Economists peg Vietnam 2020 GDP growth at 3-4 pct

Inflation will be kept below 4 percent, members of the National Advisory Council on Financial and Monetary Policies said at a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc Thursday.

They said that with increasing risks of Covid-19 related global economic slowdown, the government should devise long-term economic recovery policy packages to support affected businesses for the next two years.

For this year and early 2021, the advisors expect credit growth at over 10 percent, while fiscal deficit and public debt could swallow an additional 3-4 percent of GDP to support enterprises. Vietnam will consider further cutting interest rates to support economic growth, the meeting heard.

The PM stressed that the government’s objective is to protect the business community and avoid the collapse of production in priority areas.

Some experts had suggested earlier that the government expands the fiscal stimulus package, which currently stands at VND180 trillion ($7.8 billion) to boost domestic production and consumption.

Vietnam’s GDP grew at 1.81 percent in the first half of the year, the lowest since 2011, due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.