HANOI: Vietnam's economy is estimated to have grown 5.89 percent this year, the government's statistics office said on Thursday, slower than 6.78 percent in 2010 as policymakers struggled to counter soaring inflation.
Annual growth accelerated slowly over the course of the year and in the fourth quarter it reached 6.1 percent from a rise of 6.07 percent in the previous quarter, the General Statistics Office said in its monthly report. Growth had slumped to 5.43 percent in the first quarter.
The full-year figure was close to expectations.
The government forecast a growth rate of 6 percent this year after revising its initial target downward, and the median expectation of 12 economists polled by Reuters in October was for full-year GDP growth to come in at 5.9 percent.
After a period of high credit growth starting in 2008, Vietnam struggled to contain some of the world's worst inflation this year.
Policymakers raised interest rates, vowed to tighten fiscal conditions and slashed credit and money supply targets, but the results were muted.
The consumer price index peaked in August at 23 percent and ended the year at 18.58 percent -- more than twice the end 2010 rate of 9.19 percent.
On Thursday the Vietnam News reported Finance Minister Vuong Dinh Hue as saying that managing tight monetary and financial policies to reign in inflation will remain a key task for 2012 in order to stabilise the macro-economy and help businesses overcome difficulties.
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