Economic growth continues to accelerate

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The signal reflects the Government’s strong endeavor to get the economy back on track while it had to focus on curbing inflation and stabilizing macro-economy amid global economic recession.

The General Statistics Office reported Thursday that Viet Nam's industrial production index rose 9.7% in September from a year earlier, up from August's 4.4% rise and its most robust gain since February. Retail sales of goods and services in the first nine months of the year rose 17% from a year earlier. The country posted a trade surplus of $34 million in the January-September period, compared with a deficit of nearly $8.16 billion a year earlier, the statistics office said.

However, the economy only expanded at 4.73% in the first nine months of 2012 while the Government targeted the growth rate of 5.5% for the year. The country's GDP growth averaged 7.2% over the past decades, and was 5.9% in 2011.

To realize the whole-year target, drastic effort must be made in the fourth quarter, said PM Nguyen Tan Dung at the Government’s regular meeting on September 27.

In next three months, the Government said it will focus on curbing inflation and stabilizing macro-economy while maintaining reasonable growth.

To achieve reasonable growth, the Government figured out a number of measures to ease difficulties against businesses, boost production and export of staples like rice, aquatic products, garments and focus on reducing high inventory, particularly of construction materials and supporting the real estate market.

Economic restructuring, the Government chief reasserted, would be promoted through restructuring public investment, State-owned enterprises and the banking system. Clearing bad debts and settling poor banks are top priorities in the process of banking restructuring, he stressed.

By Hai Minh