VINACHEM

Vietnam has performed well in social and economic terms despite a lot of difficulties and challenges, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the opening session of the National Assembly in Hanoi on October 23.

Phuc said he is pinning high hopes that the country could be able to meet and even beat all of the 13 growth targets. “Vietnam has succeeded in reducing the exploitation of natural resources and developing the processing, manufacturing and hi-tech industries, as well as service and tourism.”

This year the Government has adopted flexible monetary, fiscal and other policies to control inflation, stabilize the macro economy and boost socio-economic development, he noted.

The consumer price index (CPI) in the first nine months of 2017 picked up 3.79% over the same period last year, he said, adding core inflation was 1.6%.

Loans expanded 12% in January-September. Interest rates for priority sectors were cut from 0.5 to 1.0 percentage point. The foreign exchange rate, gold market, foreign currency, and Vietnam dong were stable.

Vietnam bought more than US$6 billion in the period, thus raising its foreign exchange reserves to more than US$45 billion, the highest level ever.

State budget revenue is predicted to be 2.3% higher than planned and expand 10.1% compared to 2016. Budget deficit is estimated at 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), meeting the National Assembly-approved level.

Wrongdoing regarding the use of State assets was strictly handled, and public debt was at safe levels.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals in January-September amounted to US$25.5 billion, up 34.3% year-on-year. Foreign investors disbursed US$12.5 billion in the period, up 13.4% year-on-year.

The VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange rose to 800 points, the highest since 2008. Total investment in the economy accounted for an estimated 33.4% of GDP, up by 12.6 percentage points against a year before.

There were nearly 94,000 enterprises newly established in January-September, up 15.4% year-on-year, and their total registered capital soared 43.5%. More than 21,000 suspended firms returned to normal operation.

Total newly registered capital, including from operational projects, reached VND2,100 trillion, the highest ever.

Vietnam climbed five notches to 55th on the World Economic Forum’s 2017-2018 Global Competitiveness Index.

GDP grew 6.41% in the first nine months and the figure is projected to reach the targeted 6.7% in all of 2017.

According to the Prime Minister, the total factor productivity (TFP) may contribute 44.1% to economic growth in 2017. The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in September was 53.3 points, the highest among ASEAN countries.

However, Phuc said, the country has faced a host of difficulties and challenges, including low growth quality, low labor productivity, tough business conditions and time-consuming administrative procedures, slow capital disbursement in State-funded projects, the high ratio of public debt to GDP, and the slow restructuring of State-owned enterprise.

Many State-financed projects have made big losses.

The restructuring of agriculture, industry and service was not properly done in some parts of the nation. - Source: SGT -