Vietnam strives to reach economic growth of 6.2% in 2015

Vietnam is striving to reach economic growth of 6.2 percent in 2015, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said here on Wednesday.

Phuc made the remark while delivering Vietnamese government's report on supplement evaluation on the result of the implementation of the socio-economic development plan in 2014 and that in the first months of 2015 at the ninth session of the 13rd tenure of Vietnam's National Assembly (NA) which opened in Vietnam 's capital Hanoi on Wednesday.

Earlier in 2014, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 5.98 percent, higher than the set target of 5.8 percent and posted the highest level since 2011, said Phuc.

In 2015, Vietnam is striving to have export revenue up 10 percent year-on-year, keep inflation rate less than 5 percent, the rate of poor households down by 1.7-2 percent while creating some 1.6 million jobs and cutting the rate of unemployment in urban areas to less than 4 percent, Phuc said.

Vietnam's inflation rate in the first four-month period of 2015 stayed at 0.04 percent, the lowest figure in the past few years, not because of deflation but due to decreasing prices in world oil and basic goods, assessed the Vietnamese deputy prime minister.

The country saw credit growth of 3.97 percent during the period, much higher than 0.53 percent during the same period of 2014. Export revenue climbed 8.2 percent year-on-year while the state budget revenue went up 9.4 percent year-on-year.

In the first quarter this year, Vietnam's GDP expansion hit 6. 03 percent, the highest level in the past five years.

During four-month period, Vietnam created over 500,000 jobs, up 2.7 percent year-on-year and provided unemployment benefit for some 113,000 people.

However, Phuc said the country is facing several problems in realizing socio-economic development targets in 2015 including lower agricultural production compared to the same period of 2014, difficulties in consuming some agricultural products such as rice, rubber, fruits among others, severe droughts in central and central highlands, lower year-on-year export revenue growth, and decrease in foreign arrivals among others.

In order to tackle these challenges, Vietnamese government proposed to improve investment environment, boost economic restructuring associated with reform of growth model, promote administrative reforms, combat corruption, waste, smuggling, and commercial fraud among others.