Major socio-economic figures in 2008 announced

The General Statistics Office (GSO) held a press conference in Hanoi on December 31 to announce major socio-economic figures of 2008.

GSO General Director Nguyen Duc Hoa said that Vietnam achieved a GDP growth rate of 6.23 percent this year, which remains a big achievement for the country in the context of the global financial crisis. This created favourable conditions for the country to maintain political stability and ensure social orders.

This year, the production value of agro-forestry-seafood, industry and services has also increased considerably compared to last year. In spite of difficulties in finding export markets, eight export staples including rice and coffee recorded a turnover of more than US$2 billion each. Import surplus hit US$17.5 billion equivalent to 27.8 percent the export value. Notably, the rate of poor households shrank by 1.3 percent against last year. The government’s major solutions to curb inflation, stabilise the macro economy, and ensure social welfare took effect.

However, Mr Hoa said the national economy revealed shortcomings, which should be addressed soon in 2009. He said the economy tended to grow slowly in late 2008 and efforts to curb inflation and stabilise the macro economy failed to produce lasting results. Meanwhile, many pressing social issues such as hunger, infectious diseases, food safety and hygiene, traffic accidents and environmental pollution were not solved completely.

To fulfil socio-economic development tasks for 2009, Mr Hoa suggested that relevant ministries and agencies effectively implement the government’s newly adopted solutions to prevent economic recession, maintain the growth rate and ensure social security. The administrative reform programme should be accelerated to help businesses boost production and increase their competitiveness.

Another important task is to increase the capacity of the forecasting work to quickly respond to fluctuations in the global market and minimise losses to the national economy.

In addition, special attention must be paid to ensuring social security to soften the impact of the global economic crisis on people’s lives, especially those in difficult circumstances. (VOV)