By Anh Tu June 29, 2020 | 04:41 pm GMT+7 VNExpress

Workers manufacture antibacterial masks at a firm in HCMC’s Tan Binh District, April 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyet Nhi.
Vietnam’s GDP growth was roughly 1.81 percent in the first half, the lowest since 2011, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, General Statistics Office reported Monday.
The country’s second quarter GDP grew by 0.36 percent, compared with an expansion of 6.73 percent in the same period last year, said the GSO.
Vietnam’s low H1 GDP growth is ascribed to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused major economies such as the U.S. Japan, and EU to face a deep recession, an interrupted supply chain, a sharp drop in crude oil prices, alongside high unemployment, it said.