GDP in the first quarter of 2023 increased by only 3.32%

At the press conference announcing the socio-economic statistics for the first quarter of 2023 on March 29, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong said that the economy in the first quarter of 2023 took place in the context of the world economy continuing to have many complex and unstable fluctuations such as global inflation, although it has cooled down, is still at a high level; slow recovery and declining consumer demand of major trading partners. Especially recently, the instability of some banks in the US and Europe has affected people's confidence in the banking system around the world while central banks continue to raise interest rates and use tighter monetary policies... International organizations have given different assessments of world economic growth in 2023 but agree on the forecast of a growth rate lower than in 2022 from 0.5 to 1.2 percentage points. In a recent report, the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UNDESA) gave a more pessimistic forecast for global economic growth in 2023. In particular, the WB said that global growth would only reach 1.7%, 1.3 percentage points lower than the forecast in June 2022. UNDESA said that global economic growth would only reach 1.9%, 1.2 percentage points lower than the forecast in June 2022. "This shows that the world context is very difficult and will affect Vietnam's economic growth rate," Ms. Huong said.

General Statistics Office representative answers press questions.

In such a difficult context, the GDP in the first quarter of 2023, according to the General Statistics Office's estimate, increased by only 3.32% over the same period last year, the second lowest level in the period 2011-2023. Notably, in the industrial and construction sector, production in some key industries declined due to high input production costs and a sharp decrease in the number of orders.

The added value of industrial sectors in the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 0.82% compared to the same period last year, the deepest decrease in the same period of the years in the period 2011-2023, reducing the total added value growth of the whole economy by 0.28 percentage points. “The reason is that the processing and manufacturing industry decreased by 0.37%, decreasing by 0.1 percentage points; the mining industry decreased by 5.6% (coal mining output decreased by 0.5% and crude oil production decreased by 6%), decreasing by 0.2 percentage points; the electricity production and distribution industry decreased by 0.32%, decreasing by 0.01 percentage points. The construction sector alone increased by 1.95%, only higher than the growth rates of 0.28% and 1.41% in the same period in 2011 and 2012 in the 2011-2023 period, contributing 0.12 percentage points," the General Statistics Office said. The service sector in the first quarter of 2023 clearly showed a recovery thanks to the effectiveness of policies to stimulate domestic consumption, the policy of reopening the economy from March 15, 2022 when the Covid-19 epidemic was controlled, and activities to promote and advertise Vietnamese tourism to countries around the world were promoted. The contribution of some service sectors to the increase in total added value in the first quarter of 2023 was quite significant: Accommodation and catering services increased by 25.98% over the same period last year, contributing 0.64 percentage points; Wholesale and retail trade increased by 8.09%, contributing 0.85 percentage points; finance, banking and insurance activities increased by 7.65%, contributing 0.45 percentage points; transportation and warehousing increased by 6.85%, contributing 0.43 percentage points; information and communications increased by 1.5%, contributing 0.1 percentage points. Notably, the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year increased in 58 localities and decreased in 5 localities nationwide. In particular, some localities had a sharp decrease such as Ba Ria - Vung Tau decreased by 4.75%; Quang Nam decreased by 10.88%; Bac Ninh decreased by 11.85%.