Vietnam to post 7.5 pct growth in first half of this year

Vietnam will see gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.5-7.7 percent in the first half of this year, predicted Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment.

During a national conference on planning and investment held on Thursday, the ministry also stated that Vietnam will certainly record GDP growth of more than 8 percent in 2005 and of 8-8.5 percent in 2006, providing it joins the World Trade Organization late this year, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Friday.

Now, Vietnam is facilitating business and production, especially industrial production in the second half. The government has urged local authorities to mobilize more investment, especially idle capital of local residents and foreign investment.

The ministry said the country should achieve average annual GDP growth of 7.5-8 percent from 2006 to 2010, so that its GDP could reach 85-89 billion US dollars in 2010. GDP per capita in the year will be 950-1,000 dollars, more than doubling the figure in 2000.

Vietnam should also post an annual export growth of 14-16 percent in the 2006-2010 period. It is likely to reap export turnovers of 59-64 billion dollars in 2010, up from 26.5 billion dollars in 2004, the ministry said.

The country has eyed GDP growth of 8.5 percent in 2005, up from 7.7 percent in 2004. In the first quarter of this year, it saw a 7. 2 percent growth in GDP which was more than 164.2 trillion Vietnamese dong (10.4 billion dollars).

Source: Xinhua