MPI sets 2004 socio-economic action plan

MPI minister Vo Hong Phuc said: “With the view that from now on all the ministry’s activities will be publicised and explicit, we warmly welcome advice from experts, who will surely help to improve the effectiveness and feasibility of our policies.”
A main topic at the meeting was how to improve the ministry’s efficiency by identifying the causes of any shortcomings this year.
Social Sciences and Humanities Centre’s Economic Institute’s Tran Dinh Thien said investment during the last few years had remained limited, mainly because of an imbalance in investment-capital allocation.
“There is yet to be an appropriate allocation of investment amongst sectors and different projects. To solve the problem, we should consider investment structure and investment direction as a single issue, instead of separating them,” he said.
“Every year, a great part of the state budget goes to so-called national strategic projects but actual capital realisation is very low. Plus, very few people are aware of the importance and impact of these projects on the economy.
“An important task for the government is to decide which are big projects that will benefit the entire nation, and which only benefit a few, to avoid capital extravagance.”
The National Assembly’s External Relations Committee vice head,
Nguyen Ngoc Tran, said most of the investment shortcomings mentioned in
the MPI annual reports lacked quantitative
figures, leading to difficulties in setting targets for the next year.
“We all know that investment efficiency is at low level but how low it is remains unknown to many people. The efficiency of state budget contributions to business should also be quantitatively measured. Without quantitative results, policy-makers can hardly give a proper target and strategy,” he said.
Meanwhile, professors from various universities looked at the MPI’s performance from a different angle and gave other advice.
According to Professor Nguyen Du Phong from the National Economic University, although the investment environment in Vietnam has been much improved recently, it still lacks many incentives for foreigners.
“Much attention must be paid to research and study. Experience from foreign countries can give a great contribution to investment-policy making,” the professor said.
According to MPI statistics, it is estimated that by the end of 2003, national GDP will have reached 7.2 per cent. The growth rate for the first half of the year was 6.9 per cent which is expected to slightly increase to 7.5 per cent in the second half.
This is a little higher than a World Bank forecast which put Vietnam at a growth rate of 7.0 per cent. Other countries in the region – China, Japan, Thailand and Singapore – were estimated by the World Bank to reach a growth rate of 7.2, 0.6, 4.5 and 1.7 per cent respectively.
As for investment, the MPI predicted that total realised capital for 2003 would be VND217,000 billion, 18 per cent higher than last year, and would account for 35.6 per cent of this year’s GDP. The State budget is expected to contribute VND46 trillion, 13.9 per cent higher than last year.
For the year 2004, GDP is expected to increase by 7.5-8 per cent and total investment capital for national development by 13-15 per cent to VND245-250 trillion.