WB Revises Vietnam GDP Growth to 5.5 per cent from 6.5 per cent
The World Bank has just revised Vietnam’s GDP growth down to 5.5 per cent from 6.5 per cent this year, Martin Rama, the WB’s lead economist told the Vietnamese press on the sideline of a two-way business conference held in Hanoi.
Martin Rama said that the GDP growth of 5.5 per cent will likely be achieved as the government of Vietnam has made adjustments in policies and not all its exports to be affected by the crisis.
Its exports of rice, coffee, and other consumer goods will not be affected, he said.
Its FDI is also expected to fall sharply, but a rebound in the construction industry may help offset the decline in growth, Martin Rama noted.
“I think the policy response is right in the sense that the first immediate reaction was to try to boost demand, and you have the tax cuts, you have interest rate cuts,” he said.
Meanwhile, First Deputy Prime Minister Hung forecast earlier that the domestic economy will grow 5 per cent to 6 per cent this year and may recover before end-2009, to be led by a rising domestic demand amid the downturn.
In the first two months this year, Vietnam attracted more than US$5 billion in total foreign direct investment pledges while total domestic sales of goods and services grew 20 per cent on year.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also revised GDP growth rate to 4.75 per cent from 5 per cent earlier and warned that the global crisis could further weaken growth and capital flows, putting pressure on exchange rates. (The People, chinhphu.vn)
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