Vietnam economic pickup could start in May

VietBusinessNews - Vietnam's economy, buffetted by the global recession, should see "new movement" by May when the threat of a slowdown will have been stopped and growth will resume, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said.

The Southeast Asian country's gross domestic product growth slowed to 6.23% last year after 8.5% the year before and the government hopes to keep it at 6-6.5% this year, although many, including the IMF, see growth closer to 5%.

Hanoi has announced a $6 billion stimulus plan, which includes about $1 billion in corporate tax relief, and the central bank has been trying to spur economic activity through a series of interest rate cuts and other measures to kickstart lending.
It has also allowed the currency, the Vietnamese dong, to slip in value, making exports more competitive.

"Against a difficult backdrop, we still have favourable conditions for revitalising industry, raising our production capabilities, changing the development model from one focused on breadth toward one focused on depth," a government Web site quoted Dung as saying.

Dung made the comments on Wednesday at a news conference for Vietnamese media.
But with no end in sight to the global economic woes a full recovery could prove tough.

In January, Vietnam's trade gap narrowed, but exports were estimated to have fallen 24.2% to $3.8 billion. Industrial output also posted a rare drop, falling 4.4% in January from the same month the year before. (Reuters)