Minister-Chairman of the Government’s Office Mai Tien Dung speaks at a press conference following the Government's regular meeting (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has recorded robust socio-economic development in the first seven months of the year, with stable macro-economy, and good control over inflation, in the context of the escalating US-China trade war, said Minister-Chairman of the Government’s Office Mai Tien Dung.
Speaking at a press conference after the government’s regular meeting on August 1, Dung said the consumer price index (CPI) in July dropped by 0.09 percent from the previous month after increasing three consecutive months. The average CPI in the seven-month period went up 3.45 percent, which is lower than 3.91 percent in the same time last year, he said.
The industry sector was the key driving force for the nation’s economic growth. The industrial production index in July shot up 14.3 percent as compared to the same month in 2017, which was the highest expansion since February 2018.
Meanwhile, the agricultural sector attained impressive results, with aquatic output surging 5.7 percent.
The stock market made a remarkable recovery when the VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange reached 934.08 points on July 24, and the total capitalization value of the stock market rose 8.3 percent from the end of 2017.
During the January-July period, Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 3.1 billion USD, equivalent to 2.3 percent of the export revenue.
Regarding foreign direct investment (FDI), Dung laid stress on the sound growth of foreign capital flows. Foreign firms registered to invest nearly 23 billion USD in Vietnam while FDI disbursement was estimated at more than 9.8 billion USD, a year-on-year surge of 8.8 percent.
Positive signs were also seen in the private sector. Nearly 75,800 new enterprises were established nationwide in the first seven months of the year, with a total registered capital of 771 trillion VND (33.34 billion USD), a year-on-year rise of 3.9 percent in the number of firms, and a 11.6-percent rise in terms of capital.
Also, 18,696 companies resumed their operations, up 6.5 percent from the same time last year.
International organisations recognised Vietnam’s economic reform efforts, and gave optimistic outlook for the nation’s economic growth. Of them, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast that the Vietnamese economy will expand 7.1 percent while the Standard Chartered predicted Vietnam’s economic growth at 7 percent and inflation rate at around 4 percent.
In the United Nations’ sustainable development goal (SDG) index, Vietnam moved up 11 steps to rank at 57th out of 156 countries and territories, and third in the ASEAN, just behind Singapore and Malaysia.
Regarding the Global Innovative Index 2018 (GII Index 2018), Vietnam was up two positions to 45th place among 124 countries and territories, and 4th place in ASEAN after Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
The latest report from the World Bank (WB) indicated that Vietnam’s Logistics Performance Index moved 25 steps to 39th place among 160 surveyed countries.
Dung also pointed out shortcomings in the socio-economic situation, including complicated developments of weather, price hikes’ intense pressure on the macro-economy, barriers for local firms to expand their operation, and tardy equitisation of state-owned enterprises.
He said that at the Government’s regular meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered relevant sides to work out solutions to addressing such issues in a timely manner.-VNA
VNA
