Viet Nam sees a growth rate of 8.86 per cent in industrial production in 2019. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

The manufacturing and processing industry drove economic growth in 2019 with production volume increasing 11.29 per cent over the previous year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Contributing 2.33 percentage points to Viet Nam’s gross domestic product growth of 7.02 per cent in 2019, manufacturing and processing industry played a key role in national economic development, GSO’s director Nguyen Bich Lam said.

GSO statistics revealed overall industrial production in 2019 rose by 8.86 per cent over the previous year, contributing 2.91 percentage points to the country’s GDP growth

Industrial production had a good year with the focus being the manufacturing and processing industry, reflecting the transition in the structure of industrial production going on the right track, Lam said.

Of note, the mining industry reversed its downward trend in the last three years, posting a slight increase of 1.29 per cent. The mining industry saw a drop of 4 per cent in 2016, 7.1 per cent in 2017 and 3.11 per cent in 2018 due to declines in crude oil production.

The recovery of the mining industry largely came from coal production's 11.6 per cent increase.

Electricity production rose by 9.14 per cent with output of 227.4 billion kWh, statistics showed.

Other sectors also saw good growth rates, such as metal production (up 28.6 per cent), rubber and plastic products (14.3 per cent), paper products (11.6 per cent) and garment and textile (11.4 per cent).

Sales of industrial products rose 9.5 per cent, slightly lower than the growth rate of more than 10 per cent of 2018. — VNS