HANOI, Oct 11 (Bernama): The Vietnamese economy is expected to gradually recover from the fourth quarter of 2021 and escape the negative growth seen in the third quarter, thanks to business activity and government efforts to lift obstacles facing businesses, according to the country’s top economist.
Nguyen Bich Lam, former director general of the General Bureau of Statistics, said that the fourth resurgence of Covid-19 in several industrial hubs in the north such as Bac Ninh and Bac Giang, and later in localities in the south, notably Ho Chi Minh -City, Binh Duong and Dong Nai, as well as the capital Hanoi in the third quarter, caused many difficulties to the business sector which generates 60 percent of the country’s GDP.
“The fourth pandemic wave has exhausted the business community in many ways,” he told the Vietnamese news agency, citing a survey conducted by the General Bureau of Statistics in September which showed that 95% of companies said they had encountered difficulties due to Covid-19. .
Meanwhile, 80 percent of companies participating in the survey said they saw an increase in the cost of inputs, 54.2 percent reported an increase in material prices, 49.5 percent complained about logistics costs higher, 33 percent encountered a labor shortage and 40.8 percent faced a shortage of materials for production, he noted.
He pointed out, however, that despite a 6.17% reduction in Vietnam’s GDP in the third quarter of this year due to the impacts of Covid-19, the Asian Development Bank (AfDB) and other financial institutions remain optimistic about Vietnamese economic outlook. in the medium and long term.
Lam pointed out that the optimism is based on the recovery of domestic demand, coupled with the strong consumer power of the nearly $ 100 million strong market, the stable macroeconomic situation of the country and the dynamism of the economy. .
“In addition, Vietnam is also a member of many large-scale multilateral and bilateral trade agreements,†the economist said.
On September 9, the Prime Minister of Vietnam released Resolution No. 105 / NQ-CP in support of businesses, cooperatives and business households affected by COVID-19, with the aim of helping them recover and recover. develop their production safely in the midst of the pandemic.
Lam said the resolution is of great help in removing the difficulties facing businesses.
He added that the drastic guidelines of the government to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital have helped to compensate for the weak growth of the business sector.
“However, due to the short remaining period of the year, it would be difficult to complete the public investment disbursement plan for 2021,” he added.
Looking at the economic outlook for the fourth quarter, Lam predicted an expansion of 2-3 percent, leading to GDP growth of 1.6 to 2.1 percent for the full year. – Bernama
