According to GSO’s statistics for 2011, the national economy grew at 5.57 percent in the first quarter, 5.68 percent in the second quarter, 6.07 percent in the third quarter, and 6.10 percent in the last quarter.
Although 2011 GDP growth is much lower than the 6.78 percent in 2010, the rate is described as comparatively high and reasonable given national and global difficulties, says the GSO.
Of the 5.89 percent economic growth, the agriculture, forestry and aquaculture sector increased by 4 percent, contributing 0.66 point percent; industry and construction rose by 5.53 percent, contributing 2.32 points percent; and the service sector by 6.99 percent, contributing 2.91 points percent, the report says.
Construction production value in 2011 is estimated at VND676.4 trillion, to which the State sector contributed VND119.6 trillion, the non-state sector VND529.4 trillion, and the FDI sector 27.4 trillion.
The total social investment capital in 2011 is estimated to reach VND877.9 trillion, up 5.7 percent against last year and equal to 34.6 percent of the GDP.
About VND178 trillion sourced from the State budget was allocated for investment projects, up 6.7 percent from 2010 and overfullfilling the target set by 1.8 percent.
As estimated, total State budget revenue was VND674.5 trillion, 20.6 percent higher than 2010 and equal to 113.4 percent of the set target, and total State expenditure was VND796 trillion. State budget overspending accounted for 4.9 percent of the GDP (well below the set target of 5.3 percent).
Total means of payment was estimated to increase 10 percent compared to 2010 while total outstanding credit was up 12 percent.
With the Government’s great efforts to curb inflation, the consumer price index in December 2011 was up only 0.53 percent against November. However, the 2011 CPI remained high, up 18.58 percent from 2010.
Gold price index increased by 24.09 percent compared to 2010, while the US dollar price was up 2.24 percent.
The country’s total population was estimated to increase by 1.04 percent compared to 2010 to reach 87.84 million, of which men account for 49.5 percent, up 1.1 percent, and women made up 50.5 percent, up 0.99 percent.
Of the total population, 26.88 million live in urban areas (accounting for 30.6 percent) while the rural population is 60.96 million (representing 69.4 percent).
The unemployment rate within the working age group is 2.27 percent (3.6 percent in urban areas and 1.71 percent in rural areas) while the rate of underemployment within the working age group is 3.34 percent (1.82 percent in urban areas and 3.96 percent in rural areas).
Despite the difficulties in 2011, people’s living conditions have been improved significantly thanks to the effective implementation of the Party’s and Government’s social welfare policy. Food shortages decrease by 21.7 percent in terms of people and 14.6 percent in terms of households.
In 2011, The Government allocated VND3.290 trillion to 62 poor districts nationwide.