HANOI - Economic growth in Vietnam was little changed in the second quarter as a crippling drought hurt farming output in the Southeast Asian nation.
Gross domestic product rose 5.6% from a year earlier after expanding 5.5% in the previous three months, the General Statistics Office said in a statement in Hanoi on Tuesday.
The economy expanded 5.52 percent in the first half of the year, lower than the 5.8% median estimate of four economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
Vietnam is the world’s biggest producer of robusta coffee and the worst drought in three decades will probably cut next season’s crop to the lowest in four years, according to a Bloomberg survey. The Southeast Asian nation is also an exporter of rice.
“Agriculture is clearly emerging as both a drag on growth and a boost to inflation,” economists at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd led by Eugenia Victorino said in a report before Tuesday’s data.
Agriculture output dropped 0.8% in the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2015, the statistics office said. That was offset by a 10% jump in manufacturing and strong growth in construction and services.
The central bank last month delayed tightening its lending rules to help spur investment in the economy, which the government forecasts will expand 6.7% this year.