Efforts to accelerate at the end of the year, aiming for growth target of 6.8-7%

To achieve that goal, the Government and businesses have worked together to come up with specific solutions to boost the economy.

Boosting production, overcoming natural disaster consequences

According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, the impact of storm No. 3 will strongly impact GDP growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2024. Accordingly, the growth rate in the last 6 months of the year of the whole country and many localities is forecast to slow down. The country's GDP growth in the third quarter of 2024 may decrease by 0.35%; in the fourth quarter of 2024, it may decrease by 0.22% compared to the scenario without storm No. 3. It is estimated that the whole year's GDP may decrease by 0.15% compared to the given scenario, and the estimated growth may reach 6.8-7%.

Speaking to PV Lao Dong Newspaper, Associate Professor Dr. Pham The Anh - Head of the Faculty of Economics, National Economics University - said that Vietnam's GDP growth rate in 2024 will be affected by storm No. 3. However, the level of impact will depend on many factors, including the scale and recovery speed of affected economic sectors, which in turn depends on the cooperation of the community and the effectiveness of support policies from the Government.

Storm No. 3 had a negative impact on a number of sectors, especially agriculture. Storms and floods caused major damage to crops and agricultural infrastructure, leading to widespread reductions in agricultural output and quality. Tourism, transportation, and trade activities were disrupted due to damaged infrastructure and traffic disruption. This reduced the income of businesses in the service sector and affected the growth of this sector.

However, relief activities, support for production and infrastructure recovery in affected areas will contribute to partially offset the affected economic growth. Enterprises in unaffected industries will have to increase production capacity to compensate for the damage.

“To accelerate and achieve the economic growth target set at the beginning of the year, businesses need to focus on increasing production, without being entangled in administrative procedures, business environment and capital. The government needs to focus on regulating and supporting relief activities, restoring production and infrastructure affected by storms and floods, and at the same time have practical support policies for businesses. According to my forecast, Vietnam's economic growth in 2024 reaching around 6.5 - 7% is completely feasible" - Associate Professor, Dr. Pham The Anh predicted.

In addition, an opportunity that UOB Bank has just assessed as playing a very important role in adjusting economic growth in Vietnam is the role of monetary policy in adjusting economic growth. With the US Federal Reserve (FED) starting its interest rate cutting cycle, Vietnam can take advantage of this opportunity to attract new investment capital flows and reduce pressure from the strong USD. When US interest rates decrease, capital flows tend to shift to developing markets, including Vietnam. This will help increase foreign exchange reserves and stabilize exchange rates.

Businesses offer ideas to boost economic development

Recently, at the Government Standing Committee's meeting working with large enterprises on solutions to contribute to socio-economic development, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that large enterprises need to proactively take the lead and pioneer in big, difficult, and new tasks, solving problems at the national level to create momentum for economic development, creating room for development for small and medium enterprises in other fields.

Businesses also proposed many solutions to develop the country's socio-economy. Vingroup Chairman Pham Nhat Vuong proposed three important groups of proposals. First, in the field of education, Mr. Vuong suggested that the Government strengthen training and popularize English not only in the public school system but also expand it to the entire population, aiming to build a global civil society. Vingroup and businesses committed to sponsor the sending of teachers to remote areas to implement this program.

Regarding social security, focusing on social housing, Vingroup Chairman proposed that the Government apply a mechanism to appoint investors to shorten the time to complete procedures. He said that the biggest obstacle at present is the regulation on 10% profit for social housing projects.

Regarding the next group of issues, Mr. Vuong proposed that the Government increase or expand the quota for investment in human resource training in the fields of technology, computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data. According to him, these are fields with greater development potential than other fields.

Finally, Vingroup leaders called on the Government to support small and medium-sized enterprises so that they are qualified to participate in the supporting industry supply chain, contributing to building a strong supporting industry in the future.

In addition, Chairwoman and General Director of SOVICO Group - Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao - said that in the context of current economic challenges, it is necessary to create conditions for the aviation industry to quickly attract international tourism, trade and investment to Vietnam.

"Let's turn Vietnam into a regional and world aviation hub. With its favorable location, let's urgently invest in and upgrade the international airport system to become an international passenger and cargo transit hub like Bangkok, Singapore, and South Korea..." - Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao proposed.