Vietnam Prepares for a Year of Transformation (18/01)
18/01/2012 - 10 Lượt xem
Spiritually, Vietnamese people believe that the dragon
is a symbol of the country's revival, rise, resilience, impetus and growth. This
belief has strengthened throughout the history of the nation.
Here in Vietnam, the dragon is considered as a sacred
animal. Vietnamese people worship, respect and do whatever they can to protect
it.
On the threshold of the Year of the Dragon, the
Vietnamese people are highly optimistic about their capability to overcome any
challenges and achieve further successes. They strongly believe in a brighter
future.
Good-bye to the Year of the Cat!
In 2011, the Year of the Cat, galloping inflation
created macroeconomic instability in the first half of the year. Tens of
thousands of small and medium-sized businesses came to a standstill or went
bankrupt. The securities market was desolate and the real estate market
gloomy.
The year also saw many natural disasters including
storms, tsunamis and floods in many places around the world. It marked the
outbreak of the European public debt crisis which also adversely affected
Vietnam.
For Vietnam, however, the year 2011 was not so bad
despite numerous risks which occurred in the early months of the year. In 2011,
Vietnam obtained an economic growth rate of about six percent, the highest in
the Southeast Asian region. Notably, the country saw a record increase in its
export revenue which was almost triple the National Assembly-set target while
the trade deficit accounted for only 9.89 percent of the total export value,
much lower than the National Assembly target of 18 percent. An important reason
for this spectacular result was the 30 percent increase in the export value of
agricultural, forest and aquatic products, with Vietnam exporting a record
volume of 7.2 million tonnes of rice worth US$3.7 billion in 2011, up 17 percent
compared to 2010.
In 2011, Vietnam welcomed more than six million foreign
tourists, exceeding the annual target and up nearly 16 percent compared with
2010.
Of the recently announced top 500 businesses throughout
the country, private companies accounted for 37.4 percent of the total, compared
with 24 percent in 2008 and 30 percent in 2009. In 2011, an additional 12
Vietnamese businesses joined the World Economic Forum's community of Global
Growth Companies (GGCs). Those selected included the Vietnam National Oil and
Gas Group, Vietnam Airlines Corporation, Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign
Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (Agribank), the Tan Tao Group and the Vincom
Corporation.
In circumstances when the global economy slowed in
growth and was faced by the risks of a new crisis, foreign investors kept on
investing in Vietnam. The disbursement of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of
over US$11 billion was up on 2010. Notably, of the nearly US$13 billion of FDI
registered in 2011, more than US$3 billion were increases in the capital of 320
ongoing projects which wanted to expand production and business activities, up
nearly 50 percent compared with 2010. This reflects the attractiveness of the
investment and business environment in Vietnam to foreign investors. The
disbursement of Official Development Assistance (ODA) throughout the country
reached an estimated US$3.5 billion, a good result compared with the previous
years. This marked a historic achievement for Vietnam, as thanks to its
effective use of ODA capital the Thu Thiem Tunnel in Ho Chi Minh City was put
into use. This engineering feat made the tunnel the longest underground
cross-river tunnel in Southeast Asia.
State revenue losses have been an everyday concern for
the governments of many countries in the current period of galloping inflation.
In 2011, although the Vietnamese Government applied policies which offered
producers and businesspeople a tax exemption or reduction, State budget revenues
exceeded the plan set for the year and were higher than 2010; foreign currency
reserves also increased considerably. But perhaps one of the most impressive
results of 2011, a year that marked a series of major political events,
including the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the
election of the National Assembly (13th legislature), was that State budget was
curtailed below 4.9 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for
the first time.
In 2011, Vietnam achieved good initial results in
implementing the most important tasks of the year: curbing inflation,
stabilizing the macro-economy and ensuring social security. The Year of the Cat,
opened a new decade in the development process of Vietnam, marking the emphasis
placed on economic restructuring and the renovation of the nation's growth
model.
Economic vision for 2012
The practical lessons drawn in 2011 serve as the basis
for Vietnam to be optimistic and confident about its prospects for a bright
socioeconomic future in 2012, despite pessimistic predictions for the world
economy this year due to ongoing complications related to the European public
debt crisis and the current stagnation in the world's two leading economies of
the US and Japan.
The National Assembly and the Government expect that in
2012, the Vietnamese economy will grow by 6-6.5 percent; export revenue will
increase by 13 percent and trade deficit will remain or be lower than that of
2011; State budget revenues will be higher and State overspending should be
curbed further.
"In 2012, Vietnam will continue to tighten fiscal
policies in an effort to reduce overspending from the State budget to below 4.8
percent, with an emphasis of lowering it further in the following years; public
debts will be kept within safe limits and inflation in single-digits in order to
reduce interest rates," Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said at a recent meeting
of the National Assembly.
The Prime Minister added, "The Government will take
prompt action to make institutional improvements and create favorable conditions
for all economic sectors to invest in infrastructure development in the form of
BT (Build-Transfer), BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer), BTO (Build-Transfer-Operate),
and the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) in order to create a breakthrough in
the development of some large-scale infrastructure projects. The Government will
not encourage labor or energy-intensive investment projects and those that do
not ensure an efficient and renewable use of the nation's natural resources."
Special attention will be paid to promoting investment in hi-tech agriculture
because "Agriculture and rural areas always have an important strategic position
in the country's development cause," affirmed the Prime Minister.
In 2012, Vietnam must achieve good results to pave the
way for its stronger, higher quality growth in the following years so that it
can realize the objective of becoming a modernized, industrialized country by
2020.
To realize the above objective, Vietnam must
simultaneously implement three strategic tasks: making institutional
improvements, developing infrastructure and developing highly-qualified human
resources, throughout the 2011-2020 period. In 2012, Vietnam must boost the
restructuring of investment with attention focused on public investment, the
restructuring of State-owned enterprises, focusing on groups and corporations,
and the banking system, focusing on commercial banks. Vietnam must consider 2012
as the opening year of its growth model renovation cause if it doesn't want the
national economy to fall into the middle-income trap and face the risks of a
public debt crisis like the one currently facing Egypt.
Turning potential into real strength
With its natural as well as human resources and cultural
richness, Vietnam has great potential for development. However, its potential
cannot be awakened if Vietnamese people do not bring into full play their
intellectual strength to contribute to the country's development.
In order to eradicate hunger and alleviate poverty to
build a prosperous, civilized society and reduce the gap between it and
neighboring economies such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, Vietnam must
make the most of its potential, especially the intellectual strength of
Vietnamese people.
There is no reason to doubt Vietnam's regulations and
policies because these are the products of long-standing consultation with
leading Vietnamese and foreign experts. Will those regulations and policies come
into life and bring happiness to people? - This very much depends on the
enforcement capability of the Government. It will be no paradox to say that
improving the quality of human resources is synonymous with improving the
Government's performance.
An institution with perfect policies can be considered
to offer invaluable potential. But it will remain 'idle potential' if its
policies are not enforced perfectly. With such thinking, one can emphasize the
affect the resolutions of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of
Vietnam and the second session of the National Assembly, 13th legislature, will
have on the country's socioeconomic life if they are thoroughly grasped and
effectively enforced.
The Year of the Dragon, 2012, will see how the
Vietnamese people, from every individual to each organization and business, will
overcome the challenges we face and strive to transform the country's potential
into its real strength and create a new impulse for its development.
A new spring has come, offering Vietnam the opportunity
to grasp the new achievements it desires./.
Source: VEN.
Source: VEN.
