Vietnam Q1 GDP growth slows as weak demand hits exports
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- 30 Mar 2023
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Vietnam's economic growth slowed to 3.32% in the first quarter, against a 5.92% year-on-year expansion in the fourth quarter of 2022, government data showed on Wednesday, as exports of smartphones and electronics fell sharply.
The Southeast Asian country, a regional manufacturing hub, reported an 11.9% fall in overall exports in the January-March period from a year earlier due to weakening global demand.
"The global economy continued to witness complicated developments and uncertainties," the General Statistics Office (GSO) said in a report, citing high inflation and weakening demand in Vietnam's major trade partners
Shipments of smartphones, the country's largest export earner, fell 15% to $13 billion in the first quarter from a year ago, while electronics shipments fell 10.9%, the GSO said.
"Vietnam is among the most open economies in the world and weak external demand is taking a toll on the economy," Capital Economics said in a note, adding that an over-leveraged property sector has been hit hard by a tightening of lending conditions.
Industrial production in the first quarter fell 2.3% from a year earlier, while retail sales of goods and services rose 13.9%, the GSO said.
Consumer prices in March fell 0.23% from February, the GSO said. Average consumer prices in the first quarter rose 4.18% from a year earlier. Read More…
