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Seminar debates Viet Nam's mid-long-term economic issues
Viet Nam's medium and long-term economic issues topped the agenda of a two-day seminar jointly held by the National Assembly's Economics Committee and the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta city of Can Tho which ended on Mar. 11.
Ha Van Hien, Chairman of the committee, said the nation was continuously faced with macro-economic instability such as high inflation, strong fluctuation of exchange rates, a lingering payment balance deficit and low foreign reserves.
People's confidence in macro-economic management was fading, he added.
Although Viet Nam's economy had passed the threshold of a low-income nation to join the middle-income group, shortcomings of a low-income country remained such as a huge gap between the rich and the poor, a high poverty rate, and poor education and health care quality, Hien said.
Tran Dinh Thien, Director of the Viet Nam Economics Institute, said the Government had only issued and applied "band-aid" and short-term policies, just to help the economy overcome the crisis quickly, but this could easily return to instability.
The policies had not helped create a healthy economy in the long run, he stressed.
Tran Du Lich, Former Head of the HCM City Economics Institute, said the short-term measures were necessary for different specific periods, but it was time to take into consideration medium- and long-term plans.
Lich also suggested a stop to the setting up of State-owned groups and a re-assessment of already-established corporations, saying the Government had to force all State-owned groups to disclose information in the same way that listed companies had to.
Doctor To Trung Thanh from the National Economics University said it was necessary to reduce State investment in fields that the private sector could excel in, and create effective mechanisms to call for private investment.
To improve the competitiveness of the country's economy, participants also suggested a restructure of Viet Nam's banking system through which they could increase the independent role of the State Bank and reorganise joint-stock commercial banks.
Viet Nam should prioritise the control of inflation rather than economic growth. It should move to reduce budget overspending from 4.5 per cent of the GDP in 2011 to 2.5 per cent in 2015 and lower credit growth to 16-17 per cent, heard the seminar.
Attendants agreed that the State should finalise the mechanism and laws to overcome shortcomings in implementing financial and monetary policies.
They suggested the nation increase credits and assist agriculture in terms of interest rates, and apply technical barriers to imported farm products as well as reform social welfare, together with the implementation of socio-economic development.
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