Don’t worry too much about trade deficit: MOIT (09/10)
06/08/2010 - 78 Lượt xem
Mr Tu said:
The basic and long-term measure to reduce trade deficit is not to reduce imports, but increase exports. I know many experts have called for import reductions. The measure once showed its effectiveness, but it is not true in the new circumstances.
In the past, we imported goods for domestic consumption only, therefore, the only measure to reduce trade deficit is to reduce imports. Now we import goods in order to develop production, and we have money to pay for this. I can say that the risks in import are not high.
You have said that the basic measure to reduce trade deficit is to boost exports. Which exports then?
The export items that Vietnam has big advantages in the last time now see no increases. Footwear and apparel exports are facing barriers in the world’s market. Therefore, when saying that we need to boost exports, I mean we need to focus on improving the quality of exports, offering new products that use modern technologies.
And we need time to do that. Now we are carrying out projects, building factories, we have to do a lot of things so that we can gain products in one or two years. Therefore, I think you should look at the trade deficit with an active viewpoint. We import more than export nowadays, so that we can raise exports for tomorrow. We need to import materials so as to make apparel products for export.
Do you mean that Vietnam will still see trade gaps for the next few years?
Vietnam has joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Once the investment increases, the demand for imports also increases. We will take measures to cut the trade deficit if the imports just serve domestic consumption. However, in this case, the imports serve local production. If we cut imports, this will badly affect the national economy.
The imports increased by 67.08% in the last nine months, mostly seen in seven groups of goods, including machinery, equipment, computers, and steel. Regarding the imports of consumer goods, the imports of electronics increased by $300mil only, while some experts said the increase was alarming. The imports of consumer goods saw an increase of $852mil, a humble figure if compared to the additional import turnover of $10bil compared to 2006.
Do you think that the trade deficit has been caused by the tax reductions implemented since Vietnam joined the WTO?
It is one of the reasons, but it is not the main cause. The increase in consumer products imports just accounted for 8.52% of the imports increases. Meanwhile, we benefit from WTO membership as we can import materials and equipment at lower prices.
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Billions of dollars spent to import main machineries The trade deficit increased in the last time partially because Vietnam needed to import equipment and machines for the key national construction works and industries. By the end of August 2007, the turnover from importing equipment for the electricity sector had reached $442mil, for oil and gas sector $350mil, shipbuilding $177mil, cement $170mil. Moreover, Vietnam also purchased five aircrafts worth nearly $400mil, and oil tankers and cargo ships worth $262mil.
In the first eight months of the year, the 52.8% increase of consumer product imports contributed to the sharp increase of imports. This does not include the increase of CBU car imports, which MOIT did not add onto the list of consumer products.
We should have developed the industries of making materials for the textile and garment industry before developing garment workshops, but we didn’t do this. As a result, we have to import materials to make products for export. |
Source: Tuoi tre
