Posted on 04 Dec 2009
Vietnam economy to grow 5.2 pct in 2009, minister says
The Vietnamese economy will probably expand 5.2 percent this year, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc reiterated Tuesday.
“Vietnam has been successful in executing its economic policy and minimizing the economic slowdown,” Phuc told a meeting of investors in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. “This is encouraging, though we still have a lot of challenges ahead.”
The Southeast Asian nation’s gross domestic product grew 6.2 percent in 2008. Growth is likely to accelerate next year to 6.5 percent, Phuc said today.
“Vietnam, like several other economies, is recovering from the global crisis,” said Victoria Kwakwa, the Hanoi-based country director for the World Bank, in comments today at the conference. The country needs to ensure that “the recovery is a strong one, that Vietnam regains the high rates of growth that it saw in the past,” she said.
Vietnam last week increased the benchmark rate to 8 percent from 7 percent, amid concern about accelerating inflation and a weakening currency. Vietnam was the first regional country since Australia to raise interest rates.
