According to the General Statistics Office, GDP increased by 6.61% in the second quarter of 2021 over the same period in 2020, with the agriculture, forestry, and fishery sector increasing by 4.11%, the industry and construction sector increasing by 10.28%, and the service sector increasing by 4.30%.

According to the General Statistics Office's report on the socio-economic situation in the second quarter and the first six months of the year, GDP increased by 5.64% in the first six months of 2021, higher than the growth rate of 1.82% in the first six months of 2020 but lower than the growth rates of 7.05% and 6.77% in the same period in 2018 and 2019.

From the end of April, when the COVDI-19 pandemic broke out across the country, complicated and unpredictable circumstances posed numerous challenges in achieving the dual goal of "both disease control and economic development."

Growth results in the second quarter and the first six months of the year demonstrated the Government's drastic direction and operation, Prime Minister; the cooperation and consensus of the political system, business community, people across the country, and the frontline force fighting the pandemic while performing duties and  solutions for socioeconomic development in 2021.

In terms of overall economic growth, the agriculture, forestry, and fishery sector increased by 3.82%, contributing 8.17%; the industry and construction sector increased by 8.36%, contributing 59.05%; and the service sector increased by 3.96%, contributing 32.78%.

The agriculture, forestry, and fishery sectors increased significantly in the first six months of 2021 compared to the same period last year due to high yields of winter-spring rice, stable development of livestock and aquaculture, and the main agricultural and fishery products increased quite well. In which, the agricultural sector increased by 3.69%, only 0.34% points less than the growth rate of 4.24% in the first six months of 2011 in the period 2011-2021[1], contributing 0.34% points to the increase in total added value of the entire economy; forestry increased by 3.98% but contributed only 0.02% points; the fishery industry increased by 4.25%, higher than the 2.42% increase in the first six months of 2020, contributing 0.11% points.

In the industry and construction sector, the industry increased by 8.91% over the same period last year, lower than the growth rate of 9.13% in the first six months of 2019, but higher than the growth rate of 2.91% in the first six months of 2020, contributing 3.01% points to the overall economy's growth rate of total added value.

The processing and manufacturing industry is the overall economy's growth engine, with an increase rate of 11.42%, which is lower than the growth rate of the same period in 2011 and 2018 in the period 2011-2021[2], contributing 2.9% points.

The electricity production and distribution industry increased by 8.16%, contributing 0.31% points. Mining industry decreased by 6.61%, reducing by 0.25% point the increase in total value added of the entire economy due to 7.3% decrease in crude oil production and 12.5% decrease in natural gas production. The construction industry grew by 5.59%, slightly higher than the 4.54% growth rate of the same period in 2020 in the period 2014-2021[3], contributing 0.37 percentage points.

In the service sector, the system of restaurants and on-site food service establishments, passenger transportation faces numerous challenges due to social distancing in some areas to prevent pandemics.

In the period 2011-2021, growth in the service sector was only 0.48% higher in the first six months of 2021 than in the same period in 2020. Some market service industries contributed significantly to the increase in total added value in the first six months of 2021, as shown below: Wholesale and retail increased by 5.63% over the same period last year, contributing 0.57% points to the increase in total added value of the entire economy; financial, banking, and insurance activities increased by 9.27%, contributing 0.49% points; transportation and warehousing decreased by 0.39%, decreasing by 0.02% points; and accommodation and catering services decreased by 5.02% points.

Regarding the structure of the economy in the first 6 months of 2021, agriculture, forestry and fishery accounted for 12.15%; industry and construction accounted for 37.61%; service sector accounted for 41.13%; product tax minus product subsidies accounted for 9.11% (The corresponding structure of the same period in 2020 is: 14.16%; 33.51%; 41.99%; 10.34%).

In terms of GDP use in the first six months of 2021, final consumption increased by 3.56% over the same period in 2020; accumulated assets increased by 5.67%; goods and services exports increased by 24.05%; and goods and services imports increased by 22.76%.