Vietnam 's economy is on the right track to recovery, with inflation no longer a great concern, according to Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh.

The minister was speaking at the regular cabinet meeting in Hanoi on June 27 to review the country's socio-economic performance during the first half of the year.

His statement was backed up with positive readings of the main macro-economic indicators released by the General Statistics Office (GSO) earlier the same day.

The nation's gross domestic products grew 4.9 percent year-on-year in the half past of this year. The growth rate means Vietnam ’s economy has expanded at a slower pace compared to the same period last year, but growth was on an upward trend on a quarterly basis.

The Consumer Price Index ( CPI ), which broadly reflects inflation, has either fallen or increased just slightly since March, after rising for seven consecutive months.

The CPI in June increased just 2.4 point compared to December, the lowest rise for the period in the last 10 years.

This indicated inflation would no longer be a big concern this year and the country might end up with lower inflation rate compared to 2012.

Export continued to enjoy steady growth with total earnings over the last six months reaching 62.1 billion USD, 16.1 percent higher than the same period last year.

While there were some positive signs, cabinet members remained cautious that the economy was still latent with risks of instability.

Despite interest rate cuts, credit access was still very challenging for the business community because there was still no viable solution to the bad debt problem.

A number of local leaders suggested the Government come up with policies to boost consumption and investment which in turn would propel production.

Le Hoang Quan, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, the country's biggest economic hub, said the banks still had healthy deposits, so the Government should put in place loose monetary policies to enable struggling enterprises to access credit.

Mai Van Ninh, Party Committee Secretary of central Thanh Hoa province said special attention should be paid to enterprises working in the sector of capital construction which were faced with high inventories.
The production of building materials could not be revived while the housing market remained frozen, said Minister of Construction Trinh Dinh Dung, stressing the solution is to boost social housing projects to create demand.-VNA