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HANOI: Vietnam's economic growth slowed to the lowest rate in almost a decade in 2008 as the country was hit by rampant inflation and the global downturn, the government said Wednesday.
The economy grew 6.2 per cent, the lowest rate since 1999, the state-run General Statistics Office (GSO) said, a sharp drop from last year's 8.5 per cent when Vietnam was hailed by many investors as Asia's next tiger economy.
"It was a year of two crises for Vietnam -- first the inflation and then the global slowdown," said economist Jonathan Pincus, dean of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Programme in Ho Chi Minh City.
"Given how difficult this year was, 6.2 per cent is quite an achievement."
As Vietnam's economy was overheating early this year, consumer prices rose rapidly, with double-digit inflation throughout 2008, but the rate has slowed in recent months to reach an annual rate of 23 per cent, the GSO said.
The trade deficit reached 17.5 billion dollars, the GSO said, revising figures it gave last week.
Export earnings -- mainly from crude oil, textiles and commodities such as rice and coffee -- were up 29.5 per cent to 62.9 billion dollars.
But imports rose 28.3 per cent year-on-year to 80.4 billion dollars, as costs of raw materials and construction materials surged.
Industrial output reached 38.4 billion dollars, a year-on-year rise of 14.6 per cent, but below the 2007 increase of 17.1 per cent.
The tourism sector was also hit as arrivals dropped off sharply mid-year. For 2008 as a whole, the number of international visitors increased by just 0.6 per cent to 4.3 million, said the GSO.
- AFP/ir
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