Vietnam GDP growth to miss target at just 5% : Deputy PM

Vietnam’s GDP growth this year may reach just 5%, far below the 6.5% target set by the National Assembly, said Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai.

Khai made the statement at a meeting of the National Assembly's Standing Committee chaired by the parliament's Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

However, Khai noted that despite missing the target, the growth achieved was an impressive feat, above the IMF’s projection of slow growth the world over. The figure was equivalent to the one mentioned by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong recently, he added.

The country is likely to miss five of 15 socioeconomic targets including labor productivity, which will fall short of the annual target for the third year in a row; and the ratio of the manufacturing-processing sector in the economy, said Vu Hong Thanh, head of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, at the meeting.

Three major economic driving forces of the country, namely investment, export, and consumption, are facing structural challenges due to a lack of long-term policies and short-term solutions related to green transition, carbon emission reduction and circular economy model, he added.

Besides, several chronic problems have remained unresolved, including complicated administrative procedures, slow progress in handling weak credit institutions and mega loss-making projects, weak absorption of capital, high production costs and weak connectivity between economic factors and enterprises, Thanh said.

He noted that most complaints received by the parliament were related to the legal procedures on land, site clearance, resettlement and changes in land use of forest and agricultural lands, he said.

Looking ahead, the economic committee asked relevant agencies to review the GDP growth target for 2024 in particular and for the 2021-2025 period.

National Assembly Chairman Hue asked relevant agencies to focus on provincial planning, divestment from state-owned enterprises, implementation plan of national power development plan VIII (PDP VIII), early completion of the national plan on maritime zone and the national goals on culture development.

Vietnam’s economy continued its recovery with a GDP growth of 5.33% year-on-year in Q3/2023, up significantly from 3.28% in Q1 and 4.05% in Q2.

This year’s January-September growth of 4.24% was lower than the same periods from 2011 to 2022, except for 2.19% in 2020 and 1.57% in 2021, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.