Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, General Director of General Statistics Office, evaluates the economy in 2020 and comments on economic growth in 2021.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, Director General of the General Statistics Office. 

Could you please tell us which sectors and fields helped Vietnam's economy grow positively in 2020?

The GDP in 2020 of our country is estimated to increase by 2.91%. This is a great success for Vietnam with the highest growth rate in the world. In the general picture of the economy, these are the following highlights:

Firstly, the processing and manufacturing industry is the driving force of economic growth with an increase of 5.82%, contributing 1.25% to the increase in the total added value of the economy.

Secondly, public investment disbursement reached 91.1% of the plan, up by 34.5% compared to 2019, reaching the highest level in the 2011-2020 period.

Thirdly, the total merchandise import-export turnover this year has set a new record with US$543.9 billion, the trade balance of goods saw a surplus of US$19.1 billion.

Fourthly, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors have supported the economy in difficult times, ensuring the supply of essential food and goods.

Fifth, commercial activities and consumer services have shown signs of recovery, for the whole of 2020 to increase by 2.6% compared to last year.

Which industries and sectors will be bright spots in the economic picture in 2021?

We can see some bright spots of our country's economy in the future such as: the processing and manufacturing industry, especially the electronic component manufacturing industry with the expansion of production scale of foreign investors.

The construction industry will continue its growth momentum in 2020, with expressway projects being implemented and completed in 2021. Thanks to the EVFTA, export activities to the EU will flourish with important agricultural and aquatic products along with key products such as textiles and footwear.

The agricultural sector will also continue to be a bright spot in contributing to our country's growth. In addition, the value of Vietnam's national brand name in 2020 will increase by 29% (the fastest in the world), reaching US$319 billion. Vietnam's ranking also improves from 42nd in 2019 to 33rd in 2020, so FDI attraction will flourish in the next few years.

In your opinion, what solutions should be taken to achieve the growth target in 2021?

By 2021, the GDP target will increase by 6%. To achieve this goal, I think that along with keeping the socio-economic development environment stable, it is necessary to focus on a number of key contents such as: continuing to focus on solving difficulties for production enterprises and economic recovery; issuing and implementing breakthrough solutions, creating pressure for economic organizations to access and apply technology, improving their capacity to innovate and create; managing monetary policy, interest rates and exchange rates flexibly and prudently, in accordance with domestic and international market developments, harmoniously coordinating with fiscal policies and other macro policies to control inflation, business support and economic growth; stimulating investment demand in the manufacturing enterprises for export to actively source goods when markets around the world reopen and take advantage of opportunities from the EVFTA.

Sincerely thank you!