2016: GDP is estimated to increase by 6.21%, with $US 2.68 billion of trade surplus

	Vietnam sees GDP growth of 6.2% for 2016
	Promote agricultural restructuring from width to depth
	Economic growth to face difficulties in 2017

In 2016, Vietnam has a trade surplus of $US 2.68 billion. Photo: H. Diu.

Accordingly, the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016 has been estimated at 6.21%, lower than the plan with 6.7%. The core inflation in 2016 increased by 1.83% compared to last year.

Regarding the currency market, to 20 December 2016, the total means of payment increased by 16.47% compared to the end of 2015; the deposit growth also increased by 16.88%, and credit growth increased by 16.46%.

To 15 December 2016, the total net budget revenue reached 93% of the estimate (the same period last year reached 97.1%). The general budget revenue reached about 83% of the estimate, lower than last year with 89.3%.

Regarding investment and development, the total social investment in 2016 is estimated at 1,485.1 trillion vnd, equivalent to 33% of GDP (32.6% of GDP in the same period). The disbursement of the State budget has reached 81.6% of the plan, an increase of 23.5% compared to the same period last year and Government bonds reached 55.2% of the plan.

To 26 December 2016, total foreign direct investment (FDI) was estimated at $US 15.8 billion, an increase of 9%; and the total registered capital reached $US 24,372 billion, an increase of 7.1%.

A positive sign is that in 2016, Vietnam has a trade surplus of $US 2.68 billion, accounting for 1.52% of import and export turnover. In particular, the total export turnover is estimated at $US 175.9 billion, an increase of 8.6%. The total import turnover has been estimated at $US 173.26 billion, an increase of 4.6%.

In 2016, there were 110,110 newly established enterprises with a registered capital of 891,094 billion vnd, an increase of 16.2% in quantity and an increase of 48.1% in registered capital compared to the same period in 2015.

The report also showed that education and training, science and technology, labor and employment, and social security have achieved many good results.

In order to achieve the results mentioned above, in 2016, the Government has made many innovations in the implementation of the tasks and plans.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the Government and local authorities at all levels focused on amendment and supplement of institutional policies, promoting the reform of administrative procedures, removing problems of enterprises and accelerating the disbursement plan in line with Resolution 35/NQ-CP, Resolution 19/2016/NQ-CP and Resolution 60/NQ-CP.

Besides, the Government has also drastically prevented natural disasters, climate change, protected environment, ensured food safety; implemented multiple solutions, including electronic visas for tourists, which attracted 10 million tourists in 2016.

The Prime Minister also said that the Government directed local authorities to strengthen discipline against vested interest groups, to be transparent, and closely control the use of State vehicles and public property on business trips.

With the determination of the Government, the Office of Government and local authorities have established working groups to examine and inspect the implementation of the Government's duty. Thus, in a total of more than 10,200 missions, there were more than 3,830 unfinished missions, but most of them are not yet due and there were only 182 overdue tasks.

However, in addition to the positive results announced at the conference, the Prime Minister, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc also pointed out outstanding problems of 2016 such as: natural disasters, drought, saltwater intrusion, flooding in all regions as well as environmental incidents causing serious consequences, especially environmental incidents in four central provinces; many explosions and major accidents; more serious crime; irregularities in the management of staff, especially the case of Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh.

Regarding the economy, there have still been drawbacks due to the fall of the mining industry, especially crude oil; many ineffective projects with a value of trillions of vnd, capital loss; weak commercial banks, including weak banks bought at the price of "0" vnd, or the case of the Dong A bank; and the international competitiveness ranking of Vietnam has increased by 9 places, but the innovation ranking of Vietnam has dropped 4 places.

Vietnam expects GDP growth rate at 7.1-7.3% in Q4 Vietnam’s economy will continue the recovery trend with a GDP growth rate forecast at 7.1-7.3 percent in ...

With these results, the draft Resolution on socio-economic development in 2017 has set out specific solutions to promote the economy in the context of the domestic economy and the global economy with many changes in 2017.