WB revises up Vietnam’s GDP growth 2024 to 6.1%

The World Bank has revised up its 2024 GDP growth forecast for Vietnam to 6.1% in the October edition of its East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) Economic Update, up from 5.5% in the April edition.

For 2025, the bank anticipates Vietnam’s economic growth can reach 6.5%, higher than 6% in the April projection.

The WB emphasized that most EAP economies are expected to experience robust growth in 2024, supported by private consumption and a positive external environment. The region is projected to grow by 4.8% in 2024.

Excluding China, the rest of the region is forecast to grow by 4.7% in 2024, up from 4.3% in 2023, benefiting from increasing domestic consumption, recovering goods exports, and a tourism rebound.

Besides, the WB pointed out the baseline projection for the region is subject to several downside risks, including a slowdown in the global economy and a slower-than-expected decline in inflation in advanced economies resulting in tighter-than-expected global financial conditions.

A faster-than anticipated slowdown in China’s growth would affect the rest of the region, primarily through trade channels. China’s importance as the ultimate destination for domestic value-added in the region has significantly increased since early 2000s, especially for Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, the WB added.

Vietnam’s economy in the first nine months of 2024 expanded 6.82% year-on-year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported. In Q3, the economy grew 7.4% year-on-year despite heavy impacts from super typhoon Yagi.

Without the natural disasters, the reading would have been much higher, said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong at a press meeting on Monday.

Vietnam seeks to grow its economy by 7.6-8% in the fourth quarter of this year after a surprisingly strong expansion in Q3, according to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung.