Nguyen Anh Duong from CIEM said the achievements were due to improved macro stabilization, concentration on institutional reform and changes in management.

Many business fields in the national economy have witnessed a strong recovery, a ‘qualitative’ rather than ‘quantitative’ recovery, according to economists, who emphasized that the proportion of ore mining has reduced gradually to make room for industries and services.

Of the reasons cited to explain the unexpectedly high growth rate in 2017 (6.82 percent), institutional reform was highlighted. Duong said the elimination of unnecessary procedures and policies has helped increase the value of enterprises.

It is estimated that for every percentage of point of improvement in the quality of legal documents, the TFP (total factor productivity) can increase by 1.41 percentage points. 

CIEM’s head Nguyen Dinh Cung, mentioning the equitization of SOEs and divestment process, said this shows the government’s determination to restructure SOEs and confirm its policy on making investments only in strategic business fields.

The Prime Minister’s move of signing Decree 08 on removing 600 business conditions put under the control of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has been applauded by the business community and analysts.

The Prime Minister’s move of signing Decree 08 on removing 600 business conditions put under the control of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has been applauded by the business community and analysts.

The other ministries, including MARD and MOC, are also taking steps towards simplifying procedures to ease the burden on enterprises. 

Cung said that the moves of the government are made because the ministries’ leaders have been aware of the importance of reform, not because of pressure from outside.

In 2018, CIEM said Vietnam will benefit from the fact that the world economy has entered a positive development period. The increase in exports will support GDP growth. Every percentage point of world GDP will help Vietnam’s exports increase by 4 percentage points.

CIEM also sees positive points in the decreased bad debt ratio of the banking system. 

Pham Chi Lan, a respected economist, is cautious when commenting about achievements. She thinks it is necessary to reconsider the figure about the trade surplus of $2.7 billion in 2017, stressing that exports were mostly from foreign-invested enterprises.

She also said that private businesses are still facing difficulties, which can be seen in the high number of dissolved businesses.

ADB (Asian Development Bank) has predicted a 6.8 percent GDP growth rate for Vietnam in 2018, a figure which is much higher than the average growth rate in the region.

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