Hanoi's economy has posted solid growth in the first six months of 2022, director of the municipal statistics bureau Dau Ngoc Hung said at a press conference on June 30.

The city's gross domestic product (GDP) has expanded by 7.79% compared to the same period last year, in which, growth in the first and second quarters was 6.02% and 9.49%, respectively, Hung said.

He stressed that GRDP growth in the first half of this year is higher than that in the six-month periods in recent years, showing a clear trend of recovery and development quarter after quarter of key industries.

In addition, the services sector in the first six months of the year increased by 9.05% year-on-year (with increases of 6.4% and 11.68% in the first and second quarters, respectively) and contributed 5.91 percentage points to the growth of GDP.

Director of the Hanoi Statistics Office Dau Ngoc Hung speaks at the press conference. Photo: Hong Son

The construction sector expanded by 6.31% over the same period in 2021 (with increases of 5.95% and 6.61% in the first and second quarters, respectively), contributing 1.27 percentage points to the GRDP growth.

The agriculture, forestry, and fishery sector grew by an estimated 2.39% over the same period last year, contributing 0.06 points to the increase in GRDP.

The industrial production index of most processing and manufacturing industries increased compared to the same period last year, of which several industries achieved high growth rates, including paper production (up 20.3%), non-metallic mineral products (increased by 18.5%), prefabricated metal products (16.1%), wood processing and production (15.5%), among others.

In the first six months of 2022, the whole city attracted US$767.1 million of foreign investment capital, up 30.6% year on year. This is considered an important achievement, demonstrating the attractiveness of Hanoi's business environment in the eyes of foreign investors.

Moreover, Hanoi has nearly 15,000 newly-established enterprises, up 14% over the same period last year. Registered capital in the city reached VND184.1 trillion ($7.9 billion), up 1% year on year.

Besides, nearly 11.2 thousand enterprises signed up to suspend operations, up 51% year on year. However, there were also 6.6 thousand enterprises reinstated, up 14% year-on-year. The rate of online business registration remained at 100%.

Hung said that if inflation is contained in the coming months and the prices of fuel and input materials stop rising, 41.8% of businesses are expected to operate better.

He said 85.2% of non-state enterprises expected that the production and business situation in the third quarter of 2022 will be better and more stable than that in the second quarter of 2022.

In general, in the past six months, the export turnover of Hanoi hit $8.3 billion, up 17.1% over the same period; in which, while the domestic-invested sector reached $4.6 billion, up 17.5% while the FDI sector earned $3.7 billion, up 16.6%.

Some key items with increasing export turnover in the first half of 2022 include textile and garment products ($1,220 million, up 29.6%), computer components and peripherals ($1,072 million, up 20.2%), means of transport and spare parts ($765 million, up 2.7%), gasoline ($647 million, 2.3 times higher), wood products ($439 million, up 27.9%), among others.