Vietnam quarterly growth hits two-year high on exports, investment (updated)

Vietnam Manufacturing and Export Processing (Holdings)

06/10/2024 03:21

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      Q3 quarterly GDP growth highest in two years
    

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      Sept exports up 10.7% y/y, industrial output up 10.8%
    

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      Sept CPI up 2.63% y/y
    

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      Jan-Sept trade surplus at $20.79 bln
    

  
 (Rewrites with additional details and comments)
    By Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen
       HANOI, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Vietnam reported its strongest
economic growth in two years in the quarter to end-September, as
strong exports and industrial production and rising foreign
investment offset the effects last month of Asia's strongest
typhoon so far this year.
    Gross domestic product grew 7.4% year-on-year in the third
quarter, surpassing the second quarter's revised 7.09%
expansion, the government's General Statistics Office said in a
report.
        Vietnam is a regional manufacturing hub for
multinational corporations including Samsung Electronics and
Apple suppliers Foxconn and Luxshare, and has drawn a steady
influx of foreign investment. 
    "The world economy is stabilising as global trade in goods
improves, inflationary pressures ease, financial conditions
continue to loosen and labour supply increases," the statistics
office said.
    Data for September showed that exports rose 10.7% from a
year earlier while industrial production was up 10.8%, it said.
    Foreign investment inflows in the first nine months of this
year rose 8.9% from a year earlier to $17.3 billion. 
        Northern Vietnam has been reeling from the impact a
month ago of Typhoon Yagi, which killed more than 300 people,
disrupted power supplies and halted industrial production.
Authorities estimated property damage at $3.3 billion.
        S&P Global's purchasing managers index (PMI) for Vietnam
manufacturing fell to 47.3 in September from 52.4 in August, the
biggest decline in the indicator of the sector's health since
November last year.
        "The storm brought an end to a period of strong growth
in the sector," said Andrew Harker, director at S&P Global
Market Intelligence. "Heavy rain and flooding caused temporary
business closures and delays to both supply chains and
production lines."
    Vietnam is targeting GDP growth of 6.0% to 6.5% this year
and aims to keep inflation below 4.5%.
    Consumer prices in September rose 2.63% from a year earlier,
the statistics office said in its Sunday report. Retail sales
rose 7.6%.
        For the first nine months of this year, exports rose
15.4% from a year earlier to $299.63 billion while imports were
up 17.3% at $278.84 billion, for a trade surplus of $20.79
billion, the office said.
    The International Monetary Fund late last month forecast
Vietnam's GDP growth at 6.1% this year, while the Asian
Development Bank put it at 6.0%. 
    This year's growth is "supported by continued strong
external demand, resilient foreign direct investment, and
accommodative policies", the IMF said in a report.
    Both the IMF and the ADB, however, warned that geopolitical
tensions and uncertainties could hurt external demand, Vietnam's
key growth driver.

 (Reporting by Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Edmund
Klamann)
 ((khanh.vu@thomsonreuters.com; +84 24 38259623;))