Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese economy is growing again on the back of a strong rise in exports, Wall Street Journal reported.

First-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) picked up 4.48 percent year-on-year, and the recovery is being driven by a surge in goods and services sold abroad, which rose almost 20 percent from last year’s figure.

Sales to the US specifically are surging even faster, with no sign of a slowdown on the horizon, it said.

In the 12 months through January, the US’s imports from Vietnam accounted for 29 percent of the Southeast Asian country’s total exports, far higher than the roughly 20 percent average before 2019.

Wall Street Journal stated that Vietnam emerged as a big winner from the shift in global supply chains, saying some of those gains may not be repeatable, but the US share of Vietnam’s exports will remain high for some time.

If the US’s economy grows 6.5 percent as forecast by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the North American nation’s import demand will be strong, and it will keep the business brisk for export-focused Vietnamese companies.

The US newspaper also hailed Vietnam’s control of the COVID-19 pandemic among the most impressive in the world, particularly given the country’s income bracket.

“Huge exposure to international commerce would be damaging during a more normal recession, but in this one it has provided crucial economic ballast. Other countries in the region will likely have to wait far longer to fully recover economic losses incurred during the pandemic,” it said./.