Some experts have warned about the possible deflation in the next year. How has the Government been dealing with the problem?

We still need to consider the problem thoroughly as the consumer price index decrease happened once in October only. Deflation should be seen from different angles, while the CPI is just one of the factors. We need also to consider the production power, people’s purchasing power and many other factors.

Therefore, it is too early to conclude that deflation exists right now. We still need to keep a close watch over what will happen in November and December. However, the Government still needs to prepare the measures to prevent the deflation. Deflation proves to be very dangerous, which requires more exertion to deal with.

Do you think that the deflation will occur in 2009?

I can’t make a conclusion right now. It still depends on the situation in the region and in the world. The domestic prices have decreased because of the unexpected sharp fall of prices in the world, with the oil price falling to $60 a barrel.

In such unpredictable conditions, should the Government submit to the National Assembly the targets for CPI and GDP for 2009?

I think that the GDP and CPI indexes are predictable. We need to set targets so that we can know what to strive for.

Why do we still aim for a high GDP growth rate of 6.5%, while other countries in the region just strive to avoid minus growth rate?

Our conditions are different. First, our financial and monetary markets have not fully integrated into the world, while theirs are deeply integrated, so they will suffer big impacts which will affect their growth rate.

Singapore and Japan mainly export high-tech products and their large market is the US which has tightened their purse strings, so they will bear big influences. Meanwhile, our export items are popular and essential products, such as apparel, farm produce, and food. The demand for these products may decrease, but not decrease sharply.

Moreover, we are trying to stimulate the domestic demand. China and India are also trying to stimulate the domestic market, and we should also focus on the domestic market and some developing markets in the region, where the impacts of the global economic recessions are not very big, such as China, India and some other South East Asian countries.
Source: Vietnamnet