Vietnamese economy expands at 5.61 per cent in H1 despite the pandemic

A Grab driver receives a takeaway order from a restaurant's order in Hà Nội in early June when in-person dining is not allowed amid surging Covid-19 cases. — VNA/VNS Photo

HANOI (Vietnam News/ANN): The latest updates from the General Statistics Office (GSO) showed that the Vietnamese economy expanded by 5.64 per cent in the first half of this year, much higher than the growth rate of 1.82 per cent recorded in the same period of last year.

Although the economic growth rate in the first half of this year was lower than the rate of 7.05 per cent and 6.77 per cent of the same periods of 2018 and 2019, respectively, before the Covid-19 pandemic, the macro-economy remained stable with recoveries in production and business, GSO’s Director Nguyễn Thị Hương said at a press conference on Tuesday (June 29) in Hanoi.