According to the General Statistics Office (GSO) data, its GDP grew to US$476.3 billion. It grew 7.55 percent in the fourth quarter in 2024, the fastest in more than two years.
Vietnam, a regional manufacturing hub, has benefited from a recovery in global consumption despite being badly affected by Asia’s strongest typhoon last year.
“This is a positive result amid difficulties including natural disasters and is a good foundation for 2025 growth,” the Reuters and the Channel News Asia (CNA) reported quoting Nguyen Thi Huong, head of the GSO, as saying during a press conference.
Exports in 2024 grew 14.3 percent from a year earlier to $405.53 billion, led by shipments of electronics, smartphones, clothing and farm produce, the GSO report said.
Imports grew 16.7 per cent to $380.76 billion in 2024, resulting in a trade surplus of $24.77 billion.
The strong rebound in growth in 2024 was also helped by Vietnam increasing coal imports for power generation to avoid a repeat of the electricity shortages of previous years.
Coal imports in 2024 rose 24.8 percent from a year earlier to 63.8 million metric tons, while electricity output in the year rose 9.6 percent to 293.3 billion kilowatt hours.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Vietnam rose 9.4 percent last year to $25.35 billion.
Average consumer prices in 2024 were up 3.63 percent while industrial production output rose 8.4 percent.
Vietnam has set an official GDP growth target of 6.5 percent to 7.0 percent for 2025. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh last month said Vietnam would aim for growth of 8.0 percent.
“Looking forward, Vietnam will actively monitor monetary policies, stabilise exchange rates, and monitor closely big trade partners to have timely policies,” the CNA reported quoting Huong as saying.
According to the Vietnam Plus newspaper, that the nation’s economic recovery gained momentum throughout the year, with each quarter showing progressive improvement.
The fourth quarter saw an 7.55 percent expansion, maintaining an upward trajectory from 5.98 percent in Q1, 7.25 percent in Q2, and 7.43 percent in Q3, Huong said.
The service sector emerged as the primary growth driver for the whole year, contributing 49.46 percent to the overall GDP growth with a 7.38 percent expansion. Meanwhile, the industrial and construction sector and agro-forestry-fishery sector contributed 45.17 percent and 5.37 percent to the country’s GDP growth, with increases of 8.24 percent and 3.27 percent, respectively.
Vietnam’s GDP reached more than 11.51 quadrillion VND ($476.3 billion) in 2024, with per capita GDP rising to 114 million VND ($4,700), marking a $377 rise from 2023. Labour productivity also improved significantly, reaching 221.9 million VND ($9,182) per worker, up $726 from the previous year.
The economic structure in 2024 showed the dominance of the service sector, which accounted for 42.36 percent as compared to 42.3percent in 2023. The industrial and construction sector made up 37.64 percent of the GDP, slightly increasing from the previous year’s figure of 37.58 percent, while the agro-forestry-fishery sector maintained a stable share of 11.86 percent.
Huong acknowledged that 2024 witnessed complicated global challenges with unprecedented factors, including military conflicts, increasingly strategic competition among powers, intensified trade protectionism, and supply chain disruptions. Besides, extreme weather patterns left disastrous impacts on the livelihoods and socio-economic development in many countries. However, she noted that the global economy showed signs of stabilisation with better trade, easing inflationary pressure, as well as improvements on the financial and labour markets.
The rosy economic achievements in 2024 created an important foundation for Vietnam to accelerate growth in 2025 and complete the targets in the five-year socio-economic development plan for the 2021-2025 period, Huong stressed, adding this will be a huge challenge that requires concerted efforts of the entire political system, business community, and people.
Super Typhoon Yagi made headlines when it hit Vietnam in September. Torrential rains, flooding and landslides caused substantial casualties and extensive damage to roads, agricultural areas, factories, and ports in northern Vietnam, including Hanoi and major ports in Hai Phong.
While the typhoon has hindered economic recovery, fallouts are expected to be short-lived.
The Vietnamese economy continued to gather momentum. In the first three quarters of 2024, GDP growth accelerated to 6.7 percent year-on-year, well above the 4.4 percent growth in the same period of 2023.
The recovery of export demand and strong inflows of FDI were the main growth drivers. In contrast, Vietnamese household spending remained weak as households adopted a cautious attitude and tightened their belts. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that focus on the domestic market continued to lag the recovery of export-oriented firms.
Despite the fallouts of the typhoon, according to the Vietnam Investment Review website, the economic outlook for Vietnam is still improving in the near term due to resilient demand for export orders and an increase in tourist arrivals.
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