ECONOMIC GROWTH PROJECTED AT 6.85% IN 2018-2020

The Prime Minister’s economic advisory team has projected average economic growth at 6.85% between now and 2020. Speaking at a meeting between the Prime Minister and members of the team on April 20, Vu Viet Ngoan, head of the advisory group, said reform efforts and drastic measures had helped significantly improve the investment and business environment.

The policy that recognizes the private sector as a major driving force of economic development have paid off, he noted.

According to experts in the advisory team, it is hard to maintain the current growth momentum. Creating new growth drivers and promoting labor productivity should be seen as a vital way to boost growth, improve the quality of growth, achieve sustainable development, attain the five-year growth target of 2016-2020 and create conditions for growth in the future.

The advisory team presented three economic scenarios in 2018-2020, with average gross domestic product (GDP) growth projected at 6.71%, 6.83% and 7.47% per year.

Protectionism has been threatening free trade flow, and trade tensions between the U.S. and China have increased. The advisory team proposed working out scenarios for responding to those global trade risks.

According to member experts, economic policies this year and thereafter should focus on helping the corporate sector cut costs, enhance competitiveness, and promote production and business. Therefore, taxes should not be hiked for now, they said.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said he appreciated constructive comments on how to make policies conductive to business.

He shared views that sustainable growth and macro-economic stability should be maintained. It is necessary to adopt policies to boost productivity, he added.

Domestic production capacity has improved but what still needs to be done includes finding new markets, restructuring domestic production and shifting to green growth, he said.

He said the Government should continue institutional reform, further improve the investment environment, support enterprises to lower costs, promote development of the private sector, and restructure State-owned enterprises.

Source: The Saigon Times