Bright prospect for Vietnamese economy in 2019

Mai Tien Dung, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office, speaks at the press briefing.

Presiding over the Government’s regular press briefing on August 1, Minister Dung said that international organizations have maintained a positive forecast for the national economic growth in 2019 amid a slowdown in the global economy and unpredictable developments seen during the first seven months of this year.

The minister cited the International Monetary Fund’s forecast as showing that the country’s economic growth is estimated at 6.5 per cent during 2019, while the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have expected the growth rate to reach 6.6 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.

Under the Sustainable Development Report 2019 recently announced by the United Nations Secretariat, Vietnam ranked 54 ^th out of 162 countries and territories, just behind Thailand in Southeast Asia.

The Global Innovation Index 2019 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization indicates that the country enjoyed a rise of three places to rank 42th out of 129 countries and territories and 3^rd in Southeast Asia, just behind Singapore and Malaysia.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, reached 52.6 in July, a slight rise from 52.5 in June.

The country maintained its second position after Myanmar (52.9 points) in Southeast Asia, standing higher than the Philippines (52.1 points) and Thailand (50.3 points). The PMI signals that the domestic manufacturing sector could retain its double-digit growth in the third quarter of 2019.

Minister Dung stressed that macroeconomic stability and major economic indicators have consistently been maintained. The average consumer price index (CPI) in the first seven months of this year increased by 2.61 per cent on year, the lowest rise during the same period of the past three years.

Exports have raked in more than US$145 billion, a year on year rise of 7.5 per cent. Notably, the export growth of the domestic sector achieved 12.2 per cent, higher than the 5.6 per cent ratio of the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector.

The domestic sector accounted for 30.3 per cent of the total exports, up 1 per cent against that of the same period last year. The country enjoyed a trade surplus worth US$1.8 billion.

Overall industrial production maintained an upward trajectory to obtain a growth rate of 9.4 per cent.

The processing and manufacturing sector in particular witnessed the growth rate of 10.7 per cent while the mining industry also saw a slight growth rate.

Domestic power production and distribution have been secured since the beginning of the year, in a bid to meet local demand.

Regarding FDI attraction, the minister noted US$10.6 billion in FDI has been disbursed, a hike of 7.1 per cent. The equity capital channeled by foreign investors totaled US$8.52 billion, a sharp rise of 77.8 per cent.

As many as 79,300 new businesses have been established, up 4.6 per cent in quantity and 29.6 per cent in registered capital. Of these, 24,300 businesses have resumed their operation, up 29.9 per cent.

It came as good news for the economy when four large commercial banks have stated a cut of 0.5 per cent in lending rates. This move could drive other banks to lower their lending rates, thus facilitating the business operation of local enterprises.