Vietnam dogged by red tape, weak domestic market: minister

Red tape, a weak domestic market and cash flow problems are stiff challenges facing the country, said Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung.

Realty and corporate bond markets have seen positive movements, but lingering difficulties need to be closely watched. Poverty, unstable unemployment and unpredictable natural disasters are other challenges, he added.

"At a time of global hardship, the challenges are unlikely to go away soon, exerting pressures on short-term economic growth and macroeconomic management," the minister told a monthly government meeting on Saturday.

Proposing several solutions for dealing with the situation, he said that first, the National Assembly and relevant agencies must collaborate to ensure efficient and effective implementation of laws approved at the current sixth sitting.

Second, government agencies must make strong efforts to deploy already identified solutions related to taxes, fees, investment and other areas. Third, relevant authorities must further develop the domestic market and utilize the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday 2024 to push consumption.

Fourth, the country must maximize opportunities from any international recovery to push exports, especially of agriculture, forestry and fisheries products to major markets, utilizing signed trade agreements. Fifth, the nation must mobilize and effectively use both domestic and foreign resources for growth.

Sixth, authorities must push harder to improve and simplify the nation’s legal framework and administrative procedures, paying particular attention to designation of powers and updating problematic regulations.

Minister Dung also highlighted the country's socioeconomic achievements in the first 10 months of this year. He said the nation’s consumer price index (CPI), an indicator of inflation, increased 3.59% year-on-year in October, 3.2% versus December 2022, and 0.08% from a month ago. As a result, the Jan-Oct CPI was limited to a growth of 3.2% year-on-year, while core inflation was 4.38%.

Vietnam's total import and export turnover of goods reached nearly $558 billion in the first 10 months, down 9.6% over the same period last year, with an estimated trade surplus of $24.61 billion.

Several bottlenecks in the legal framework related to corporate bond, real estate market, labor, medicine bidding, and fire prevention were lifted, he added.

In late October, Vietnam inaugurated a new facility of the National Innovation Center (NIC) and a chip design center as the country seeks to stimulate the startup ecosystem and deepen its participation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the minister highlighted.