HANOI -- Vietnam's economy expanded by 5.03% in real terms in the first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, the General Statistics Office said Tuesday.
Growth in the January-March period slowed from the 5.22% recorded in the preceding three months. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam's gross domestic product shrank 6.02% in the three months to September 2021, the first time the economy had contracted since 2000, the earliest year for which a comparable figure is available. The country's economy is now on track for recovery.
