Reasons why GDP in 2017 increased beyond plan

Strong growth in agriculture and processing industry; import and export setting new records... have created momentum for GDP in 2017 to increase by 6.81%.

At the press conference on the socio-economic situation in 2017, on December 27, Mr.Mr. Nguyen Bich Lam, General Director of the General Statistics Office, said that the country's GDP in 2017 increased by 6.81% compared to 2016, exceeding the plan of 6.7% and being the highest increase in the period 2011-2016.

Average income per Vietnamese person increased by 170 USD

According to the report of the General Statistics Office, qThe economic scale in 2017 at current prices reached more than 5 million billion VND. Average income per capita is estimated at 53.5 million VND per year, equivalent to 2,385 USD, an increase of 170 USD compared to 2016.

"The 6.81% GDP growth is a completely reliable calculation result," Mr. Nguyen Bich Lam affirmed.

This figure, according to Mr. Lam, is compiled from monthly reports and has complete, detailed statistics and is calculated according to the world's scientific method.

The driving force that made GDP achieve a growth rate exceeding the plan of 6.7% this year, Mr. Duong Manh Hung - Deputy Director of the Department of National Accounts analyzed, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector with an increase of 2.90% contributed 0.44 percentage points; the industry and construction sector increased by 8%, contributing 2.77 percentage points and the service sector increased by 7.44%, contributing to the overall increase of 2.87 percentage points.

The picture of business production activities of enterprises also improved when the whole country had 126,859 newly registered enterprises, with a total registered capital of nearly 1.3 million billion VND.

In 2017, Samsung contributed 3.8 percentage points to the industry's 9.4% growth.

Another factor is the processing and manufacturing industry sector, which increased by 14.5% over the same period last year, contributing 10.2 percentage points to the overall growth of 9.4% of the entire industry.This is the highest growth rate in the past 6 years of this industry thanks largely to the contributions of Samsung and Formosa.

"Both Samsung and Formosa contributed 4.02 percentage points to the 9.4% growth of the industrial sector in 2017," said the Director of the Department of Industrial Statistics.

Explaining further about the economic growth figures, Mr. Nguyen Bich Lam mentioned the import-export figures with a record turnover of over 400 billion USD, in which for 5 consecutive months, this turnover reached over 19 billion USD, especially in October 2017 it was over 20 billion USD.These figures were called "Vietnam's trade miracle" by the General Director of the General Statistics Office.

Although the economy is still heavily dependent on foreign raw materials, importing more than 91% of production materials, it still has a trade surplus of 2.1 billion USD thanks to the promotion of goods exports. Of the 213 billion USD of Vietnam's exports this year, there are 28 groups of goods exported over 1 billion USD, of which 5 groups of goods exported over 10 billion USD.

"In this achievement, we must mention the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which have been very proactive in seeking export markets, typically for vegetables," said Mr. Lam.

Vietnam's labor productivity is lower than Laos'.

Growth in 2017 reached a spectacular increase of 6.81%, but Vietnam's labor productivity is very low, lower than Laos. This challenge is also one of the barriers to the economy in 2018.

According to Mr. Bich Lam, the labor productivity of the entire economy at current prices in 2017 is estimated at 93.2 million VND per worker (about 4,159 USD). Calculated at 2010 comparable prices, productivity in 2017 increased by 6% compared to 2016, and the average increase in the period 2011 - 2017 was 4.7% per year.

However, Vietnam's labor productivity is currently lower than that of other countries in the region. According to the General Statistics Office's calculations based on purchasing power parity in 2011, Vietnam's labor productivity in 2016 reached 9,894 USD, only 7% of Singapore, 17.6% of Malaysia and 87.4% of Laos. Specifically, within 10 years (2006 - 2016), the difference in labor productivity between Singapore and Vietnam was 16,246 USD; Malaysia was 6,384 USD and the gap with Laos was 1,202 USD.

"Vietnam's labor productivity is currently lower than Laos' and the gap with other countries continues to increase," Mr. Lam warned.

In addition, the leader of the General Statistics Office also pointed out that in 2018 the economy will face many major challenges, especially adapting to the 4.0 revolution and narrowing the gap in labor productivity with other countries.

To achieve the 2018 target of GDP growth of 6.5-6.7% and average inflation of 4%, the statistical agency still recommends fundamental solutions such as continuing to promote institutional reform, improving the business environment, proactively and flexibly implementing monetary policy, and strengthening financial discipline...

According to VNE