Government's efforts to maintain growth targets
In the first quarter, Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at 5.1%, lower than the same period in 2015 and 2016, and much lower than the set target (6.7%).
Photo for Illustration (Pho to: Thai Thien). |
The reason for the low growth was the decline of many economic sectors, including mining, processing and construction. Notably, the national index of industry production (IIP) in the first three months saw only a year-on-year increase of 4.1%, much lower than the same period over the past five years. Therefore, in order to reach the growth target of 6.7% this year, the country’s economic growth must be around 7% for the rest of the year, which is a big challenge for macroeconomic management.
In April, the Government asked the ministries, relevant agencies and localities to enhance the direction of the drastic implementation of measures and proactively manage the implementation of set targets and tasks for economic development as well as build and urgently develop the measures and solutions to ensure the growth target. As a result, the country’s socio-economic situation in April was significantly improved, macroeconomic stability was maintained, and inflation was effectively controlled with an unchanged average consumer price index compared with March.
In addition, the production and business witnessed positive changes; industrial production growth is better than the first quarter; the total turnover of retail goods and services increased 9.6% over the same period last year; tourism had an impressive start with the increasing numbers of international visitors; business environment continued to be improved, attracting nearly 40,000 newly-established enterprises in the first four months.
However, experts assessed that the domestic economy will continue to face numerous challenges such as the development of pestilent insects affecting rice, the low price of pork and the risk of avian influenza. Meanwhile, the country’s IIP in the first four months is much lower than the growth rate of 7.4% in the same period in 2016. The export amount is lower than import, causing the rise of trade deficit.
Despite numerous challenges, the Government is determined to maintain the economic growth target in 2017. At the regular monthly cabinet meeting for April 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasised that despite many difficulties and challenges, Vietnam is determined to strive to reach the target of 6.7%, control the inflation, ensure social welfare and improve people’s lives.
However, according to experts, in order to fulfill this task, it is necessary to enhance participation of all ministries and agencies as well as the active response of enterprises and people across the country. Firstly, the domestic economic sector should focus on promoting the achievements gained in the first months, including accelerating the disbursement of investment capital, enhancing domestic production and business associated with exports, taking full advantage of strong increase of capital flow and international tourists.
In addition, it is imperative to urgently deploy short-term solutions to serve the rest of the year, such as reviewing and quickly implementing investment projects. Relevant agencies should pay attention to production and business of enterprises to remove difficulties and release high inventory. The disbursement of the VND100-trillion credit package for high-tech agriculture should be accelerated in order to promote effective agricultural development and solve the market problem.
(Source: NDO)