VietNamNet Bridge - The independence and objectivity of statistical data released by ministries and local authorities is dubious, Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh has said. 

Vinh made the statement before the National Assembly’s Economics Committee at a meeting discussing the Statistics Act held some days ago.

He said there were big differences between figures released by central statistical agencies and local authorities, and between government agencies and non-state organizations.

The Ministry of Finance’s 2012 report showed that Vietnam’s public debt reached 55.4 percent of GDP. 

Meanwhile, a report by the National Assembly’s consultative group on macroeconomic policies pointed out that if counting state-owned enterprises’ bank debts, estimated at 16.5 percent, and their debts in unguaranteed bonds, the figure would be approximately 95 percent of GDP. 

In another issue, Tran Du Lich, deputy head of the HCM City National Assembly Deputies’ Delegation, raised doubts about the number of passengers going through Tan Son Nhat International Airport. 

The figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) and HCM City Statistical Office are quite different, which is the major reason behind the arguments about the necessity of building Long Thanh Airport in Dong Nai province.

The high number of passengers released by CAAV showed that Tan Son Nhat is seriously overloaded and therefore, it is necessary to ease overloading by building a new airport. Meanwhile, the statistics released by city authorities do not show a serious situation.

Lich cited an example to show where inaccurate statistics would drive the national economy and businesses. 

In early 2014, government agencies predicted a high consumer price index (CPI) at 6.5-7 percent. Therefore, businesses accepted to borrow money at the interest rate of 10-11 percent per annum, because they believed they would be able to make profits despite the high interest rate.

However, the actual CPI released at the end of 2014 was 1.84 percent only. This means that businesses had to pay too much for their investments.

An analyst noted that it is very difficult to find reliable figures about newly established enterprises, operating enterprises and dissolved businesses. 

“You find three figures released by the statistics office, business registration agency and taxation body,” he said.

The statistics about the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio surprised the former Governors of the State Bank as well.

“The figure released in late 2010 was 2.36 percent. One year later, it rose to 17 percent. Both Kiem (Cao Sy Kiem – reporter) and I, the former Governors of the State Bank, were astonished,” said Nguyen Van Giau, chair of the National Assembly’s Economics Committee.

“Three years later, the reported NPL ratio decreased to 3.22 percent,” he said.

Pham Huyen