Vietnam economy grows 7.2 percent in first quarter
HANOI - Vietnam's economy grew 7.2 percent in the first quarter despite upheavals in the domestic and world economies, the statistics office said.
"The growth in this period is lower than the rate of 7.3 percent in the same period last year ... but is considered stable," said a preliminary report of the General Statistics Office (GSO).
It said Vietnam had been hit by agricultural plagues, drought and storms while the "the world market experienced numerous upheavals," including high oil and commodity prices.
In the first three months of the year, the communist country booked a trade surplus of 50 million dollars due in part to weak imports after the traditional Tet lunar new year festival in February.
Last year, the country recorded a trade deficit of 1.13 billion dollars in the three months period.
Exports to March grew 20.3 percent year-on-year to 8.56 billion dollars while imports rose a modest 1.9 percent to 8.51 billion dollars.
Vietnam spent 1.2 billion dollars on refined oil imports, up 15 percent, while earning 1.9 billion dollars from crude oil exports, up 16.1 percent.
Although it has sizeable oil reserves, Vietnam still has no operating refineries and relies on imports for its oil products.
Industrial production rose 14.7 percent in the period.
The private sector led the way, with output increasing 20.4 percent while foreign-funded enterprise production was up 16.3 percent.
Vietnam is aiming for overall economic growth of at least 8.0 percent this year when it also wants to join the World Trade Organisation to further improve trade and investment flows.
Last year, Vietnam's economy grew 8.4 percent, the fasted since 1996.
Agence France Presse - March 28, 2006.
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