Vietnam increases GDP growth target to 3 pct

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc announced the target, which is 0.5 percentage points higher than the target announced last month, at a meeting on Friday, saying Vietnam’s economy was on the road to recovery.

The country has now successfully contained two waves of Covid-19 in March and July while sustaining economic growth unlike many global and Southeast Asian economies, which have been contracting.

While Vietnam’s GDP growth fell to a 10-year low of 2.12 percent in the first nine months, there were also some positives such as the trade surplus hitting a four-year high of $17 billion.

Exports grew 4.2 percent year-on-year to nearly $203 billion, with those of Vietnamese-owned businesses rising 20 percent to nearly $72 billion.

Public spending, an important factor in economic growth, hit a five-year high of VND300 trillion ($12.9 billion).

But Phuc admitted that challenges remain due to the continuing global pandemic, like difficulty exporting to major markets and disrupted global supply chains. Spending and credit need to be boosted, he said.

Efforts to revive the economy must go along with ensuring safety and containing the contagion, especially with the resumption of international air services, he added.

Vietnam achieved 7.02 percent growth last year, the second highest rate in a decade.