Vietnam’s economy expanded in the second quarter of 2022 at its quickest pace in 11 years, thanks to a big rebound in exports and the lifting of punishing Covid-19 restrictions, authorities reported on Wednesday.

Growth in the Southeast Asian communist nation and manufacturing powerhouse had stuttered at about 3 percent for two consecutive years as the coronavirus pandemic shut down most of the world and authorities imposed strict lockdowns.

But on Wednesday, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.72 percent in April to June from a year earlier, its best performance since 2011.

Turnover from exports rose 21 percent to $96.80 billion in the period, it added.

Economic growth for the first half of the year was 6.42 percent, the statistics agency said, inching back toward the 7 percent enjoyed in 2019, before the pandemic struck.

The second-quarter data came after the World Bank said earlier this month that Vietnam’s economic recovery “remains strong” despite uncertainties caused by the war in Ukraine, lockdowns in China and inflation.

The Washington, D.C.-based financial institution urged authorities to be “vigilant” about inflation risks associated with rising fuel and import prices, warning that they could dampen the recovery of domestic demand.

Vietnam’s consumer price index rose 2.96 percent in the second quarter, the GSO said.

“Living costs are much higher due to the higher oil price,” Nguyen Thi Huyen, an office worker in Hanoi, told Agence France-Presse.

“It’s bad that I have had to spend up to 10 percent more money for my family without any change in income. If this situation continues, life will be very difficult for us,” he said.

Vietnam reopened to the world in mid-March after almost two years of closure.

Authorities in the one-party nation are aiming for year-end GDP growth of up to 6.5 percent.