Vietnam Q3 GDP growth quickens to 7.31 pct as output, exports rise
Jan-Sept FDI inflows rise 7.3% y/y to $14.22 billion
HANOI, Sept 28, (RTRS): Vietnam’s economic growth quickened to 7.31 percent in the third quarter year-onyear, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said on Saturday.
The processing and manufacturing industry grew 10.05% in July-September from a year earlier, while the services sector rose 7.11% and the agricultural sector was up 1.53%, the GSO said in a statement.
It also revised up second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 6.73% from 6.71%.
The Asian Development Bank said on Wednesday it maintained its forecast for Vietnam’s growth for this year at 6.8%, and for next year at 6.7%.
The head of the GSO said last month Vietnam would revise up the size of its GDP by 25.4% for the 2011-2017 period.
Meanwhile, Vietnam received $14.22 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) in the first nine months of this year, up 7.3% from a year earlier, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said on Thursday.
FDI has been a key driver of Vietnam’s economic growth. Companies with FDI account for around 70% of the Southeast Asian country’s exports.
FDI pledges – which indicate the size of future FDI disbursements – rose 3.13% in January-September from a year earlier to $26.14 billion, data from the ministry shows.
Of the pledges, 69% would be invested in manufacturing and processing, while 9.5% would go to real estate, the ministry said.
The Southeast Asian country reported a record high FDI inflows of $19.1 billion last year, up 9.1%.
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HANOI: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Friday that it has no plans to build a factory in Vietnam’s northern province of Hoa Binh, after a provincial official said the South Korean group had been looking to lease land.
Samsung, Vietnam’s largest single foreign investor, already has eight factories and a research and development centre in the country.
“Samsung Vietnam denies the rumour that it has considered building a new factory in Hoa Binh,” Samsung Electronics’ Vietnamese subsidiary Samsung Vietnam said in an emailed statement.
The statement came after a senior official of the province, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters that Samsung was looking to lease an area of 500-1,000 hectares in Hoa Binh province to build a factory to produce electronics products.
Samsung Vietnam, in its statement, said there had been no discussions with the local government in Hoa Binh on the lease of land.
The plans were also announced on the official website of the province but then removed after Samsung’s denial statement. The official had no further comment.
Samsung has invested more than $17.3 billion in Vietnam and accounts for around one-fifth of the country’s total exports.
Vietnam’s exports of smartphones and electronic components, mostly produced by Samsung Electronics, rose 5.6% in the first eight months of 2019 from a year earlier to $33.39 billion, according to government data.