Nine-month GDP surges, trade surplus gained

VGP – Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 4.73% against the first three quarters of 2011 and the balance of export and import was relatively equal when Viet Nam enjoyed a trade surplus of US$34 million, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

September 27, 2012 3:17 PM GMT+7

Export and import in the first nine months of 2012 – Unit: million USD – Source: GSO

This is part of the nine-month socio-economic data, published on September 27 by the GSO on the threshold of the Government’s regular meeting.

The service sector took the lead by expanding 5.97% in the first three quarters, followed by industrial field (4.36%) and agro-forestry and fishery sector (2.48%).

The index of industrial production (IIP) picked up 4.8% against the same period last year. The growth rate of total retail of goods and service fell to 17.3% from 22.8% in the same period. The inventory rate was on the decline by 35% in comparison to late Q1.

Export still expanded around 20% and reached about US$83.8 billion in the first nine months. Import totaled almost US$83.76 million, brining the trade gap to over US$30 million after three quarters.

As of September 20, 775 FDI projects were licensed with the total registered capital of over US$6.1 billion, much lower than the figure of US$8.2 billion in the same period of 2011./.

By Khanh Phuong