GSO General Director Nguyen Thi Huong speaks at the press conference (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s gross domestic product
(GDP) in the first quarter of 2021 is estimated to rise 4.48 percent, higher
than 3.68 percent recorded in the same period last year, the General Statistics
Office (GSO) General Director Nguyen Thi Huong reported at a press conference
on March 29.
The GSO leader said that the agro-forestry-fishery sector
grew 3.16 percent, contributing 8.34 percent to the overall GDP growth, while
industry and construction expanded 6.3 percent, and service sector grew 3.34
percent, contributing 55.96 and 35.7 percent to the total growth, respectively.
Huong attributed the result to the drastic and timely
direction of the Government, the Prime Minister and efforts of ministries,
sectors, people and businesses to continue implementing the dual targets of preventing
the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and developing the economy at the same
time.
She said that in the first quarter of this year, the agro-forestry-fishery
sector saw strong growth thanks to high rice and fruit production, controlled
African swine flu and expanded markets for wood and forestry products.
Despite a 6.5 percent rise, higher than the figure of 5.1
percent in the first quarter of 2020, the growth of the industry and construction
sector was still much lower than that in the first quarter of 2018 and 2019.
Illustrative image (Source: VNA)
Meanwhile, processing and manufacturing continued to be the
driving force for the growth of the economy with an expansion of 9.45 percent. The
mining sector suffered negative growth of 8.24 percent.
Thanks to the good control of the COVID-19 pandemic and the
optimization of free trade agreements, the service sector enjoyed positive
signs. The growth of wholesale and retail was 6.45 percent, while that of the finance-banking
and insurance sector was 7.35 percent. However, the transportation and
warehouse sector and accommodation-catering services still saw decreases of
2.17 percent and 4.49 percent, respectively.
In terms of economic structure, in the first quarter,
contributions from the agro-forestry-fishery sector was 11.71 percent, while
that of industry-construction was 36.45 percent; services, 42.2 percent; and product
taxes less subsidies on production, 9.64 percent.
Exports of goods and services rose 17.01 percent, while
imports increased 16.38 percent./.
VNA