Vietnam lawmakers expect country to miss 2023 GDP growth target

Vietnam is expected to miss this year’s economic growth target, the country’s lawmaking body said on Monday.

« The manufacturing sector, the country’s economic driver for years, has been slowing down, » the National Assembly said in a statement.

The Southeast Asian country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow at more than 5% annually, according to state media citing a National Assembly report.

Vietnam had earlier set a GDP growth target of 6.5% for this year, down from 8.02% last year. Weak global demand, however, has weighed on the country’s exports this year.

GDP in the July-September quarter grew 5.33% from a year earlier, faster than an expansion of 4.05% in the second quarter, but much slower than the low-base growth of 13.71% in the same period of 2022.

By Phuong Nguyen & Khanh Vu – Reuters – October 16, 2023