Vietnam will continue completing mechanisms and policies to effectively use official development assistance (ODA) sources and speed up the disbursement of ODA projects.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the affirmation at the Consultative Group (CG) Meeting of international donors, which took place in Hanoi on December 6.

According to the Government leader, Vietnam ’s macro economy has seen positive developments with inflation gradually put under control and consumer price index (CPI) slowing down over recent months.

“We believe that Vietnam is likely to cap its inflation rate at 9 percent in 2012,” he stressed, adding that the country will make every effort to maintain the stability of the credit market by reducing interest rates and keeping foreign exchange rate stable.

The PM said despite numerous difficulties and challenges in 2011, Vietnam has effectively realised Resolution No. 11 on curbing inflation and stabilising the macro economy. In 2012, the country will continue implementing reforms effectively in combination with the drastic and effective economic restructuring.

Vietnam has seen a high export growth over the past year with an estimated 34 percent, helping push the country’s trade deficit down, he said.

Another joyful signal is that Vietnam ’s balance of payments gained surplus in 2011 after shortfalls for three consecutive years and foreign currency reserves increased compared to the previous year, he added.

In addition, Vietnam has succeeded in ensuring a balance between State budget collection and spending, keeping public debts at safe level and reducing overspending to 4.9 percent, lower than a level of 5.3 percent set in the yearly plan.

In 2011, the country recorded growths in industry, agriculture and services, thus maintaining its GDP growth rate at 5.8-6 percent. Vietnam sets a target of attaining a GDP growth rate of 6 percent next year, contributing to macroeconomic stabilisation, inflation control and social security.

The country’s poverty rate fell by an additional 2 percent and about 1.6 million labourers were provided with jobs.

PM Dung reaffirmed to the donors’ community that the Vietnamese Government always strives for the harmony between maintaining economic stability and addressing environmental issues.

Next year, Vietnam will continue implementing administrative procedure reforms, perfecting the market economic institution, and integrating deeper into the international economy while working to increase the transparency of economic activities and boosting the fight against corruption, he said.

Besides efforts to mobilise domestic resources, Vietnam appreciates and hopes to receive continued support from international donors, Dung stressed.

“The Vietnamese Government accepts with respect international donors’ constructive and responsible ideas contributed to the country’s socio-economic development programme in the next stage,” the PM said.

At the same time, he affirmed that Vietnam, as a state of law, considers the people’s freedom and democracy both a goal and a momentum for development, and every citizen must practise their rights to freedom and democracy in accordance with the law and the constitution.

The PM said he hopes for straightforward dialogues between the Government and donors, thus strengthening mutual understanding and cooperation.

The World Bank (WB) Country Director in Vietnam , Victoria Kwakwa, co-chair of the CG meeting, said that 2011 was a difficult year for the Vietnamese economy but it also saw the country’s successes in managing the macro economy and curbing inflation.

Kwakwa affirmed that the WB and other development partners of Vietnam wish to have frank, open and sincere discussions and dialogues with the Vietnamese Government in dealing with global economic challenges, helping the country overcome difficulties and challenges as well as attaining set socio-economic development objectives.

Representatives of Vietnam’s development partners, including the UN, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the EU and the G4 group (Canada, Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand), and ambassadors of Japan, the US, the Republic of Korea and Australia spoke highly of Vietnam’s recent socio-economic achievements, especially in ensuring macroeconomic stabilisation, sustainable poverty reduction and social welfares.

They noted that Vietnam is one of the few countries in the world recording high economic growth, adding that the country’s performance in inflation control and macroeconomic stabilisation have consolidated confidence among foreign investors in Vietnam .

The partners also said that Vietnam’s economic restructuring measures, focusing on the restructuring of investment, businesses and the financial market, are feasible in the context that the country is suffering from strong impacts of the global economic crisis and recession, helping the country build a new growth model and adjust its growth objectives./.