PM forecasts difficult year ahead

Vietnam's economy is likely to experience more difficulties than advantages in 2023 amid complicated and unpredictable global situations, said Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

"Monetary policy must be firmly and flexibly implemented in harmony with fiscal policy. The country must stabilize the foreign exchange market, manage interest rates and exchange rates, and ensure credit needs are met with a focus on priority areas like production," he told the Vietnam Economic Forum on Saturday.

Chinh requested the tax sector to continue reforming administrative procedures, push digitization, and study support policies for taxes, fees and charges.

The prime minister also asked for more efforts to ensure sustainable, stable and healthy development of the corporate bond, securities and real estate markets.

He added that macroeconomic stability, sound economic growth, controlled inflation, and key balances have been Vietnam's major economic achievements this year.

Vietnam's GDP growth this year is estimated at over 8% - the highest in 11 years, while inflation has remained below 4%, the central bank's target, according to Tran Tuan Anh, head of the Central Economic Commission.

Disbursed foreign direct investment capital reached $19.68 billion in the year to November 20, up 15.1% year-on-year, while export revenue expanded 15.9% to $312.82 billion. Budget collection exceeded the government's estimation by 16% and rose 17.4% against the same period of last year.

"This shows that the national economy has not experienced a recession, but a strong recovery," Anh said.

Prime Minister Chinh noted that problems in the credit, corporate bond, real estate, and gasoline markets over the past few months were cyclical developments, but the country needs to deal with them thoroughly.

"We must definitely deal with violations for the market to develop healthily and sustainably. It takes time to treat diseases that also need medicines. Authorities must choose the most optimal solutions to the problems, ensuring the harmony of interests among the state, people and businesses," he said.

The Prime Minister asked banks to reduce interest rates to support businesses and people in difficult circumstances. "Bond issuers need to comply with their commitments to bondholders, and actively negotiate with investors in case of difficulties."

Regarding the real estate market, Chinh asked for housing segments, prices and products to be restructured to make housing more affordable, especially for poor people.