Prime Minister: Strive to achieve growth of at least 6.7% in 2018

The Prime Minister acknowledged that after a quarter of 2018, the socio-economic situation continued to develop favorably, with all sectors experiencing positive growth.

Reviewing the situation of the past month, the Prime Minister mentioned a number of important events such as the signing of the CPTPP Agreement in Chile, the organization of the National Conference on Natural Disaster Prevention, the organization of the 6th GMS and 10th CLV Summits with great success, with many initiatives of Vietnam being put forward, especially the organization of the GMS Business Summit Forum. All countries supported the issues raised by Vietnam to promote cooperation in the region.

Regarding the domestic situation, the Prime Minister emphasized that some basic indicators achieved good results such as GDP in the first quarter reaching the highest growth rate in many years, reaching 7.38%, in which the agricultural sector grew strongly, more than 4%, double the same period in 2017. The industry and construction sector increased by 9.7% (in the same period, it only increased by 4.48%), especially the processing and manufacturing sector increased very strongly, reaching nearly 14%.

Inflation was well controlled. The consumer price index (CPI) in March 2018 decreased by 0.27% compared to the previous month. The average CPI in the first quarter of 2018 increased by 2.66% compared to the same period last year. Total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue increased by 9.9% (same period was 6.4%).

“I would also like to inform you that Nikkei has just announced this morning that Vietnam’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for March 2018 reached 51.6 points, although it decreased compared to February, it is one of the two countries in Southeast Asia with the highest score, above 50 points,” the Prime Minister said. The indexes of South Korea, Japan and many other countries all decreased amid concerns about the trade war between the US and China.

Another bright spot is that exports are estimated at 54.31 billion USD, up 22% (same period increased 12.8%). Trade surplus is 1.3 billion USD, in particular, trade deficit with China decreased by 5.3 billion USD, down 17.5% compared to the same period in 2017.

Total social investment capital realized reached equivalent to 32.2% of GDP, of which private investment increased by 16.9%.

International visitors to Vietnam continued to increase sharply, reaching over 4.2 million arrivals, an increase of 30.9% (over 3.2 million arrivals in the same period, an increase of 21.1%).

The business investment environment continues to improve. The PCI 2017 report that VCCI just announced on March 22 shows that the average PCI score is the highest since it began, with almost all provinces increasing their scores. “Now all provinces are focusing on improving this index, so there is an atmosphere of investment and business in the localities. Most recently, I went to Vinh Long province, a remote province but attracted nearly 24,000 billion VND in an investment promotion conference with many very feasible projects,” said the Prime Minister.

Another bright spot is the well-developed stock market, the VNIndex has surpassed the 10-year peak (1,170 points), demonstrating investors' confidence in the Vietnamese market.

The fields of labor, employment and social security continue to change positively.

However, the Prime Minister also pointed out many shortcomings and weaknesses so that members of the Government could focus on discussing and clarifying issues in their areas of management. The number of newly established enterprises has slowed down. The number of private enterprises facing difficulties remains high. “It is necessary to analyze and clarify the causes, propose solutions to continue promoting the development of enterprises, especially innovative enterprises, from which to see what reforms are needed in terms of policies and mechanisms such as taxes, fees, credit, land, and the business environment to create better conditions for enterprises…”, the Prime Minister said.

“What are the barriers to the investment environment, what are the disadvantages? I suggest that the Minister of Planning and Investment and other ministries and branches focus on analyzing and clarifying. We must continue to open up to attract domestic and foreign development capital.water".

In addition, although the CPI in March decreased and the first quarter increased slowly, inflation still has the potential to increase, and we need to be vigilant about this issue. The reason is that the price of crude oil and basic goods in the world tends to increase, and some domestic goods and services continue to follow the market price roadmap. Ministries and sectors need to focus on analyzing and proposing appropriate solutions to control inflation, stabilize the macro economy, and "cannot be subjective about inflation".

Considering that the processing and manufacturing industry in the last months of the year will find it difficult to maintain a high growth rate compared to the same period last year, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to clearly report on measures to promote the sector.this from now until the end of the year.

The Prime Minister also mentioned two issues that emerged in March: traffic safety and fire and explosion, which have become complicated and have led to many serious incidents. There have been more than 1,000 fires and explosions, killing 33 people and injuring 66, including particularly serious incidents such as the Carina Plaza fire. “I request the Ministers of Transport and Public Security to report more clearly on the current situation, causes and propose solutions to this situation,” said the Prime Minister.

Emphasizing the need to overcome shortcomings and weaknesses in the first quarter, the Prime Minister asked Government members to contribute to growth scenarios for 2018. “The National Assembly assigned a growth target of 6.5-6.7% in 2018, so today is the end of the first quarter, we strive to achieve at least 6.7%, from which we will provide specific figures for relevant levels and sectors to contribute to growth,” the Prime Minister stated.