Vietnam Today

Under the master plan for the 2021-2030 period and vision to 2050 for northern Bac Ninh province, which is to be submitted to the Prime Minister for appraisal shortly, by 2030, the province is to be the leading center in Vietnam in processing, manufacturing, and hi-tech services. It currently has the eighth-largest economy in the country and is the center of Vietnam’s electronics industry.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has said that more than 95 per cent of Vietnamese fishing vessels have now installed vessel monitoring systems (VMS). However, efforts to remove the EU’s “yellow card” on Vietnam for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing face many difficulties, as some localities still neglect to supervise the local fleet, with the number of vessels violating international waters not falling significantly.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and many high-ranking Vietnamese and European leaders will attend the Green Economy Forum & Exhibition (GEFE) in Ho Chi Minh City from November 28 to 30. The expo is expected to attract some 150 exhibitors and have an area of 5,000 sq m. EuroCham President Alain Cany said GEFE’s goal is to help Vietnam meet the commitments it made at COP26 and complete the national green growth strategy for the 2021-2030 period.

On October 3, while receiving Ms. Era Dabla-Norris, Division Chief in the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Asia and Pacific Department, who is visiting Vietnam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed that the IMF actively support Vietnam in developing its green economy as well as energy transformation, renewable energy development, and digital transformation. Ms. Dabla-Norris expressed her appreciation of Vietnam’s monetary and fiscal policies and expressed confidence in a positive outlook for Vietnam’s economy despite the external shocks.

Vietnam is expected to become the tenth-largest global consumer market in the world by 2030, surpassing both Germany and the UK. Despite the global challenges, it is a standout in the region in terms of GDP growth. HSBC has therefore raised its GDP growth forecast for this year to 6.9 per cent.

The Ministry of Finance has sent an official dispatch to ministries, branches, and localities on accelerating the disbursement of foreign capital in 2022. The Ministry said disbursement of ODA and foreign concessional loan capital averaged only 15.48 per cent of the plan in the first eight months of this year, which is rather low. Average disbursement among localities was 11.5 per cent of the plan and among ministries and branches 22.94 per cent. Remarkably, six ministries and eight localities posted distribution rates of 0 per cent of the plan.