Growth target of 8% or more: Challenging but not retreating

Deputy Minister of Finance Do Thanh Trung speaks at a press conference - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

According to Deputy Minister of Finance Do Thanh Trung, the 6.93% growth rate in the first quarter is the highest in the 2020-2025 period and is quite even in all three sectors: Agriculture, industry and services. In the first quarter, the growth of the manufacturing and processing industry continued to be maintained and was quite close to the proposed scenario. This 6.93% rate is higher than the initial decision of the 10th Central Conference and lower than the scenario after the Central Executive Committee issued Conclusion 123-KL/TW (the target of the whole country achieving growth of over 8% in 2025).

“Since the Central Executive Committee issued Conclusion 123-KL/TW, we have not had much time and even in the first quarter there were many holidays, but we have achieved a result of 6.93%, close to the growth scenario. We believe that this is a very positive and encouraging result, recognizing the companionship of all levels of government, people, businesses, and the entire political system,” said Deputy Minister Do Thanh Trung.

As soon as we entered 2025, we recognized that this would be a very difficult year with many unpredictable and hard-to-forecast issues. However, the Government and the Prime Minister are very determined and making efforts to achieve the growth target, and despite continuing to face difficulties since the beginning of April, at today's meeting (April 6), the Prime Minister continued to request and determined not to change the growth target for 2025, striving to achieve 8% or more. That is the strong direction of the head of the Government.

“On that basis, the Ministry of Finance has developed the next growth scenario for each industry and sector, allocated to localities and regions. In general, we have built a growth target of about 8.3% for the second quarter; 8.3% and 8.4% for the third and fourth quarters, respectively. This scenario is about 0.27% higher than the initial scenario after Conclusion 123-KL/TW. This scenario is very challenging but there are reasons for us to be able to achieve it,” Deputy Minister Do Thanh Trung informed.

Right from the first quarter, the manufacturing industry grew by 9.28%. With the second quarter scenario, the manufacturing industry grew by about 10.1%. In addition, there are many solutions to overcome the targets contributing to growth that have not met the requirements such as mining industry, electricity and gas production, etc. Along with that, implementing solutions to promote the room for contributing to growth such as disbursing public investment capital, focusing more on the tourism and service sectors. This is the sector that contributed a lot to growth in the first quarter. In the first quarter, we welcomed more than 6 million international visitors.

To reaffirm, although the first quarter results have not yet reached the high scenario target, we have a basis to continue striving and we expect growth of more than 8%, so we use the 8% mark as a basis to build the next scenarios. Certainly, the Government, ministries, branches and localities will strive to achieve higher than the set level.

Regarding the situation of attracting foreign investment and the ability to attract investment for the whole year, Mr. Do Thanh Trung said that attracting foreign investment in the first quarter was positive. New investment capital and adjusted capital, capital contribution, and share purchase by foreign investors in the first quarter reached nearly 11 billion USD, an increase of approximately 35% over the same period in 2024. In particular, realized capital reached about 4.96 billion USD, an increase of 7.2% over the same period.

Regarding the whole year, the Ministry of Finance assessed that there are a number of factors that have a very large impact. Firstly, international organizations and banking and financial institutions all assessed that the probability of a global economic downturn is increasing and could lead to an economic recession. Accordingly, many organizations have lowered the global economic growth rate, which will certainly affect Vietnam.

Second, the US tax policy applies not only to Vietnam but to all countries. This is also the factor that has the greatest impact on psychology, business environment as well as business investment prospects.

Third, Vietnam's business investment environment will also be affected to some extent.

“But we believe that with the Government’s efforts, we will certainly gain the trust of investors and businesses. Despite the difficulties, the Ministry of Finance is implementing many solutions, including working directly with major investors to promote the implementation and concretization of very large foreign investment projects. The target for 2025 is still to increase by 35-40 billion USD, and the realized capital is still set at 27-28 billion USD,” Deputy Minister Do Thanh Trung believes.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/muc-tieu-tang-truong-8-tro-len-thach-thuc-nhung-khong-lui-buoc-162371.html