Vietnam’s GDP expanded 1.81% year-on-year for the first six months of 2020, Vietnam News has reported.
Though this is the lowest growth since 2011, the government is still pleased it is in positive territory after the exceptional threat to the economy posed by the coronavirus.
General Director Nguyen Thị Huong of the Government Statistics Office told a press conference Monday: “As the government prioritized the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic over economic growth, a positive growth rate in January-June still indicates strong efforts of both the government and society to maintain business operations while combating the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The International Monetary Fund downgraded its global growth forecast, predicting the world economy will contract by 4.9% in 2020. In April it was predicting a contraction of 3%.
While the IMF has predicted most global economies to decline sharply in 2020, including an 8% contraction in Europe and a 10% contraction in Europe, it has forecast that Vietnam’s economy will grow by 2.7%, one of the highest in the world and the highest in Asia, the report said.
Huong said: “This is a solid foundation for the Vietnamese economy to sustain growth and avoid contraction. The data show all-level authorities, enterprises and people’s success in concurrently combating the pandemic, maintaining production and business activities, and gradually bringing the economy to the pre-pandemic status.”
Vietnam has not recorded any deaths from Covid-19.
