Vietnam's gross domestic product grew 7.09% last year to $476.3 billion, faster than the 5.05% expansion in 2023, driven by strong exports and robust foreign investment inflows, government data showed on Monday.
GDP grew 7.55% in the fourth quarter, the fastest quarterly growth in more than two years, the General Statistics Office said in a report.
The Southeast Asian country, a regional manufacturing hub, has benefited from a recovery in global consumption despite being badly affected by Asia's strongest typhoon last year.
"This is a positive result amid difficulties including natural disasters and is a good foundation for 2025 growth," Nguyen Thi Huong, head of the GSO, said at a press conference after the report was released. Exports in 2024 grew 14.3% from a year earlier to $405.53 billion, led by shipments of electronics, smartphones, clothing and farm produce, the GSO report said.
Imports grew 16.7% to $380.76 billion in 2024, resulting in a trade surplus of $24.77 billion.
The strong rebound in growth in 2024 was also helped by the government increasing coal imports for power generation to avoid a repeat of the electricity shortages of previous years.
Coal imports in 2024 rose 24.8% from a year earlier to 63.8 million metric tons, while electricity output in the year rose 9.6% to 293.3 billion kilowatt hours.
Foreign investment inflows into Vietnam rose 9.4% last year to $25.35 billion.
Average consumer prices in 2024 were up 3.63% while industrial production output rose 8.4%.
Vietnam has set an official GDP growth target of 6.5% to 7.0% for this year. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh last month said Vietnam would aim for growth of 8.0%.
"Looking forward, Vietnam will actively monitor monetary policies, stabilise exchange rates, and monitor closely big trade partners to have timely policies," Huong said.
