Manufacturing and processing sector grew by 13.02 percent in the first half of 2018, the highest in seven years, contributing 2.63 percentage points to the country’s economic growth,  said Director General of the General Statistics Office (GSO) Nguyen Bich Lam. 

He forecast that sector will grow at a slower pace for the rest of the year than in the first half due to unfavourable weather conditions for coal mining and oil and gas exploitation. 

Electronics, computer, and optical products manufacturing will also slow due to an unstable export plan from Samsung. 

Metal manufacturing will also slow down while electric manufacturing and distribution will post lower growth due to falling public demand for electricity.

According to Lam, Vietnam’s gross domestic product growth hit 7.08 percent in the year’s first half.

Specifically, agro-forestry-fisheries grew by 3.93 percent, contributing 9.7 percentage points to the common economic growth, while services went up 6.9 percent with a 41.4-percentage-point contribution, and the industry and construction sector expanded by 9.07 percent, contributing 49 percentage points. 

Industry paced up 9.28 percent, much higher than the 7.01 percent and 5.42 percent from 2016 and 2017 respectively, contributing 3.05 percentage points to the country’s economic growth. 

The mining sector posted a minus growth, down 1.3 percent, while the construction sector maintained an expansion of 7.93 percent. 

Among industries, some saw higher H1 growth than the same period last year, including metal manufacturing (20.7 percent); cereal and refined petrol products (20.3 percent); electronics, computers, and optical products (17.5 percent); and medicines and pharmaceuticals (16.2 percent). 

However, Pham Dinh Thuy, head of the GSO’s Industrial Statistics Department, pointed out that the country’s economic growth still relies on foreign-invested firms that greatly contribute to job creation, export revenue, and State budget.-VNA