HANOI: Vietnam recorded economic growth of 8.2 percent in the third quarter, among the highest increases in more than a decade, the government said Sunday, despite fresh US tariffs taking effect.
Finance Minister Nguyen Van Thang said the figure — excluding the surge in 2022 driven by a post-Covid recovery — was “the highest quarterly growth since 2011”, according to a government statement.
The Southeast Asian manufacturing hub achieved growth of 7.96 percent in the second quarter. Overall, from January to September, GDP growth was at 7.8 percent year-on-year, Thang said.
Vietnam has recorded “positive, outstanding and comprehensive” achievements despite global economic headwinds and domestic challenges, including a costly typhoon season, the government statement added.
The country has been battered by 10 strong storms this year, including Typhoon Bualoi, which triggered widespread flooding and landslides last week, killing more than 50 people and damaging homes, infrastructure and crops.
The government has estimated total damage from natural disasters in the third quarter at more than USD620 million.
Vietnam’s economy grew 7.1 percent last year and is aiming for eight percent this year as it vies for “middle-income country” status by 2030.
However, the International Monetary Fund last month projected growth to slow to 6.5 percent this year and “decelerate further in 2026 given the full year effect of the new US tariffs... and unwinding of most of the one-off 2025 government stimulus”.
Under a trade deal between Hanoi and Washington announced earlier this year, the communist nation negotiated levies on its exports to the United States down from 46 percent to a minimum 20 percent in return for opening its market to US products.
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