Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has requested government agencies to speed up the economic recovery process to ensure the country's GDP growth comes at 2.5 – 3% in 2020.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the meeting. Photo: VGP.

More efforts are needed to address issues related to priority projects and programs to boost growth, stated Mr. Phuc at a monthly government meeting on October 2.

Referring to the decision of naming October 4 as “Vietnam labor skills day” on an annual basis, Mr. Phuc expected ministries and localities to pay more attention to improving labor productivity and competitiveness.

The Vietnam PM requested faster disbursement of pubic investment funds as well as promotion of private investment by both domestic and international players.

While it is essential to stimulate domestic consumption, Mr. Phuc said digital transformation, development of digital economy and e-payment must be national priorities.

Mr. Phuc requested related ministries to propose new relief packages for vulnerable people with more simple procedures.

Regarding the economic performance in the first nine months of 2020, Mr. Phuc stated the country’s effective containment of the pandemic helped lay the foundation for economic recovery.

While two Covid-19 waves in March and July caused severe impacts on the country’s economy, Vietnam has been successful in realizing the dual target of both containing the pandemic and boosting economic growth, which has translated into higher economic performance in September.

In fact, the economy has gone through its worst moment in the second quarter and is headed for a V-shaped economic rebound, stressed Mr. Phuc.

A GDP growth rate of 2.12% in the first nine months of 2020 is an encouraging sign amid the dim outlook of countries in the region and the disruption of global supply chains, he said.

Overview of the meeting. Photo: VGP.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam’s exports continued to expand by 4.2% in the nine-month period, resulting in a 4-year high trade surplus of US$17 billion. The domestic-invested sector continues to be a spotlight in Vietnam's trade as the sector’s exports are estimated to grow 20.2% year-on-year to US$71.83 billion during the period, accounting for 35.4% of the country's export turnover.

Notably, the disbursed amount of public investment funds has witnessed significant improvements, reaching a 5-year high of VND300 trillion (US$12.91 billion), meeting  60% of this year's target.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the country’s central bank, has adopted a flexible approach in managing monetary policy and lowered the policy rates four times in the nine-month period.

Meanwhile, Mr. Phuc asked agencies and localities to be cautious about external risks as the pandemic remains complicated globally.

Moreover, the construction – industry sector is still under impacts from the disruption of supply chains and a lack of orders from major markets, while the tourism sector is still lagging in the recovery process.

Total goods retail sales and service revenues between January and September rose modestly 0.7%, indicating difficulties that the people are facing and changes in consumption behavior, Mr. Phuc said, requesting better solutions to stimulating domestic consumption.

As the country’s credit growth as of September 22 stood at 5.12% year-on-year, far away from meeting the target of 14% set by the government for this year, Mr. Phuc asked the SBV to create more conditions for higher credit growth.

The resumption of international flights is inevitable but requires close supervision to prevent the resurgence of the pandemic in the local community, urged Mr. Phuc.