Prime Minister is very worried about low growth

At the regular Government meeting held today, April 3, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the GDP growth of 5.1% in the first quarter of 2017 is low and he is very worried.

The head of the Government, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, is concerned about low economic growth. Photo: LK

“How to prevent foreign countries from taking over important industries?”

“At this meeting, I also raised a very worrying issue: GDP growth in the first quarter was only 5.1%, which is low,” the Prime Minister said in his opening speech at the Government meeting.

One of the characteristics of growth in the first months of 2017 compared to the previous year, according to the Prime Minister, is that "while agriculture and services increased quite well, the industrial and construction sectors increased slowly."

In 2016, the agricultural sector experienced negative growth in the first half of the year due to the impact of natural disasters and environmental incidents caused by Formosa.

The main reason for the low growth in the first quarter was that oil exploitation and manufacturing industry did not meet the set plan. Exports, excluding price factors, increased by only 6.7%. Disbursement of public investment capital was slow, reaching only 12.4% of the estimate in the first quarter (the same period in 2016 was 16%).

Enterprise equitization is slow, no large enterprises have sold capital, divested capital, and equitization has not met the requirements and plans set out. In addition, traffic accidents, fires, deforestation and some prominent aspects of society need attention and drastic direction.

Mentioning the world situation with some positive changes such as some countries having growth, the Prime Minister also said that there are still potential difficulties, which will greatly affect our country and gave an example of the US trade protection policy since Mr. Donald Trump became President, which can affect our country's exports.

Foreign direct and indirect investment flows may also be affected. Inflationary pressures and exchange rate appreciation.

The Prime Minister said: "In that context, we must raise the issue of growth and control inflation to ensure macro balances such as state budget, public debt, investment, import and export, job creation, income, and people's lives."

The Prime Minister noted that it is necessary to monitor the situation to respond more closely, flexibly and proactively with policies. “Especially, how to promote social investment. Is it possible to increase social investment capital by 3% to 35% of GDP? How to prevent foreign countries from taking over important industries in Vietnam? How to allocate resources according to market signals to achieve the best results. How to promote the mining industry, what mechanism?” - he said.

10 highlights

Besides the concerns, the head of the Government also mentioned 10 highlights and bright spots of the economy.

That is the stable macro economy, CPI in 3 months increased by 0.9% (same period increased by 0.99%). Credit growth is high (reaching 2.81% while the same period in 2016 reached 1.54%).

Exports increased sharply, estimated at over 43.7 billion USD, up 12.8%. The agricultural and service sectors had higher growth rates than the same period last year. International visitors continued to increase rapidly, reaching over 3.2 million, up 29%.

FDI capital increased sharply, registered at 7.71 billion USD, up 77.6% (including new issuance, capital increase and share purchase by foreign investors), implemented at 3.62 billion USD, up 3.4%. Budget revenue increased sharply, reaching 23.4% of the estimate, up 13.5% over the same period.

The number of newly established enterprises continued to increase rapidly (over 26,400 newly established enterprises, an increase of 11.4% in enterprises and 45.8% in registered capital).

The Prime Minister also said that this morning, he received very good news that the Nikkei manufacturing index or purchasing managers index of our country reached 54.6, higher than the ASEAN average of 50.9.

Another highlight is that the business investment environment continues to improve. According to the announcement of the Provincial Competitiveness Index by VCCI, 51 provinces and cities have good or better governance quality.

This evening, Government spokesman and Minister Mai Tien Dung will chair a regular press conference to provide information and answer press interviews.

According to Tuoi Tre