Industrial production continues to grow

Exports and investment are bright spots

According to data from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2024 increased by an estimated 7.4 percent compared to the same period last year, bringing the GDP growth rate for the first nine months to 6.82 percent. These results show the strong recovery of the economy, laying a solid foundation for it to achieve the 2024 growth target of 6.8-7 percent.

This optimistic growth was driven by positive factors. Nine-month industrial production continued to record strong growth, with the added value increasing by 8.34 percent compared to the same period last year (6.47 percent in the first quarter, 8.78 percent in the second quarter, and 9.59 percent in the third quarter).

Another highlight in the nine-month economic picture is the significant rise in the number of newly registered businesses. Nearly 121,900 new businesses were registered with the total registered capital of more than VND1,158.5 trillion. The brightest spot in the picture is the export sector, with the nine-month export value reaching US$299.63 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15.4 percent, and an estimated trade surplus of US$20.8 billion. The strong export growth has played a key role in driving production, creating jobs, and increasing people’s incomes.

The service, tourism sectors and state budget revenue saw strong recovery in the first nine months, even surpassing pre-COVID-19 levels. Specifically, the total retail sales of consumer goods and services increased by 8.8 percent year-on-year. The number of international visitors exceeded 12.7 million, up 43.0 percent. The total state budget revenue reached 85.1 percent of the annual estimate, up 17.9 percent.

Investment is one of the key drivers of economic growth. The total investment in development in the first nine months increased by 6.8 percent year-on-year, with state investment rising by 4.1 percent, non-state investment up 7.1 percent, and foreign direct investment (FDI) increasing by 10.7 percent. FDI attraction in the first nine months reached US$24.78 billion, up 11.6 percent, while disbursed FDI reached US$17.3 billion, up 8.9 percent, the highest in the past five years.

Retail sales of goods record strong recovery

2024 GDP growth rate expected to exceed seven percent

The year 2024 holds special significance for the implementation of the 2021-2025 socioeconomic development plan, laying the foundation for the nation to enter a new era of growth. Despite the severe impacts of Typhoon Yagi, the Government and local authorities are taking urgent solutions to mitigate the disaster’s aftermath, aiming to help affected businesses and production households resume operations as soon as possible.

At the recent September regular Government meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that Vietnam must achieve a growth rate of 7.5-8 percent in the final months of 2024 for the annual GDP growth target to exceed seven percent.

To overcome challenges, the Prime Minister proposed further efforts to promote growth while maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, and ensuring major balances of the economy. Notably, it is crucial to stimulate traditional growth drivers and accelerate the development of new growth drivers.

Along with employing suitable monetary policies to stabilize the exchange rate, reduce lending interest rates and facilitate access to credit, it is necessary to increase revenue, save state budget expenditures, and intensify economic diplomacy, including negotiations on new free trade agreements (FTAs).

At the same time, it is necessary to enhance decentralization and reduce administrative procedures to facilitate investment in development, promote production and trade, and accelerate public investment disbursement.

Nguyen Bich Lam, former Director General of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, said that to achieve economic development goals set for 2024, the Government needs to focus on maximizing the key growth drivers. These include promoting exports amid gradually increasing global demand; disbursing public investment capital and maintaining macroeconomic stability to build confidence and motivation for foreign investors to disburse FDI; and boosting final domestic consumption.