In order to meet the goal of 7% economic growth rate this year, experts held that it is necessary to maintain current development pace and even accelerate it.

At the Government’s regular meeting for July, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that growth drivers from the supply side recorded positive changes, while motivation from the demand side showed more positive recovery.

The minister mentioned this during the Government meeting in June when the country's GDP growth was reported at 6.42% in the first half of this
year.

He cited a series of indicators supporting his assessments, such as an expansion of 8.5% in industrial production with the manufacturing-processing sector posting a 9.5 rise in seven months, and a year-on-year increase of 10.5% in the number of businesses joining and returning to the market, and more than 18 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow.

He noted that the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of Vietnam reached 54.7 points in July, the fourth consecutive month exceeding 50 points, showing the recovery of production activities.

Andrew Harker, Economic Director from S&P Global Market Intelligence held that this is a sign of improvement in the health of Vietnam’s production sector.

Responding to reporters’ questions at the Government’s regular press conference in July, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang said that the growth results of the industrial sector in general and the manufacturing-processing sector in particular showed a “very positive” picture of the domestic production.

The manufacturing-processing sector has returned to its position as the driving force for the growth of the economy, said Thang, stressing that industrial
production is expanding in a wide scale across the country, especially in major industrial hubs.

However, Minister Dung pointed to challenges of the economy, including difficulties facing growth motivations which need urgent response.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stressed that to reach the target of 7% growth set for this year, it is necessary to drastically remove barriers related to mechanism, focusing on effectively implementing new laws that have and will take effect such as the Land Law, Housing Law, Law on Real Estate Business, and Law on Credit Institutions.

Ministries and sectors should give more specific guidance and localities should be more active in policy response and realising major tasks, reviewing traditional motivations and promoting new ones.

Minister Dung underlined the need to continue to promote new growth motivations from digital economy, digitalisation and green transition.

Highlighting the need for speeding up public investment disbursement, PM Chinh directed relevant agencies to mobilise 15 quadrillion VND (59.64 billion USD) that people are keeping in banks for production and business activities.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, expressed his worry about the downturn of the private sector recently, which many affect the overall economic performance.

He underscored the necessity to smooth resources from the private sector, which is an important solution to stimulate investment, contributing to promoting economic growth not only in the short term but also in the middle and long terms.

Cung said that amid the reducing confidence due to difficult economic situation, encouraging people to open their wallet is also a good way to maintain development pace./.