Vietnam's Q3 GDP growth seen slowing slightly to 6.42% y-o-y: newspaper

[HANOI] Vietnam's economy may post an annual growth of 6.42 per cent in the third quarter ending September, barely changed from the previous period's 6.44 per cent, a state-run newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper reported the government-run Central Institute for Economic Management saying the export-driven economy could be affected by a possible dollar rate hike from the US Federal Reserve, while exports could face geo-political tensions and impacts from the European debt crisis.

The forecast expansion, if achieved, would be faster than annual growth of 6.07 per cent in the same period a year ago, based on government data.

January-July's exports rose an estimated 9.5 per cent from a year ago to US$92.27 billion, below the government's annual target of 10 per cent for the whole of 2015 and also far behind the expansion of 14.5 per cent in the same period a year ago.

REUTERS