Presenting the Government's report, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung stated that Vietnam's socio-economic situation has shown a clear recovery, with each month better than the previous and each quarter higher than the previous, achieving the overall set goals and many important results in various fields.
Based on the results of the first nine months, it is estimated that 14 out of 15 targets will be met or exceeded for the whole year of 2024:
- Meeting and exceeding all social targets;
- Achieving the target of average annual growth rate of labor productivity (after three years of not meeting it);
- Having higher economic growth rate;
- Obtaining a stable macroeconomic situation;
- Successfully controlling inflation;
- Ensuring major balances;
- Managing state budget deficit;
- Maintaining a lower public debt and government debt than the permitted limit.
The only target that is nearly fulfilled is the per capita GDP, mainly due to exchange rate fluctuations.
At this session, Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh presented a summary of the Government’s examination results, followed by proposals of the examination agency. It stated the necessity of paying more attention to and evaluating some issues.
“The recovery of the total demand is rather weak, with consumer demand increase being lower than expected in the context of higher inflationary pressure in the last months of the year. Both public and private investment are increasing slowly, while the situation of service imports has not been improved,” expressed concerns by Chairman Vu Hong Thanh.
Besides, the production and business activities of enterprises still face many difficulties.
In the first nine months of the year, on average, 18,200 enterprises withdrew from the market each month. The ratio of enterprises withdrawing from the market to the one of enterprises entering and re-entering the market in the first nine months of 2024 was 89.7 percent, higher than the 79.3-percent level of 2023.
Domestic and international demand is low, coupled with high domestic competitiveness and financial difficulties globally.
Meanwhile, the financial and monetary market still has potential challenges. Bad debts are at a high level, the handling of weak banks is slow, credit growth in the first months of the year is still low, and the ability of enterprises to absorb capital and access credit is limited.
The exchange rate has experienced abnormal fluctuations at times, affecting the operations of enterprises. The management of the gold market still has many inadequacies, putting pressure on the foreign exchange market and the exchange rate.
Cybersecurity risks for Vietnam's financial system have become permanent and present with unpredictable consequences.
Besides, although the liquidity of the corporate bond market has improved significantly, it still faces many challenges to become an effective medium and long-term capital mobilization channel for the economy, sharing the role of capital supply with the banking system.
Devoting a significant part of the report to assessing the real estate market, Chairman Vu Hong Thanh said that this market has shown signs of recovery but still faces difficulties. The product structure in the market is imbalanced, causing prices of apartments in the primary and secondary segments to be pushed up. The situation of “canceling deposits” after winning auctions has recurred, negatively affecting the price level and the housing market.
More seriously, the situation of market distortion, price gouging, price wave creation, and real estate speculation has pushed up land prices, making buying and selling almost exclusively among speculators while people and businesses find it difficult to access land due to high prices beyond their affordability.
Besides, although there have been many efforts to issue guiding documents for the implementation of the Land Law, the Law on Real Estate Business, and the Housing Law, the results have not been as expected.
