Vietnam’s Economy Expands 7.31% in 3rd Quarter from Year Ago

(Bloomberg) -- Vietnam’s economic growth quickened in the third quarter, underpinned by solid growth in exports and manufacturing.

Gross domestic product rose 7.31% from a year earlier, up from revised 6.73% in the second quarter, the General Statistics Office in Hanoi said Saturday. That compared to a median estimate of 6.7% in a Bloomberg survey of four economists. The economy expanded 6.98% in the nine months through September from a year earlier, data from the statistics office showed.

“Manufacturing is the main driver of economic growth in the first nine months of the year, followed by services,” Nguyen Bich Lam, head of General Statistics Office, said at Hanoi briefing on Saturday.

Key Insights

• Exports rose 8.2% in the first nine months of 2019 from the same period in 2018, while imports climbed 8.9%
• The U.S.-China trade war is weighing on global growth and hurting prospects for export-reliant nations like Vietnam. At the same time, it’s also creating positive spillovers as businesses shift production from China to Vietnam to bypass tariffs. Foreign direct investment and exports have climbed this year
• Vietnam’s central bank earlier this month cut interest rates for the first time in more than two years to help support the economy amid rising global risks

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• Manufacturing rose 11.37% in the nine months through September from a year earlier
• Consumer prices rose 1.98% in September from a year earlier. The government aims to cap average inflation at 4% this year

--With assistance from Nguyen Kieu Giang, Nguyen Xuan Quynh and John Boudreau.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi at uyen1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Michael S. Arnold

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