The Government’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth target of 6.7 per cent for 2017 is achievable, General Statistics Office (GSO) General Director Nguyen Bich Lam said on Friday.

“Viet Nam’s economy during the first nine months of 2017 saw positive changes, with growth rate improving sharply in each quarter and impressive results recorded in many fields,” Lam said at a press conference in Ha Noi.

The GSO estimates the nation’s GDP growth in the first nine months of this year at 6.41 per cent from a year earlier, higher than 2016’s 5.99 per cent for the same period.

While the first quarter GDP growth was 5.15 per cent, it improved remarkably to 6.28 per cent in the second quarter. The office estimates third quarter growth at 7.46 per cent, which, it says would be the highest increase for the period since 2011.

Lam said the economic results were achieved thanks to concerted efforts by the government, ministries and sectors. These would contribute strongly to realising the 2017 growth target of 6.7 per cent, he added.

Agro-forestry-fisheries sector, industry, construction and services sectors were the main contributors to the nine month GDP growth rate, he said.

During the first nine months, the agro-forestry-fishery sector grew by 2.78 per cent, contributing 0.43 percentage points to the overall GDP. Besides, structural transformation in rural areas, forestry and fisheries sectors has proven effective, he added.

Industry and construction sector grew by 7.17 per cent while the services sector rose by 7.25 per cent, respectively adding 2.45 and 2.8 percentage points to the nine-month figure.

Lam said breakthroughs have been made in the processing and manufacturing sector, which made a big stride in the third quarter with a rise of 16.63 per cent, the highest since 2011.

Pham Quynh Loi, Deputy Director of the Trade and Services Statistics Department, said the country’s export turnover in the first nine months of this year was estimated at US$154 billion, up 19.8 per cent year-on-year. Imports of $154.5 billion marked a hike of 23.1 per cent over last year’s.

Between January and September, Viet Nam attracted $25.5 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), a rise of 34.3 per cent year-on-year. FDI disbursement during the reviewed period reached $12.5 billion.

On the business front, the registration of 93,967 new enterprises with a total capital of VND902.7 trillion ($39.7 billion) marked a year-on-year increase of 15.4 per cent in number and 43 per cent in capital. In addition, 21,100 businesses resumed operations, a year-on-year increase of 2.9 per cent.

However, there remained limitations in State budget collection and spending, plus losses caused by natural disasters and complex developments of dengue, Lam said.

Inflation under control

The consumer price index (CPI) in September rose by 0.59 per cent from the previous month and by 3.4 per cent over the corresponding time last year. The average CPI in the nine months was up 3.79 per cent compared with the same period of 2016.

The target of curbing inflation and keeping the CPI in 2017 below 4 per cent is also achievable, said Vu Thi Thu Thuy, Director of the Price Statistics Department.

The reasons for the increase, Thuy said, was a hike in medical and tuition fees and an indirect consequence of a minimum wage hike that led to higher costs for family-related services.

In September, nine of 11 commodity groups recorded increases, with education seeing the sharpest hike with 5 per cent, followed by transportation services at 1.51 per cent.

Commodities with increases of below one per cent were housing and construction materials (0.69 per cent), medicines and healthcare services (0.25 per cent), and food and restaurant services (0.08 per cent).

The remaining groups, including culture, entertainment and tourism services and post and telecommunications saw decreases of 0.08 per cent and 0.04 per cent respectively.

Gold prices increased by 2.61 per cent in September over August and the US dollar experienced a month-on-month increase of 0.03 per cent.

In order to reach the growth target of 6.7 per cent set for the whole year, a growth rate of 7.31 per cent in the last quarter is a must, Lam said, adding that State agencies need to persist with a proactive and flexible monetary policy in close co-ordination with fiscal policy and inflation control. — VNS