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Roundup: Vietnam posts slower economic growth in H1 due to severe weather

Xinhua, June 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Vietnam is seeing slower economic growth in the first half of 2016 due to severe weather, according to the country's General Statistics Office (GSO) on Tuesday.

Specifically, Vietnam's economic growth is estimated to stay at 5.52 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2016, lower than the level of 6.32 percent in the previous year's same period, the GSO said in a report on social and economic situation in the six months of 2016 on its website.

The country's economy posted a growth rate of 5.48 percent in the first quarter of 2016 and 5.55 percent in the second quarter.

The growth of the industrial and construction sector in the first half of 2016 is likely to stay at 7.12 percent year-on-year, and that of the service sector is 6.35 percent.

Meanwhile, the agricultural, forestry and fishery sector is estimated to see a decrease of 0.18 percent year-on-year during the six-month period, said GSO.

The decrease of the farm sector is attributed to the severe weather situation, including snow in northern region and drought, saline intrusion in southern area, especially Mekong Delta, the main rice bowl of Vietnam, said GSO.

The agriculture area alone is estimated to shrink 0.78 percent year-on-year in the first half due to the reduction of rice output.

According to GSO, the plantation area of winter-spring crop this year hit over 3.08 million hectares, down 31,300 hectares compared to the same period last year.

Rice plantation area in southern Mekong Delta alone saw a decrease of 23,900 hectares.

As a result, rice output of the crop nationwide reached 19.4 million tons, down 1.3 million tons, or 6.4 percent, compared to the same period last year, said GSO.

Due to the impacts of drought and saline intrusion in Vietnam's southern area, as of the end of May, some 249,900 hectares of rice, 19,000 hectares of other crops, and 30,500 hectares of fruit trees and 6,900 hectares of aquaculture were damaged.

The total damage cost around 15.2 trillion Vietnamese dong (over 681.6 million U.S. dollars).

Since late 2015, in Vietnam's southern Mekong Delta, the drought and decrease in groundwater levels have resulted in the most extensive saltwater intrusion in 90 years, the worst since records began.

According to Vietnamese statistics office, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2015 reached 6.68 percent. In late 2015, Vietnam's National Assembly targeted the country's economic growth to be 6.7 percent in 2016. Endit