Vietnam's 2015 GDP increases by 6.68%, highest in five years

The information was released by Director of the General Statistics Office (GSO) Nguyen Bich Lam at a press conference held in Hanoi on December 26.

Lam said that this year's growth was higher than 5.98% in 2014 and 5.42% in 2013, showing positive signs for the economy as the marcroeconomy was maintained stably; big balances were ensured; the inflation was kept at the lowest over the past decade; the trust index increased and key sectors saw good growth.

According to Head of the Industrial Statistics Department, production in several sectors has seen good signs of recovery this year. This year's industrial production index was estimated to have increased 9.8% year on year, much higher than 7.6% in 2014.

In addition, the consumer price index (CPI) in December saw a 0.02% year-on-year rise and the average CPI in 2015 increased by 0.63% over that of 2014, the lowest index in 14 years with a monthly average index rise of 0.05%.

As of December 15, 2,013 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects were licensed with total registered capital of US$15.58 billion, a 26.8% rise in the number of projects and a 0.4% fall in capital compared to the same period last year. The total registered capital of newly licensed and capital supplemented projects reached US$22.76 billion, a 12.5% year-on-year rise. The 2015 realised FDI capital was estimated to have reached US$14.5 billion, a 17.4% year-on-year increase.

Meanwhile, this year's export value was estimated to have brought in US$162.4 billion, an 8.1% year-on-year increase. Without calculating the price factor, the value rose by 12.4%. Main contributions to the rise came from the FDI sector, including phones and components (99.7%), computers and components (98.2%); machines, equipment, tools and spare parts (89.5%); footwear (79.7%), and garment and textiles (60.4%). US$165 billion was estimated for imports, a 12% year-on-year increase.

Beside the achievements, Lam forecast that 2016 would see further difficulties and challenges if the price of crude oil continues to fall to US$30-35, affecting the budget turnover and other related incomes. He suggested the Government, ministries, agencies, localities, business communities and the entire society be active and flexible in directions to overcome difficulties and realise 2016 socio-economic targets approved by the National Assembly, in which the economic growth is expected to be 6.7%; the inflation will be lower than 5%; the export value increase is targeted at around 10% and the deficit will be lower than 5% of the export value.

(Source: Nhandan Online)