Vietnam’s GDP inched up by 3.32% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023

2023’s first-quarter growth of 3.32% year-on-year (YoY) is the second-to-worst recorded first-quarter growth since 2011, only beating the 3.21% growth in Q1 2020.

The GDP growth of 3.32% in the first quarter of 2023 is a dramatic fall from the 5.92% growth of the previous quarter and 5.03% the same period of the previous year. According to the Director of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO), the economic expansion rate of 3.32% was primarily impacted by ongoing turbulence in the world economy, including prolonged high global inflation and weakening demand from major trading partners

Vietnam’s exports and imports dropped in the first quarter of 2023

In the January-March period of 2023, Vietnam’s total import-export turnover of goods reached 154.27 billion USD, shrinking by 13.3% compared to the same period last year

Specifically, exports nosedived by 11.9% to 79.17 billion USD, while imports plummeted by 14.7% to 75.1 billion USD. This translated into a trade surplus of 4.07 billion USD

Vietnam’s Central Bank cuts rates since 2020 to push economic growth