(Bloomberg) -- Vietnam’s economic growth accelerated faster than expected in the second quarter, as a recovery in exports and manufacturing helped offset risks from coronavirus outbreaks and rising oil prices.
Gross domestic product rose 7.72% in the April-June period from a year earlier, faster than a revised 5.05% in the first quarter, the General Statistics Office said Wednesday. That’s quicker than the median estimate for a 5.9% expansion in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
The performance helped lift growth in the first-half to 6.42% from a year ago, beating the GSO’s forecast for a 5.5% pace. The government targets full-year growth at 6%-6.5%.
The gains in momentum coincide with Vietnam emerging as one of the alternative destinations for foreign investment amid trade disruptions from China’s lockdowns, the war in Ukraine and lingering tensions between Beijing and Washington. The economy also benefited from fiscal stimulus worth about 347 trillion dong ($15 billion), and an easy monetary policy that makes the State Bank of Vietnam one of the last few to resist the global tightening cycle.
“The economic recovery remained strong despite heightened global uncertainties,” the World Bank said in its June report on Vietnam. “Nevertheless, the authorities should be vigilant about inflation risks associated with continuing rise in prices of fuels and imports,” it said.
Other details from the report:
- Exports rose 20% in June compared to a year earlier
- Consumer prices rose 3.37% in June from a year earlier. The government targets to cap average inflation at 4% this year
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