Economy 2018: Concentrate on growth

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State reform will create the best business environment for the private sector to develop, thereby promoting economic growth. Photo: H. Anh.

Seize opportunities and accelerate

In 2018, the Government aims to achieve economic growth of 6.7% and strives to achieve a higher level of growth for 2019. To reach this target, right at the beginning of the year, and especially after the results of GDP growth in the first quarter, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked all ministries to make a plan to reach the target and should consider it as a political task for the commanders of ministries, sectors and localities. Particularly, the Prime Minister emphasized that ministries and localities should not be absolutely satisfied with the results. They need to persist and urgently implement solutions in the resolution. No. 01 / NQ-CP, proposing solutions suitable to new scenarios and development. In addition, the drastic improvement in the business environment was also considered by the Government as the top priority in 2018 and in the following years.

In that context, the economy has witnessed the "war" of cutting down business conditions, creating maximum conditions for enterprises with many efforts coming from the ministries, branches and localities. From the beginning of the year to now, a series of business conditions in important sectors such as industry, construction, transportation have been cut.

Localities, especially key localities, have set a 2018 growth target that is close to the potentiality based on the evolution of the domestic and international economy. For example, with the first quarter GDP growth of 7.64%, to reach the full year growth of 8.3-8.5%, in the remaining months, HCM City will drastically deploy the specific policy to promote businesses. In the North, Bac Ninh has the second highest industrial growth rate in the whole country - early recommendations are made through the policy of investing in building VSIP-North industrial and commercial zone. Accordingly, Samsung's representative said that in 2018, the company had made plans and efforts to maximize export turnover growth from 7- 10% compared to 2017.

Strong reforms to develop

From now to the end of the year, it is expected that the world and domestic economy will have positive prospects with many favorable factors expected to bring about breakthroughs in investment, business and export market expansion. The major drivers of economic growth are the signs of a positive momentum.

According to Mr. Le Quang Manh, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, these dynamics come from the good weather in agricultural sector and positive growth in the industry. The service sector continues to grow, with the focus being on industries that contribute significantly to growth, such as wholesale, retail, tourism, and hospitality. 2018 Vietnam's economy will reach, even exceed the target growth of 6.7%.

Therefore, in order to promote growth, Prof. Nguyen said that the next three quarters of 2018 and the coming years would depend entirely on State reform to create the best business environment for the private sector to develop, for SMEs to become larger enterprises or large corporations that reach out to the region and the world. Concerned with this statement, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of CIEM, said that for many years no SOEs had been ranked in the world, but many big private companies have been recognized by the world, so the position of enterprises has changed. This is a better way, faster, consistent with the 4.0 era.

"Economic growth depends heavily on reform or weakening. As the Prime Minister said, the success of a nation depends on whether the institution is good or not. Environmental reform determines success and growth rather than relying on a few FDI projects. In order to have such a business environment, the reform of the State apparatus is a decisive factor", said Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung.

Regarding this issue, economist Pham Chi Lan also said that in order to achieve the growth target, first of all, it needs to reform the State apparatus, paying special attention to improving discipline. If the State sector does not change, the implemention of Resolution 19 can not achieve a high growth and sustainability. In addition, in the reduction of business conditions, it is necessary to improve the capacity of the State, not to wait for the ministries to cut. If necessary, the State should cut the unreasonable business conditions of the ministries.

IMF forecasts Vietnam’s GDP to grow 6.6% in 2018 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently forecasts Vietnam’s economy to grow 6.6% this year and 6.5% ...

2018 is the year of deep integration into the world economy when a series of trade agreements come into effect. In particular, the signed agreement will provide more economic opportunities and Vietnam must really reform strongly to reach the opportunities and limit losses from the international commitments. Along with the efforts of enterprises, the positive signals from the reform will bring dynamism to the private economy and Vietnam's economy in 2018.