Vietnam inflation still under control: economists

Economists have forecast Vietnam’s inflation will be kept at around 3.3-3.8% this year, similar to the National Assembly-set target of below 4%, adding that the pressure for 2023, however, remains huge and requiré appropriate response solutions.

Economists have forecast Vietnam’s inflation will be kept at around 3.3-3.8% this year, similar to the National Assembly-set target of below 4%, adding that the pressure for 2023, however, remains huge and requires appropriate response solutions.

According to Deputy Director of the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) Nguyen Quoc Viet, inflation in many countries over the world posted a record high in the first months of 2022. Global inflation is projected from 7.25-9.4% this year and 4-6.5% next year.

The inflation pressure has forced central banks to tighten their monetary policies, which poses a risk of increasing economic recession.

In Vietnam, to control inflation under 4%, the Government and relevant agencies have taken flexible measures, from controlling market liquidity to flexibly combining fiscal policies and exempting or reducing taxes and fees of essential and strategic commodities.

Thanks to these measures, the country’s inflation in the first eight months of 2022 was 2.58% year-on-year, higher than the 1.67% of the same period last year but lower than the average of the similar period of the 2018-2020 period.

Economist Le Xuan Nghia pointed to five solutions that need to be carried out in the remaining months of this year, namely persisting measures to stabilise macro-economy, prices and curb inflation; maintaining those to boost sustainable growth; providing support in terms of capital and market access for people and businesses; solving shortcomings of the business environment and labour shortage problems; and better forecast and policy assessment works.