The General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO) has estimated gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2014 at 5.98 percent – the highest since 2011 – pending official statistics.

The GSO’s statistical data has shown that 2014 will highly likely be the first year since 2011 the GDP growth of the Southeast Asian country has achieved the National Assembly’s target, which was set at 5.8 percent at the beginning of the year.

The Vietnamese economy expanded by 5.89 percent, 5.25 percent and 5.42 percent in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.

GDP growth improved quarter after quarter over the past year, with 5.06 percent in the first quarter, 5.34 percent in the second, 6.07 percent in third and 6.96 percent in the last, the GSO said.

Based on constant prices of 2010, the GDP in 2014 is estimated to amount to nearly VND2,700 trillion (US$126.9 billion), up eight percent over the preceding year’s figure, which was VND2,500 trillion ($117.5 billion).

If calculated at current prices, the 2014 GDP topped VND3,900 trillion ($183.3 billion), in comparison with nearly VND3,600 trillion ($169.2 billion) the previous year, according to the GSO.

The structure of the economy in 2014 kept moving in a positive direction, with the share of agriculture, forestry and fisheries continuing to decline, while that of the industrial and construction fields continued to rise, the GSO said, adding the service sector remained almost unchanged compared with the previous year’s figures.

In 2014, the index of industrial production (IIP) was estimated to increase by 7.6 percent, higher than the growth of 5.6 percent one year earlier, with a rapidly increasing trend in the last few months of the year.

In particular, the IIP in the fourth quarter increased 10.1 percent, nearly twice the 5.3 percent rate of the first quarter, in some sectors including electronics, computers, mobile phones, automobiles and footwear.

Along with that, the growth rate of the inventory index tended to fall.

As of December 1, 2014, the inventory index expanded 10 percent, lower than the rates of 20.1 percent and 10.2 percent in the same period in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

The recovery process of the local economy also resulted in an increase in total investment in social development, which rose 11 percent year on year, accounting for 31 percent of the 2014 national GDP. The total investment in social development in 2013 made up 30.4 percent of the year’s GDP.

Budget revenue is now estimated to exceed earlier expectations after reaching VND814.1 trillion in the middle of December, up four percent against the annual target.

Meanwhile, total spending is projected at VND968.5 trillion, or 96 percent of the annual estimate.

The estimated budget deficit in 2014 was VND154.4 trillion, or 5.7 percent of GDP at constant prices.

Total retail sales of goods and services are estimated to increase 10.6 percent last year, compared to a year earlier. If excluding the price factor, the figure increased 6.3 percent, higher than the 5.5 percent surge of 2013.

With the positive evolution of the economy, the National Assembly has set a target of 6.2 percent GDP growth in 2015, while the inflation rate was set at five percent in its meeting in November.

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