Vietnam’s growth accelerated in the fourth quarter, as stronger manufacturing output helped the economy remain one of the world’s best performers.

Buildings stand illuminated at night in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photographer: Maika Elan/Bloomberg

Gross domestic product grew 7.3 percent in the three months through December from a year earlier, and was up from a revised 6.82 percent in the previous quarter, the General Statistics Office said in Hanoi Thursday. Economic growth for the full year was 7.1 percent, compared with the median estimate of 6.9 percent in a Bloomberg survey of 12 economists.

“Manufacturing is a bright spot of the economy,” Nguyen Bich Lam, head of the government’s General Statistics Office, said at a briefing. Lam expects growth to remain strong next year as free trade deals boost exports

Key Insights

Economic growth is being buoyed by robust domestic demand, and increases in exports, manufacturing and foreign investment.

The government is taking advantage of the U.S.-China trade tensions to boost the nation’s profile as a manufacturing and export powerhouse, selling everything from shoes to smartphones. Trade accounts for about twice the nation’s gross domestic product -- more than any country in Asia apart from Singapore.

“Vietnam is poised to capture some of China’s global market share in labor-intensive manufacturing,” according to Trinh Nguyen, a senior economist at Natixis Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. “It’s the clear winner from the trade war.”

By Bloomberg