Vietnam’s economy has progressed comprehensively in 2018 fulfilling all economic targets, but the country should aim for higher targets in 2019, Vietnam’s President Nguyen Phu Trong has said.
Overview of the conference. Source: VGP.
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This resulted in a nominal GDP of nearly US$240 billion, while the country’s trade surplus stood at a record high of over US$7 billion and the public debt as per GDP is on the decline, Phu Trong added.
In 2019, Trong requested the government to focus on stabilizing the macro-economy, putting inflation under control and bolstering the economic resilience against external shocks.
Vietnam has to maintain the growth momentum and enhance the growth quality on the basis of better investment and business environments, aiming for greater national competitiveness, Trong added.
At the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the country is on the right track for development.
In 2016, Vietnam experienced the worst drought in nearly 100 years, two years later, the country’s agricultural exports reached record-high of over US$40 billion. Notably, the domestic sector's exports grew by 17% year-on-year, higher than that of the FDI sector at 14%. These are significant achievements, especially in the context of the US – China trade war, Phuc stressed.
In addition to being one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, Vietnam’s growth quality has significantly improved. Phuc noted the country experienced high economic growth but credit growth stood at below 14%, while in previous years, the rate was between 17 – 18%.
Moreover, as the manufacturing and processing grew by over 12%, the mining industry declined by 4%, showing a positive transformation of the growth model and the country’s higher position in the global value chain.
Phuc, however, insisted that the government would not rest on the laurel. He expected more efficient measures to mobilize social resources for development. The government must properly address shortcomings in the current policies and legal frameworks, especially the barriers restricting the development of the private sector.
From 2019 on, Phuc said, Vietnam must give priority to an economy of both rapid and sustainable growth. Vietnam’s growth model would depend more on productivity and facilitating digital economy.
Not only the “hard” infrastructure should be the focus for investment, but also the “soft” one, in turn taking advantages of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Phuc added.
