Rosy economic prospects for 2018 nine-month review

• Gov’t meeting highlights positive economic performance in 9 months
• Minister: Economic shake-up crucial for fulfilling socio-economic targets
• Total of businesses operating in Vietnam surges by over 50%: economic census

The comments were made by Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung at the Government’s September regular press conference in Hanoi on October 1.

He said that so far, all 12 national socio-economic goals have been completed, including eight surpassing their targets. Nine goals are predicted to be above the expectations of the five-year plan, he added.

However, Dung reminded ministries and sectors to keep a close eye on the complicated developments of the US-China trade war and stay vigilant, while paying more attention to administrative reform and business condition reduction in order to complete all red tape cutbacks in October.

The Prime Minister asked agencies to keep a close watch on indexes, especially macro indexes related to inflation, along with the economic restructuring and business competitiveness enhancement.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, international organisations forecast that the Vietnamese economic outlook will continue to be bright for the rest of the year, with GDP growth predictions for the whole year varying at 6.6-6.9%.

The consumer price index is likely to meet the year’s plan thanks to comprehensive measures in reining in inflation and creating favourable conditions for price management. However, current challenges include a lack of major motivation for growth as the pressure of inflation increases in the last months of the year.

A report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that GDP in the first nine months of 2018 expanded 6.98%, the highest nine-month rise since 2011. The CPI continued to be well controlled, with a rise of 0.59% month-on-month in September, and a 3.57% climb over the first nine months of 2018.

In the Jan-Sept period, Vietnam enjoyed US$5.39 billion of trade surplus, with 26 kinds of goods recording over US$1 billion in exports and five exceeding US$10 billion. Total social investment increased 10.9% over the same period last year and accounted for 34% of the GDP, while foreign direct investment rose 6%. Foreign capital poured into share purchases and capital contribution deals also grew by 36.8%.

Meanwhile, agro-forestry-fisheries saw the highest nine-month growth in the 2012-2018 period, demonstrating the efficiency of agricultural reform.

The processing and manufacturing sector continued to affirm itself as a main driving force for economic growth, with nine-month rise of 12.65% – much higher than the same period during 2012-2016, although still lower than last year’s figure.

Total retail and service revenue was up 11.3%, while the number of tourists to Vietnam reached over 11.6 million, up 22.9%.

In the first nine months of 2018, 96,000 new enterprises were established with total registered capital of VND963.4 trillion (US$41.42 billion), an increase of 2.8% in the number of firms and 6.7% in the amount of capital. Meanwhile, nearly 23,000 firms resumed operation, up 8.5% year-on-year.