IMF willing to support Vietnam to achieve higher average income

Washington D.C. (VNA) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) hopes it would support Vietnam to become a country with higher average income and even high income in the next decade, said Changyong Rhee, Director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Washington D.C., the US, Rhee noted that partnership between Vietnam and the IMF has been growing in all fields, stressing that Vietnam is an important member of the IMF.

Since Vietnam joined the fund in 1956, especially after the country implemented the “doi moi” (reform) cause, entered the WTO, and became more integrated into the world, the partnership has been fostered through the IMF’s policy consultations for Vietnam.

The ties have been strengthened through visits of IMF Director-General Christine Lagarde to Vietnam in 2016 and 2017, he noted.

It has been formed through two channels – policy consultations (via Article IV Consultations) and the provision of activities to help Vietnam improve its capacity, and personnel training, said Rhee.

He said that the IMF has considered the good economic performance of Vietnam as well as the similarities between policy evaluations of IMF and Vietnam, and decided to apply the Lapse of Time (LOT) mechanism, which is seen as its recognition of Vietnam’s good economic efficiency in the past year.

Though the IMF predicted a growth rate of 6.6 percent for Vietnam in 2018, the country showed better performance in the first quarter of this year, he noted.

He showed his delight at the result as despite the strong growth, Vietnam’s inflation was kept in a relatively low level.

The results were attributed to some internal factors, such as the improvement in economic management policies and efforts in reforming State-owned enterprise governance and equitisation, apart from external ones, said Rhee.

The Vietnamese economy has made positive and good growths, according to the official. -VNA