Vietnam to see modest recovery in 2010, deputy PM says

By Kim Deok-hyun
SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- Vietnam's struggling economy is expected to see a
modest recovery next year, driven by the government's swift fiscal and monetary
stimulus packages, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said Friday.
Hit by the global economic downturn, the Vietnamese economy grew 6.2 percent last
year, compared with a 8.5 percent expansion in 2007. But a number of stimulus
measures may help the country get out of its economic slump more quickly, Hai
said.
"The government feels it can achieve GDP growth of five percent this year and 6.5
percent in 2010," the deputy prime minister told the World Economic Forum on East
Asia in Seoul. The two-day forum, which was set to close later in the day, drew
some 400 government and corporate leaders from 35 countries.
"There are signs that thing are beginning to turn around. This is because the
government was quick to adopt a number of stimulus measures to counter the impact
of the global financial crisis," Hai added.
Between 1996 and 2005, Vietnam achieved an annual growth rate of 7.5 percent.
At the forum, Hai supported views that Asia's export-dependent economies could
begin to grow on their own terms, helped by the growing ranks of middle-class
consumers in East Asia, especially in China.
"The young, middle-class population will be the driving force in Asian
countries," Hai said.
The arrival of a billion more middle-class consumers will speed up the shift of
East Asian economies from focusing on export-led development to more
consumption-driven growth, he added.
"Asian countries will have to adjust their export-led model to reduce dependence
on the global economy," Hai said.
kdh@yna.co.kr
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