VINACHEM

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate has been up quarter by quarter this year and reached 7.46 percent in the third quarter, a strong increase compared to 5.15 percent the first and 6.28 percent in the second quarter.

That was announced at a meeting presided over by deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, chairman of the Advisory Council on National Financial and Monetary Policies, yesterday afternoon.

The meeting was organized to estimate macroeconomic norms in the third quarter and the first nine months of 2017, aiming at providing the Government with estimations and advises in macroeconomic management at the regular cabinet meeting in September which will take place next week.

At the event, council members estimated that monetary and fiscal policies have been run stably in a harmonious way contributing in positive changes of macroeconomic norms.

Inflation rate continued being curbed below 4 percent. It increased 0.59 percent in September mainly because of petrol price adjustments. Core inflation averaged 1.45 percent in nine months, forecast to approximate 1.5-1.8 percent this year, below the assigned norm of the National Assembly.

In addition, capital mobilization for the economy via Government bonds during the nine months reached VND147 trillion (US$6.47 billion), accounting for 80 percent of plan, thanks to stable interest rates.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction hit a record high. As of September 20, there was $14.6 billion newly registered capital and $6.8 billion additional capital. Total new and additional funds rebounded 21.7 percent over the same period last year.

Although the Government has permitted the State Bank of Vietnam to increase the credit growth rate from 18 to 21 percent this year, council members said it is still needed to keep a close eye on the market to prevent fluctuations and pay attention to credit quality to ensure the progress and quality of projects.

They proposed the Government and the Prime Minister to continue administrative reform, reduce business and investment procedures to create advantageous conditions for enterprises, quickly amend and issue policies to lure investment in agriculture and rural development, require authorized agencies to further cut interest rates and lower costs for production and trading activities. - SGGP-