'Vietnam is a bright spot in the gray world economic picture'

On the morning of September 17, the National Assembly Economic Committee and relevant agencies held a press conference about the Vietnam Socio-Economic Forum 2023 scheduled to take place next week.

Many bottlenecks need to continue to be resolved

Asked to assess Vietnam's economic picture in 2023, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh said that in the first months of the year, management solutions to stabilize the macro economy were implemented very well. While other countries have high inflation, Vietnam's CPI is only 3.1%.

Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh chaired the press conference on the morning of September 17.

In addition, major balances such as public debt, government debt, and foreign debt are also within the limits allowed by the National Assembly. Vietnam's credit rating and international position have also been positively improved.

"These are very important achievements," Mr. Thanh said, emphasizing that along with social security and social welfare, many solutions have been actively implemented, and national defense, security, and foreign affairs have been strengthened.

"Most recently, US President Joe Biden visited Vietnam, and the two countries decided to upgrade their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, which is a very important result," Mr. Thanh commented.

However, the Chairman of the Economic Committee assessed that there are still many difficulties and challenges that need to be identified. "The picture always has both bright and gray tones," Mr. Thanh said, citing that growth drivers such as investment, consumption, and exports are showing signs of slowing down.

"For example, public investment is a solution that needs to be promoted, but in the first 8 months of this year, it only reached 42.35% of the plan. Although the disbursement progress has been accelerated recently, it is still a big challenge compared to the task requirements," said Mr. Thanh.

Vietnam Socio-Economic Forum 2023 will take place on September 19

According to Mr. Thanh, economic growth mainly relies on public investment, while private investment faces many difficulties. "After more than 2 years of the pandemic, health is being eroded, production and business activities are difficult, orders are lacking, and workers are losing their jobs," Mr. Thanh said.

Another "gray spot" mentioned by Mr. Thanh is the decline in imports and exports. In the first months of the year, exports decreased by 10% and imports decreased by 13%. "Although we still have a trade surplus, there are also negative aspects of the trade surplus. Exports in the coming time will show signs of abnormality," Mr. Thanh commented.

Mr. Thanh also said: consumption, retail index, service revenue increased quite a bit at the beginning of the year but in recent months the growth has slowed down. The bond and real estate markets are also facing difficulties. The State Bank has reduced interest rates but access to credit is still difficult.

"Such issues need to continue to be addressed," Mr. Thanh said, concluding: "Vietnam's economy in 2023 is still a bright spot in the gray picture of the world economy."

Only 10/15 socio-economic targets for 2023 were completed

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hien, Deputy Head of the Central Economic Commission, said that it is forecasted that only 10/15 targets will be completed in 2023. More importantly, the 5 targets that will not be met are the targets that "reflect growth quality" such as growth rate, the proportion of manufacturing and processing industry in the gross domestic product (GDP), etc.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hien spoke at the press conference.

"Clearly, the failure to achieve the target is both urgent in the short term and poses a long-term problem," said Mr. Hien, adding that this is the reason why the 2023 Socio-Economic Forum focuses on enhancing endogenous capacity, creating momentum for growth and sustainable development.

Also speaking about the content of the forum, Mr. Vu Hong Thanh said that after more than 2 years of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy "also has many problems" as he mentioned. Therefore, solutions are needed to remove these bottlenecks. It is necessary to find new growth drivers, propose areas for full exploitation, in order to create new growth drivers, helping the economy recover and develop sustainably.

Mr. Thanh cited an example, in the context of decreasing exports and imports, it is necessary to take advantage of opportunities created by free trade agreements (FTAs), not only to stop at traditional markets but also to seek niche markets and new markets to bring export goods to the world market.

Mr. Thanh informed that at the Vietnam Socio-Economic Forum 2023 next week, businesses and scholars will discuss and analyze specific difficulties and problems as well as propose solutions so that the National Assembly and the Government can have solution packages in the upcoming Resolution of the 6th session on socio-economic development in 2024.

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