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Mr. Le DuyBinh, CEO of Economica Vietnam

The Prime Minister has asked for preparations to bring the economy to a quick rebound after the pandemic. To do so, in your opinion, what do we need to keep in mind, both from the perspective of the Government’s administration and the health of enterprises?

In my view, the solutions governing the economy by the Government at this time are appropriate. The Government has followed the actual situation and has been calm in operating macroeconomic policies in the context of the continuous developments of the domestic and international situations due to the impact of the pandemic. The recently issued support packages are designed in the direction of not putting great pressure on major macroeconomic indicators. With the current developments of the pandemic, we must take measures to gradually recover production and business and resume normal operation of the economy. The Government has issued a clear signal that is to livewith the pandemic, to produce and do business safely and to continue operating the economy at a safer level. This operating view is appreciated.

Facing the requirements on bringing the economy up after the pandemic, it is necessary to face a very difficult fact that there will be problems beyond the ability of the Government, such as the pandemic situation and the closure and opening of major markets of Vietnam's exporting goods and services.

Vietnam's economy has big openness and depends on many other markets.These markets are beyond our predictability, with variables continuously changing, requiring us to have long-term strategies as well as short-term strategies with determination and clear direction. With the principle of disease prevention as the top priority and the permanent goal, economic activities can be safely resumed. The actual situation forces the Government as well as each factor in the economy to be flexible in administration,business and production.

In addition, another challenge to the resumption of normal economic activity is the demand for goods and services produced by the Vietnamese economy. An important solution will be to expand and stimulate the domestic market. But with the current average income of the people and the size of the domestic market, it is obviously not to expect that the domestic market will make up the decline in demand of many export markets for Vietnam’s goods and services. The recovery of production and business of many Vietnamese enterprises is beyond their reach, but depends on the recovery of demand in traditional export markets. In this context, prompt response to new needs and recovery trends of export markets and solutions to meet those needs and trends will have important implications for Vietnamese enterprises.

Currently, some European countries are recovering.The newly signed EVFTA agreement will be an opportunity to form new demands for Vietnamese goods and services. The developments of the pandemic are pushing G20 and G7 countries such as the US, Japan and European countries to accelerate the reorganization of safe supply chains. This is a great opportunity that Vietnam needs to catch to have a better position in this safe supply chain with higher added value, creating opportunities for more sustainable development of Vietnamese enterprises in the future.

In the past six days, Vietnam has not had new cases of Covid-19. We are expecting to be able to put an end to the pandemic by the end of April, if that happens, the economy will have an opportunity to recover soon. Is it time to consider restarting the economy, sir?

Vietnam is in a better position than many other countries to restart the economy. But it is necessary to repeat the condition that the goal of safety before the pandemic as a top priority and requirement. Any subjectivity, even in economic activities, can bringthe pandemic back. Everyone wants to develop the economy andto grow, but if the outbreak comes back, it will be more difficult to recover the economy. Singapore is an example. We should not wait any further to restart the economy but we need to restart safely. Maintaining the current status will greatly affect economic development, as well as the lives and livelihoods of people.

It also makes the economy miss out on opportunities that are not worth it. We can completely restart the economy with good measures. We need to seek ways to both reopen and adapt and take appropriate adjustments. It will be a learning and practicing process for all of us.

Public investment is being considered as a main role for GDP growth in 2020. How is this main motivation to be implemented, sir?

Public investment will be the star of hope for economic growth in 2020. Nearly VND 700 trillion is a huge amount, if it is disbursed, it will contribute greatly to overcoming difficulties and to speeding economic development. However, the goal set forth for public investment is not just how much of the public investment will be disbursed by the end of the fiscal year. The more important goal is how extremely scarce capital will be used effectively? How many bottlenecks of the economy will be cleared? Are the bottlenecks that limit the connection between the production areas with ports, airports and highways removed? How is the spillover power of such public investment? Every effort to achieve quantity because of progress pressure but leading to disbursement at the wrong address, causing loss and abuse will bring long-term consequences for the economy.

To disburse 100% of public investment requires strong and drastic participation of ministries and localities. From the beginning of the year, the Government has drastically directed and created great expectation to disburse all this capital to boost GDP growth in 2020. Besides, the Law on Public Investment has made new strides that clarify authority in public investment to ministries and localities, createmore flexibility and contribute to increasing the disbursement rate. Efforts from ministries, agencies and localities are essential. Therefore, there should be more clear regulations on the responsibilities of ministries, agencies andeach individual, especially the responsibility of the head for results of public investment.

If it is said there are opportunities in risks,will Covid-19 be a great chance for the economy to restructure and become stronger, sir?

I think that the Covid-19 pandemic will help us once more identify the strengths and weaknesses of the economy and how to run the economy. I believe that Covid-19 will create new antibodies for the Vietnamese economy. These antibodies will strongly stimulate the restructuring of the economy, continue to reform and improve the efficiency of economic operation, thereby making the immune system of Vietnam’s economy stronger. Vietnamese economy is better able to cope with future difficulties and challenges.

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It will be a lost opportunity if we do not effectively promote these antibodies by taking strong actions to overcome the economic weaknesses that Covid-19 has helped us see more clearly than ever. We need to see this as an opportunity as well as a driving force to strongly restructure the economy and improve the efficiency of governance. We need to do things that we have never done before, or are hesitant to do. New business models must be tested. New markets must be explored. Outdated thoughts need removing. Shortcomings in the process of economic administration must be overcome. Regulatory and institutional barriers must be removed. Business environment reforms must be truly stronger. Only in those ways, can we really turn risks into opportunities and let Covid-19 go down in history not only with dark images and numbers of the damage but also with a memory of a crisis with the positive opportunities that it brings to the Vietnamese economy.

Thank you!