Vietnam Top Ten Economic Events in 2009

The Doanh Nhan online newspaper has named top ten economic events for this year as follows:

 

1. Vietnam GDP grows at 5.2%, higher than target of 5% thanks to the government stimulus efforts and IMF’s forecast of 4.6% this year.

 

2. Total export turnover fell 9.9% to about US$56.5 billion on global lower demands due to economic recession.

 

3. Manufacturing growth rose 3.8% in 2009 after falling 4.4% in January.

 

4. Gold and dollar prices were very volatile with a big gap between free market exchange rates and inter-bank rates. Gold prices rose sharply on inflation concerns to nearly VND30 million/tael.

 

5. The Government stimulus packages showed positive impacts. The government has adopted a stimulus package with four percent interest rate offset on loans, which help boost economic recovery.

 

6. Stock market recovered strongly from its bottom. VN-Index is trading around 460 after bottomed at 235.5 on February 24 and then peaked at 624 on October 22. Despite the market volatility, 2009 saw big progress in securities market including higher liquidity and the appearance of UPCOM market.

 

7. Vietnam disbursed US$9 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) out of a total US$20 billion pledged and US$3 billion in official development assistance (ODA).

 

8. Vietnam curbed inflation below 7%. The State Bank of Vietnam said Wednesday that 2009 consumer price index stood at 6.2%, lower than 10%.

 

9. Political bureau launched the campaign “Vietnamese use Vietnam-made products” and government approved VND51 billion for sale promotion activities.

 

10. Vietnam’s development investments totaled VND708.5 trillion, or 42% GDP, up 16% from 2008. (www.doanhnhan360.com)