challenge for the production and business activities of countries.

Along with policies to ensure social security, the consensus of administrations at all levels, sectors and localities, along with the support, and active participation of people from all walks of life and the business community, Vietnam has achieved encouraging socio-economic development results, she said./.