HANOI, Sept 7: Vietnam’s economic growth could accelerate to 5.5-5.6 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, from 4.66 percent in April-June, a state-run newspaper said on Friday.
Vietnam’s economy has been growing at a slower pace this year as the government shifted its policy to tightening lending in the early months of the year to help control inflation. Banks battling bad debt also slowed loans to keep their books clean, putting pressure on businesses seeking funds for expansion.
Economic growth in the first half was slower than last year, but growth in the second quarter picked up from an annual rise of 4 percent in the first three months of 2012, based on government data.
‘We are striving to stabilise the macro economy, maintaining reasonable growth and implementing a master plan to restructure the economy,’ State President Truong Tan Sang said in a message to a business forum as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Russia.
POSITIVE SIGNS
‘While demand in the economy has yet to become strong, there have been positive moves,’ the official Vietnam Economic Times newspaper cited Planning and Investment Ministry assessments as saying.
It cited annual growth of 17.9 percent for retail sales and services in January-August, and said state budget disbursement could have jumped to 24-25 trillion dong ($1.15-$1.2 billion) in August from an average 16-18 trillion dong per month in the first half.
Domestic consumption could recover slightly by the year end, supported by credit expansion in the economy, HSBC said in a report issued on Tuesday.
Core inflation in August was 0.65 percent against July, up from 0.6 percent in July and 0.1 percent in June, and the monthly inflation rate could be high in the last months of this year, the report cited government data as saying.
The National Financial Supervisory Committee forecast Vietnam’s annual inflation this year at 6 percent, below a government’s revised target of 7 percent, the newspaper said.
Consumer prices in 2011 jumped nearly 19 percent from the previous year, when inflation stood at 9.19 percent.
Vietnam’s average consumer price index growth could ease to 8.4 percent this year after a rise of 8.6 percent in 2011, the HSBC report said.
It projected Vietnam’s GDP in 2012 to slow to 5.1 percent from 5.9 percent last year.
(AGENCIES)
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