Vietnam's economy likely to grow 5% in first 3 quarters

Vietnam's Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) is forecast to rise 5.14 percent in the first nine months of this year, higher than a 4.73-percent growth in the same period last year, according to the Vietnam General Statistics Office on Wednesday. Of the figure, trade and services sector posted the highest GDP growth of 6.25 percent year-on-year, followed by construction industry at 5.02 percent. Meanwhile, the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector gained only 2.39 percent. Statistics also showed that GDP growth increased from quarter to quarter, rising from 4.89 percent in Q1 to 5 percent in Q2. However, few experts expected that the country would reach the annual target of 5.5 percent set by the Vietnamese National Assembly. Some even predicted a modest growth of 4.92 percent.