Stick to the highest growth target

The Government's report presented by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly on the results of the implementation of the 2023 socio-economic development plan determined that Vietnam's economic growth in 2023 will reach over 5%...

Vietnam has achieved relatively impressive growth results, in the context of many global difficulties. (Photo: Linh Chi)

In 2023, Vietnam's economy experienced three quarters of growth amid slowing global growth and a number of conflicts around the world weighing on economic activities.

Economic diplomacy flourishes

Data from the General Statistics Office (Ministry of Planning and Investment) shows that the economy in October and the first 10 months of 2023 recorded bright spots in industrial production, investment, consumption, etc.

Also according to the General Statistics Office, the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first 9 months of 2023 reached 4.24% and tends to increase over time. The third quarter reached 5.33%, the highest compared to the first and second quarters (3.3% and 4.1%, respectively).

With such growth momentum, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasts that this year, Vietnam's GDP growth will reach about 5.8% in 2023, the highest in Southeast Asia (Philippines: 5.7%, Indonesia: 5.0%, Malaysia: 4.5%, Thailand: 3.5%...).

Sharing with TG&VN reporters about the economic situation in Vietnam, Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Deputy General Secretary, Head of the Legal Department of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), member of the Scientific Council of the National Assembly Standing Committee affirmed that the recent period has shown great efforts of the National Assembly, the Government and the government apparatus at all levels and the business community.

Mr. Dau Anh Tuan commented: “Perhaps the biggest and most important success when talking about 2023 is maintaining a stable macroeconomic situation. A fairly good growth rate, low inflation, well-controlled exchange rates, and stable macroeconomic balances of the economy are probably a great success of 2023 when the world has too many fluctuations.

High inflation in many economies around the world has had a huge impact on people. Maintaining low inflation has created confidence among domestic and foreign investors in Vietnam's very positive business prospects in the medium and long term.

According to the Deputy Secretary General of VCCI, 2023 is an exciting year when Vietnam has seen a turnaround in foreign affairs in general and economic diplomacy in particular. The Vietnamese business community highly appreciates Vietnam's foreign policy, especially Vietnam's upgrading of relations with the United States to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Not only that, Vietnam also continues to further enhance relations with China. The United States and China are the two largest economies in the world and are important business markets.

At the same time, Vietnam has signed and is implementing 16 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). “There are few countries like Vietnam where businesses can do business and easily export their products to Europe, Northeast Asian countries, China, Russia…”, said Mr. Dau Anh Tuan.

Potentially worrisome signals

Along with the general difficulties of the world, it is undeniable that 2023 is a year with a very high rate of businesses leaving the market, import and export decrease, and industrial production tends to decrease.

Mr. Dau Anh Tuan cited that in the first 10 months of 2023, up to 146,600 enterprises withdrew from the market, an increase of 20% over the same period last year. Also in the 10 months, the total import and export turnover of goods reached 557.95 billion USD, down 9.6% over the same period last year.

In addition, 2023 signals a very successful year in attracting foreign investment but also has many worrying signs. The highlight is the power shortage in May-June 2023 in the North of Vietnam. The lack of power has led to power outages in factories, industrial parks and production facilities in the North, causing great damage to businesses.

Over the past year, there have been a number of hot issues that have had a major impact on the business community and investment and business activities. For example, the issue of fire prevention and fighting standards has caused many investment projects and construction works to be delayed, resulting in many additional costs, or the issue of delayed VAT refunds has caused businesses in many industries such as wood, rubber, cassava, electronics, etc. to face many difficulties and struggle with cash flow.

Kinh tế Việt Nam 2023: Kiên định mục tiêu tăng trưởng cao nhất

Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Deputy General Secretary, Head of Legal Department of Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), member of the Scientific Council of the National Assembly Standing Committee. (Source: National Assembly)

In the coming time, to minimize the above difficulties and continue to increase the competitiveness of Vietnam's business environment, according to Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, the country needs to carry out many solutions such as continuing to improve the quality of infrastructure, quality of human resources, promoting domestic industrial production... In which, focusing on two main groups of solutions: solutions to reduce business costs and reform the quality of legal regulations and law enforcement.

Striving for the highest growth

Regarding the economic growth target, at the regular Government meeting in October 2023, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent a clear message in his direction to strive to achieve the highest level of socio-economic development goals.

The Government report presented by the Prime Minister at the 6th Session of the 15th National Assembly on the results of the implementation of the socio-economic development plan for 2023 also determined that Vietnam's economic growth in 2023 will reach over 5%. To achieve this target, economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 needs to reach 7% or more.

Prof. Dr. Ngo Thang Loi, Senior Lecturer at the National Economics University, said that the above growth rate is a huge pressure on the economy. To achieve this goal, Vietnam needs to focus on key points such as the speed of industrial production recovery, especially processing and manufacturing technology; increasing demand in Vietnam's major and key export markets; a breakthrough in tourism activities and boosting domestic consumption.

To achieve the above breakthrough, Prof. Dr. Ngo Thang Loi realized that the Government needs to continue to stabilize the economic, political and social situation, create confidence for investors, effectively promote fiscal policies (supporting businesses and people such as: tax deferral, postponement, tax reduction...); monetary policy (debt restructuring, interest rate reduction, service fees, preferential credit packages) to support businesses to easily access credit sources; policies to promote public investment, remove difficulties and obstacles for the land, real estate, construction, tourism, capital markets...

Regarding specific solutions, according to Prof. Dr. Ngo Thang Loi, firstly , it is necessary to promote domestic production and consumption by promptly removing difficulties and obstacles for businesses, effectively supporting businesses lacking capital, high input material prices, difficulties in product consumption, and having solutions to support some industries and fields that are adversely affected by the decline in world market demand such as: leather and footwear, textiles, wood production and processing.

Second, effectively implement solutions to promote import and export, support businesses to take advantage of commitments in signed FTAs, and speed up customs clearance of import and export goods at the Vietnam-China border gate area.

Third , continue to remove difficulties for businesses, including foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam, and encourage new, green, low-emission investment methods and business models with the participation of foreign-invested enterprises and private investment.

Fourth, continue to accelerate public investment progress, prioritize projects that are about to be completed, and soon put into use large-scale projects with potential to maintain and expand production and business capacity.

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