VDF addresses Vietnam’s productivity issues

VDF participants this morning talked much about productivity issues in Vietnam

This was the proposal of Kenichi Ohno from the National Graduate Institute of Economic Management at Vietnam Development Forum (VDF) 2017 organised this morning in Hanoi.

According to Kenichi Ohno, the quality of Vietnamese policies needs to be improved so that the government can assist the private sector more effectively.

"By comparing the average income and industrial development policies in Vietnam with 12 other countries in Asia and Africa, Vietnam is in the medium-income segment, but is lagging behind in policies, ranking in the same group as Laos, Cambodia, and Indonesia and following Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philipines," he said.

Regarding labour productivity in the manufacturing and processing sector alone, Vietnam ranks tenth, following Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, China, and India, among others.

“With the existing weaknesses in policíe and labour productivity, Vietnam will face difficulties in exiting the medium income trap as well as reaching its economic growth targets,” said Ohno.

Thus, the Vietnamese government should consider improving the productivity of the overall economy in general and labour productivity in particular.

Notably, Vietnam needs to effect a radical change in its mindset, draw up specific productivity targets, revamp its industrial support policies, and issiue specific productivity tools.

In addition, Vietnam’s institutional capacity for productivity enhancement must be strengthened through policy mechanisms.

“Since 1995, Japan has been supporting Vietnam’s research on industrial policies, methodologies, and soft components in various ways but with limited results. In the upcoming time, Japan commits to continue supporting Vietnam to improve the productivity of the overall economy,” Ohno added.

VDF 2017 took place on December 13, 2017 at Sheraton Hotel Hanoi. The forum was co-chaired by the Minister of Planning and Investment and the country director of World Bank in Vietnam with the participation of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Deputy Prime Ministers Vuong Dinh Hue and Pham Binh Minh, and over 350 representatives from ministries, leaders of cities and provinces, embassies, foreign and domestic organisations, and the business community.

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