Vietnam’s economic recovery trend continues to be maintained in the
third quarter of 2014 with signs of faster transformation, Nhan Dan
(People) online newspaper said in a commentary on October 1.
GDP
growth rate in the period was estimated at 6.19 percent, higher than the
5.25 percent in the second quarter and 5.09 percent during the first
quarter. GDP growth in this quarter is also higher than that of the same
period two years ago.
For the first nine months of the year, the
country’s GDP growth reached 5.62 percent, much higher than the rate of
5.14 percent in 2013 and 5.1 percent in 2012.
The figures show
that, even under the adverse effects of both external and internal
difficulties, the country’s economy continues to recover and regain
growth momentum.
Manufacturing has been improved with industrial
production index increased gradually each month and much higher than the
same period last year. The nine-month period also recorded strong
growth in the processing industry, manufacturing, service sector, and
exports.
Along with the growth momentum, macro-economic stability has been maintained with higher quality.
Inflation
was held steadily at 2.25 percent, the lowest in the past 10 years
despite the spike in the education group figure to 7.17 percent in
September (the month students returned to school). Core inflation is in a
downward trend from last year and dropped to 3.12 percent in September
compared with the same period last year.
The State budget balance
has been improved as budget collection progress was higher than the
same period in 2013, up 17.2 percent and accounting for 81.3 percent of
the estimated. The State budget deficit during the nine-month period
made up 58.9 percent of the overspending that the National Assembly had
allocated early this year. Vietnam also gained a trade surplus of 2.5
billion USD, contributing to national foreign currency reserves.
The
positive economic development is remarkable, however, the economy still
faces many difficulties and challenges threatening the economic growth
target of 5.8 percent for the whole year. Aggregate demand has been
improved, yet is still not strong enough to generate momentum for the
economy, while the business community, an important factor to create
economic growth, is also in difficulty.
The figure of dissolved
or decommissioning enterprises remains high, up to 48,330 with a total
registered capital of more than 408 trillion VND (19.2 billion USD), up
13.8 percent compared to the same period in 2013.
Inventory is
still hard to solve for many businesses. Also due to production
difficulties, business capital absorption capacity is at low level,
leading to the low credit growth of 6.62 percent, about half of the
yearly plan. Besides, bad debts have become a big challenge as the
non-performing loan ratios of commercial banks are tending to rise
again.
Clearly, the economic growth target of 5.8 percent this
year will not be easily achieved if difficulties and challenges
mentioned above are not solved in a timely, comprehensive and effective
manner. Fulfilling the goal will pave the way for maintaining economic
recovery momentum in the coming year.-VNA