Hanoi (VNA) -ꦚ Vietnam is aiming for economic growth of 7 percent this year, higher than that National Assembly’s set target of 6-6.5 percent, said Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung.

To achieve this, year-on-year economic growth in the third quarter needs to be 9 percent and in the fourth quarter 6.3 percent, minister Nguyen Chi Dung also said during the Government’s regular meeting held in Hanoi on July 4. Dung said Vietnam's budget was in surplus, giving scope for fiscal policy to be used to support businesses and residents. "Credit institutions will need to further cut their lending interest rates to reduce input cost pressure for businesses and for the economy," he said. Vietnam, a regional manufacturing hub, started lifting its coronavirus curbs late last year, allowing factories to resume full operations. The economy is recovering after growing only 2.58 percent last year, the slowest pace in decades.

Dung ordered competent agencies, ministries and localities to carry out measures outlined in the national programme on socio-economic development and recovery, and COVID-19 prevention and control programme for 2022-2023.

It’s been two years since the world economy first suffered the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – one of the most unprecedented events since World War II. As an open economy, Vietnam could not be spared the global health crisis.  Social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus worldwide have forced millions of household businesses to temporarily or permanently be closed, while the operation of thousands of enterprises were suspended. This has made millions of families lose income.  Notably, what happened to the Vietnamese economy over the past two years seemed to be contrary to the rest of the world. In 2020, while the vast majority of countries in the world recorded negative growth, Vietnam was a rare country that managed to maintain positive GDP growth with an increase of 2.91 per cent.  In 2021, while the economies around the world had been on track to recover thanks to the boosted vaccination rollout, the Vietnamese economy was more heavily affected by the pandemic with the new Delta variant. In the third quarter of 2021, Vietnam recorded its first-ever negative quarterly GDP. For the whole year of 2021, the economy expanded 2.58 per cent, missing the year’s GDP growth target of 6.5 per cent, nearly half the GDP growth rate of the whole world (5.9 per cent). This year, the Government once again has set a target of 6-6.5 per cent GDP growth rate, equivalent to the pre-pandemic average level. Whether it is reachable or not is hard to say as long as the pandemic is not under control. However, many experts and institutions are optimistic about the country’s strong economic recovery this year. Standard Chartered Bank forecasts Vietnam recovery to accelerate markedly in 2022, with GDP growing by 6.7 per cent. In the recent “Vietnam at a Glance” report, HSBC said after two years of growth slowdown, the country’s economic growth will regain momentum to reach 6.5 per cent in 2022. Though being more cautious, the World Bank expects the economy to rebound with GDP rising by 5.5 per cent.

Vietnam’s GDP in the second quarter of this year was estimated to increase 7.72 percent year-on-year, higher than the growth rates in the same quarters during the 2011-2021 period, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

During the period, the agriculture-forestry-fishery sector increased 3.02 percent, contributing 4.56percent to the overall growth of the economy.

The industry and construction sector was up 8.87 percent, making up 46.85 percent, while the service sector rose by 8.56 percent, contributing 48.59 percent to the general GDP growth, Huong said.