Rapid economic improvement unlikely in short term: minister

The Vietnamese economy is gradually regaining growth momentumm, but rapid improvement is unlikely in the short term, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said at a Saturday cabinet meeting.

In his opening remarks at the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh acknowledged that the local corporate bond and real estate markets were improving but still facing difficulties.

"Key exports sectors such as textiles-garments and footwear have received more orders, but industrial growth still faces difficulties. Credit growth remained low at 5.16% by the end of August, with businesses finding it hard to access loans," he noted.

Echoing the PM, Minister Dung said that economic growth is confronted with big challenges. Cumbersome and complicated administrative procedures in some areas are causing difficulties for people and businesses while problems regarding regulations on firefighting and vehicle registration have not been resolved.

"Meanwhile, public officials’ fear of making mistakes and taking responsibility has led to stagnation and ineffectiveness," he noted.

The country’s GDP in the second quarter increased by 4.14% year-on-year. The quarter-on-quarter expansion helped raise the first half GDP growth rate to 3.72%.

Data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) show that more than 14,000 new businesses were established in August, up nearly 18% over the same period in 2022.

The eight-month figure was up 2.3% year-on-year to 103,700. The service sector expanded rapidly, with total retail sales of goods and services increasing 7.6% over the same period last year.

To reach this year's growth target of 6.5%, the minister noted that the domestic markets had to be boosted, and recovery trends of markets taken advantage of to boost export of key products, especially farm produce..

He said agencies at all levels, sectors and localities need to attract large-scale FDI projects, reform administrative procedures, step up removal of bottlenecks, and speed up site clearance to accelerate investment projects.

"It is necessary to drastically and closely manage policies, both short-term and long-term, as well as make the best use of time and every opportunity to create economic breakthroughs," he added.