Vietnam’s GDP grew 8.18% in the first half of 2026 from a year earlier, the country’s strongest first-half economic expansion in years, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Van Thang said on Friday.
Second-quarter GDP rose 8.39%, driven by strong state budget revenue, resilient agricultural output, rising foreign direct investment (FDI) and double-digit growth in many localities, according to official data.
Thang said Vietnam remained among the world’s fastest-growing economies but warned that slow public investment disbursement had constrained growth. He estimated GDP could have been about 0.4 percentage points higher had public investment disbursement reached 50% instead of nearly 35% in the first six months.
The government pledged to speed up public investment, maintain adequate credit for businesses and continue reforms to support its economic growth target 2 digits for 2026.
