General Director of the General Statistics Office (GSO) Nguyen Bich Lam speaks at a press conference held to announce the nine-month economic data. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s GDP expanded 6.98 percent in the January-Septemberperiod, the highest nine-monthgrowth rate over the past nine years, said General Director of the General Statistics Office (GSO) NguyenBich Lam on September 28.
Thethird-quarter GDP grew by 7.31 percent year on year,higher than 6.82 percent of the first quarter and 6.73 percent of the secondquarter, Lam told a press conference held in Hanoi by the GSO to announce the latest economic data.
In the firstthree quarters, industry and construction rose by 9.63 percent and services by6.85 percent, contributing 52.6 percent and 42.6 percent to the country’sGDP, respectively.
Agriculture,forestry and fishery expanded just 2.02 percent and contributed4.8 percent to the GDP as thesector has been struggling to cope with impacts of climate change and Africanswine fever while major foreign buyers have set stricter import rules.
Agriculturehas yet to rebound, inching up 0.74 percent year-on-year, lower than that of2017 and 2018. Fishery wasthe sector’s best performer which increased 6.12 percent while forestry grew by 3.98 percent.
The GSO leadersaid manufacturing and processing remained the main engine driving the industrysector as well as the entire economy, growing at 11.37 percent.
In theservices industry, wholesale and retail posted the highest growth at 8.31percent, followed by finance, banking and insurance segment (8.19 percent),transportation and logistics (7.82 percent), and information and communications(7.65 percent), he added.
Totalnine-month retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 3.63 quadrillion VND (154.8 billion USD), ayear-on-year increase of 11.6 percent, excluding inflation./.
VNA
