(VOVWORLD) - Vietnam aims to achieve a GDP growth rate of 6.7% this year. At the ongoing National Assembly session, deputies were confident of Vietnam’s sound economic performance and improved investment environment despite challenges in FDI attraction and public debts.
According to the government report on Vietnam’s socio-economic situation last year, Vietnam achieved a GDP growth rate of 6.81%, an export increase of 21%, and an export surplus of 2.9 billion USD. This sets a firm foundation for Vietnam’s economy to grow further in 2018.
Continued macro economic stabilization
So far this year, Vietnam’s macro economy has remained stable and inflation has been kept under control. The country has implemented flexible monetary policies, provided prompt support for credit organizations, and ensured liquidity and safety for the whole system. Tran Hoang Ngan, a deputy for Ho Chi Minh City, said the government has managed to restructure the economy, improve the investment environment and create growth momentum: “With the efforts of the whole political system and the determination of the government to develop a working, transparent and facilitating government, Vietnam made significant achievements last year and in the early months of this year. Our economy is growing on the basis of a stable macro-economy, controlled inflation, increased trust in the Vietnamese currency and a reduction of 4 trillion VND in last year’s budget overspending.”
Many deputies expressed their optimism that the targets will be achievable.
Institutional reform to facilitate enterprises
Vietnam’s institutional environment has been improved, creating favorable conditions for the country to boost its international integration. Trinh Ngoc Phuong is a deputy of TayNinh province: “We need policies on economic zone development. We should not invest in just one locality which will put undue pressure on it. We need to have a command and investment fund for every region.”
The deputies urged the government to pay greater attention to enterprises, saying they are the driving force of the economy. They stressed the need to tackle the difficulties facing enterprises, and to reform administrative procedures and institutions to attract more foreign investment which is an important resource for the national economy. Nguyen Thi Thanh is a deputy for Ninh Binh province: “We hope that the National Assembly and the government will focus more on the quality of growth and indexes relating to labor productivity and environmental sustainability. Vietnam’s economy is seeing great potential as Vietnam is participating in several bilateral free trade agreements. We need to take into consideration the strong points in attracting foreign and domestic investment to develop domestic enterprises and take advantage of foreign technology. We also need to pay more attention to the health of our enterprises to enable them to integrate into the world economy.”
Vietnam’s economic achievements last year, and the positive signs during the early months of this year, have given the Vietnamese people greater confidence about the country’s further growth. The government will continue to create strategic breakthroughs, restructure the economy, and reform the growth model, and take advantage of the 4th industrial revolution.