Vietnam’s economy stays positive amid global growth slowdown: PM

Vietnam’s economy remains positive despite the slowdown in global economic growth, especially in Asia, over the last 11 months, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said while chairing the Government’s regular meeting for November on December 2.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting. (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting. (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)

He noted that at the recent 8th session of the National Assembly, legislators applauded the Cabinet’s governance achievements as seen in the fulfillment of all the 12 targets, especially the growth target, set by the parliament.

The people put trust in and have high expectations on the Government, the PM stressed.

However, he also analysed certain problems that must be addressed immediately.

He asked the agriculture and rural development sector to overhaul disease prevention and control and work harder to sustain Vietnam’s position as one of the leading agricultural product exporters in ASEAN.

Meanwhile, industrial production has decelerated in some sectors like motorcycle, automobile and fertiliser production, and there hasn’t been much progress in the disbursement of public investment capital, PM Phuc pointed out.

The Government leader requested all-level authorities and sectors to step up FDI attraction and further deal with pressing cultural, social, environmental and security issues.

A general view of the monthly cabinet meeting. (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)

The PM asked Government members to work out new solutions and initiatives to accomplish all targets for 2020, particularly the ASEAN chairmanship in 2020 and the non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021, which he described as international positions with critically important roles amidst the changing world.

During the meeting, participants reviewed attainments over the last 11 months and discussed measures to perform tasks for next year.

Macro economic stability has been maintained, Vietnam attracted US$31.8 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the period, up 3% year-on-year, and FDI disbursement reached US$17.6 billion.

Exports saw good growth, with a US$9.2 billion trade surplus. Revenues from retail of goods and services also picked up 11.8%.

The index of industrial production expanded by 9.3%, and newly-established enterprises in the period numbered 126,700.

The November Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up 0.96% from the previous month, and the average CPI for the January-November period increased by a three-low of 2.57% on a yearly basis.

In particular, the number of foreign arrivals almost reached 16.2 million, up 15.4% from the same period last year.