Vietnam’s growth weakens in Q2, 2021

July 2, 2021

HANOI -- Vietnam's Q2 GDP growth quickened to 6.61% y/y in Q2, 0.6% weaker than market expectations of 7.2% y/y. But in an economic research note, ANZ Bank points out that the result marks an improvement from 4.65% y/y growth in Q1 (revised upward from 4.48% y/y earlier).

ANZ comments: "That Q2 growth would be hurt by the resurgent pandemic was well-known, but the magnitude of the negative impact did surprise.

."Recall that Q2 2020 GDP growth was at a significantly depressed 0.36% y/y. As such, a

large part of the 6.61% y/y growth in Q2 was driven by a low base of comparison.

In sequential or seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter terms,

"We believe that activity in fact weakened in Q2. Our proprietary ANZ Vietnam activity

tracker (AVAT) declined in month-on-month terms over May and June, with the latter marking the sharpest decline since April 2020."

www.anzresearch.com (ATI).