Vietnam posts 5.3% Q3 GDP growth; Sept exports inch up 1.4%

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Vietnam’s economy grew by 5.33% year on year in the third quarter, aided in part by improved exports in September, preliminary official data showed on Friday.

The reading was higher than the annualized 4.05% expansion in the previous quarter but represented a sharp deceleration from the 13.7% pace recorded in the same period last year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said in a statement.

For the month of September, Vietnam’s merchandise exports rose by 1.4% year on year, reversing the 6.7% decline in August.

For the first nine months of 2023, Vietnam’s average GDP growth stood at 4.24%.

The Vietnamese government expects this year’s economic growth to be 6.5%, down from 8% in 2022. The growth last year was the fastest recorded since 1997.