Off the wire
Foreigners allowed owning houses in Vietnam from July 1  • Update: Iran's FM says Lausanne agreement can help final nuclear deal  • French president set to visit Benin  • UN says S. Sudan army committed rape, burnt girls alive  • News Analysis: Construction progress of China-Russia East-Route gas project strengthens energy ties  • Foreign exchange rates in Hong Kong  • Roundup: HK stocks snap 3 days of losses  • Xinhua Insight: Fundamentals still sound for China's capital market  • 3rd LD: Death toll from crashed Indonesian military plane rises to 30  • Elderly population surging in New Zealand  
You are here:   Home

Vietnam's GDP needs to reach 6.5 pct in 2015 to avoid deflation: expert

Xinhua, June 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

Vietnam's gross domestic product ( GDP) needs to reach 6.5 percent in 2015 to avoid deflation, said an expert here on Tuesday.

The remark was made at a conference on price and market situation of Vietnam in the first six months of 2015 held by the country's Academy of Finance's Institute of Economics and Finance (IEF) in capital Hanoi.

According to Nguyen Duc Do, deputy director of the IEF, with 6. 5 percent GDP growth, inflation in Vietnam will hit around 1.68 percent.

However, as the economic growth currently reaches only 6-6.25 percent, there is a relatively high probability that Vietnamese economy will fall into deflation, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA quoted Do as saying.

According to a report released at the conference, Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI) in June 2015 is estimated to increase 0. 55 percent compared to December 2014, and 1 percent year-on-year.

The country's inflation speed over the past year has been in downward trend, far away from the target inflation of five percent in 2015, said the report.

"Since 2008, Vietnam's economic growth has been lower than its potential level at around 6.5 percent. This means increase in total demand is weaker than that of total supply, causing decreasing inflation," said Do.

In order to reach GDP growth of 6.5 percent or higher, one thing that Vietnam needs to do right now is to reduce interest rates, especially lending interest rates. Otherwise, the recovery trend of Vietnamese economy will face risk of slowing down in near future, assessed the expert. Endi