Brighter outlook for Vietnamese economy

In his remarks, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung highly rated the good socio-economic performance over the past few months, citing the disbursement of foreign direct investment at US$5.1 billion, up 6.3% and the number of newly-established enterprises rising to more than 41,200. Total import-export revenue in the period reached US$73.76 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19% while trade surplus hit about US$3.39 billion.

The country’s ranking was also upgraded across a variety of fields such as business environment, competitiveness and innovation. The average consumer price index (CPI) in the first four months surged by 2.8%, coupled with the stable monetary market and banking system, Dung said.

“These are good signs, especially when the domestic and world economic situations have showed positive impacts on the national economy. Free trade agreements and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) are projected to give positive effects, signaling the growth prospects of the Vietnamese economy in the rest of the years and the following years” the Minister said.

President of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) Nguyen Mai highlighted the important role played by foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Vietnamese economy with last year’s FDI disbursement setting a record figure of US$17.5 billion. This year’s FDI disbursement is forecast to reach US$19 billion, he said.

Meanwhile, Warrick Cleine, President and General Director of KPMG Vietnam asserted that foreign investors are getting more confident in the Vietnamese economy.

A number of forecasts of international organizations put the country’s average GDP growth in the 2018-2020 period at about 6.85% and even 7% in some years.

However, Minister Dung said the Vietnamese Government has been cognizant of the possible impacts by internal problems and outside influence from the national economy.

Vietnam needs to effectively utilize humankind’s science-technology advances, especially from the 4.0 industrial revolution towards the goal of a modern industrialized country with an advanced market economy, he noted. He also called for greater efforts by all level sectors to keep the growth pattern this year as well as the years to come.

“Increasing labor productivity is the most important factor in improving the quality of growth and promoting innovation in growth model. This is the most effective solution to improve labor productivity, helping developing countries, including Vietnam to narrow the gap with developed countries in the world," Dung emphasized.

The private economic sector should be further developed by boosting stronger linkages between the domestic economic and foreign invested sectors, he added.