Hanoi, January 15 (VNA) – Vietnam has recorded upbeat growthdespite disadvantages brought about by the withdrawal of the US from theTrans-Pacific Partnership, according a recent article published on the EastAsia Forum.

In his article for the Forum’s special feature series on2017, Suiwah Leung, Honorary Associate Professor of Economics at the CrawfordSchool of Public Policy, the Australian National University, highlighted that theglobal economy’s broad recovery throughout 2017 has assisted Vietnam’sdevelopment.

In the article named “Vietnam’s economy stays its coursedespite external headwinds”, Leung noted that Vietnam’s GDP growth recovered tonearly 6.8 percent last year, driven mainly by growth in domestic demand,manufacturing and exports.

He mentioned moderate inflation at 3 percent, hence theState Bank of Vietnam cutting its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to4.25 percent. The bank also raised its annual credit growth target to 20–21percent, and actual credit growth remained high at 18.5 percent.

The article said continued strong growth in goods andservice exports resulted in a small current account surplus and internationalreserves rising to just below 3 percent of imports. The nominal exchange ratehas remained relatively stable with a small devaluation of about 1.4 percent.This helped stem the continued appreciation of the real exchange rate andimprove competitiveness for the domestic sector.

The article also pointed to challenges facing Vietnam, withbudget deficits exceeding 6 percent of GDP in the past five years. Publicsector debt has resultantly come close to the 65 percent of GDP limit set by theNational Assembly.

The author suggested that the government continue to pursuestructural reforms in order to raise productivity growth.-VNA