Vietnam’s economic growth unexpectedly accelerated last quarter, buoyed by manufacturing and exports before a super typhoon last month caused widespread damage and prompted warnings of a challenging end to the year.
GDP rose by 7.4 percent in the three months ended September from a year earlier, the General Statistics Office (GSO) of Vietnam said yesterday. That compares with a 6.1 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey and a revised 7.09 percent expansion for the second quarter.
Vietnam’s economy has shown resilience this year as investment pours in, with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh vowing to cut logistical costs and improve infrastructure.
Photo:EPA-EFE
The government has sought to pull in capital from foreign tech giants such as Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp as the country emerges as a viable alternative to China in the production of electronics, from smartphones to basic semiconductors.
Investment and industry, especially manufacturing, were among “the driving forces for growth” in the third quarter this year, the GSO said.
Big gains in agriculture and other sectors in July and August helped limit the effect of serious damage to crop output from Super Typhoon Yagi last month, GSO head Nguyen Thi Huong said.
Yagi battered Vietnam’s northern provinces, killing hundreds and wreaking economic damage that is estimated at more than US$3 billion. Factory activity in the trade-reliant economy contracted for the first time in five months last month, reflecting the severity of the storm, according to an S&P Global purchasing managers’ index report.
The government’s latest GDP growth target of 6.8 percent to 7 percent for this year would be “a big challenge” as the impact of Yagi, geopolitical tensions and global economic concerns weigh on expansion, Huong said at a briefing in Hanoi.
Authorities earlier predicted a hit of 0.15 percentage points to this year’s growth.
The State Bank of Vietnam might “turn more dovish” by lowering interbank interest rates to aid the economy after Yagi, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc said.
The IMF expects Vietnam to grow 6.1 percent this year, slightly faster than its previous estimate, supported by “continued strong external demand, resilient foreign direct investment and accommodative policies,” it said on Sept. 27.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
RSS