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