Posted on 02 Jan 2008
Vietnam economy grows nearly 8.5 pct in 2007
Vietnam's
economy grew by nearly 8.5 percent in 2007, the fastest rate in 11 years, after
the country joined the World Trade Organization, the government said Monday.
The gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 8.48
percent, compared to 8.2 percent in 2006, was one of the highest in Asia but
was topped by neighbouring China, said the Government Statistics Office (GSO).
Industry and construction made up 42 percent of the
developing country's economy, followed by the services sector with 38 percent,
and agriculture, forestry and fisheries with 20 percent, said the GSO.
Vietnam, which launched market reforms two decades ago and
joined the WTO in January, attracted a record US$20.3 billion in investment
pledges after promising to further open its doors to foreign business under WTO
rules.
South Korea
topped the list of foreign investors with $4.4 billion pledged, followed by the
Virgin Islands, Singapore
and Taiwan.
Total foreign investment in 2006 reached $12 billion.
Releasing its final economic estimates for the year, the GSO
also said Vietnam
was battling an annual inflation rate of 8.3 percent, driven in part by a 15
percent jump in food prices and higher fuel costs.
The trade deficit reached a record $12.4 billion as a 21.5
percent rise in export revenues to $48.4 billion was outpaced by a 35.5 percent
jump in the cost of imports to $60.8 billion.
The surge in import revenues was in part due to a sharp
increase in machinery and equipment imports, up 56.5 percent to $10.4 billion,
and a 25.7 percent rise in the cost of refined oil products to $7.5 billion.
On the export side, Vietnam
-- which has fast offshore oil and gas reserves in the South
China Sea but no operating refineries yet -- earned $8.5 billion
from crude oil sales, up 2.6 percent on 2006.
Export revenues from garments and textiles made in the
low-wage country rose 33 percent to $7.8 billion. Footwear exports rose 10
percent to $4 billion and fisheries exports 13 percent to $3.8 billion.
The United
States was the top export market with $10
billion in revenues, followed by the European Union with $8.7 billion, and the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations with $8 billion.
Exports to Japan
reached $5.5 billion followed by China with $3.2 billion, said the
GSO.
In the tourism sector, Vietnam received 4.2 million
foreign visitors, up 18 percent on 2006. Chinese topped the list, with about
575,000 arrivals or 13.6 percent of the total, followed by South Korea, Japan
and the United States.
The Vietnamese government -- which said economic growth in
2007 was hampered by a series of typhoons, floods and disease outbreaks -- is
targeting economic growth of nine percent next year.
