Vietnam’s GDP in 2020 grows at an impressive pace of 2.91%, the lowest in a decade but among the world’s highest, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has announced.

Data: GSO. Chart: Ngoc Thuy

“As the Covid-19 situations remains complicated around the world, such a positive economic growth could be seen as a major achievement of Vietnam,” stated the GSO

Specifically, GDP in the fourth quarter increased by 4.48% year-on-year, the highest quarterly growth in the year, followed by the third quarter growth at 2.69%, second quarter at 0.39% and the first quarter at 3.68%.
In 2020, the sector of agriculture, forestry and fishery has expanded by 2.68%, contributing 13.5% to the overall growth; the sector of industry and construction enlarged by 3.98%, contributing 53%; and the service sector climbed by 2.34%, contributing 33.5%.

The driving forces of the economy in 2020 continues to be the manufacturing and processing with an increase of 5.82%, or 1.25% percentage points to the economy; while electricity production and distribution with a growth rate of 3.92%; water provision and waste water treatment with 5.51%. On the contrary, mining activities suffered a contraction of 5.62%, followed by crude oil of 12.6% and natural gas of 11.5%.

About the structure of the economy in 2020, the sector of agriculture, forestry and fishery made up 14.85%; the sector of industry and construction accounted for 33.72%; the service sector represented 41.63%; and product taxes less subsidies on production accounted for 9.8%.

The productivity is estimated at VND117.9 million per worker or US$5,081, up US$290 against last year.

The incremental capital-output ratio (ICOR) showed signs of improvements, going down from 6.42 in 2016 to 6.07 in 2019, averaging 6.13 in the 2016 – 2019 period and lower than 6.25 in 2011 – 2015.

In 2020, due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, business and production activities were severely impacted, resulting in a ICOR index of 14.28, averaging 7.04 in 2016-20.

ICOR explains the relationship between the level of investment made in the economy and the consequent increase in GDP. The higher the ICOR, the lower the productivity of capital or the marginal efficiency of capital.