By Umi Hani Sharani, NNN-BERNAMA,
Kuala Lumpur : Vietnam’ inflation rate is expected to decline to single-digit levels next year from the double-digit figure expected this year, says Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh.
Ninh said Sunday that Vietnam had carried out measures in the past five months which were now showing results in addressing inflation which was currently hovering at 25 per cent.
“We had hyper-inflation of over 700 per cent in the 1990s but we managed to overcome it,” he added at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia 2008 here.
He was one of the panellists at the plenary session entitled “Global Economic Leadership: Is Asia in the Driver’s Seat?”.
Ninh said although Vietnam was also affected by current developments in the global economy, the country was not facing any problem regarding food and oil supplies.
“In terms of food, we have no problem with supply, and we are still able to continue exporting food,” he said.
“In terms of energy, the oil price hike did impact us earlier as we were an importer. But now as we are producing and exporting about 15.5 million tonnes of crude oil yearly, we are also able to meet domestic demand,” he added.
However, Ninh said the Vietnamese government might review fuel subsidies as the country’s fuel price was currently lower compared with neighouring Laos and Myanmar.
According to him, the country believes it can overcome current difficulties and maintain development.
“We are still receiving confidence from investors as shown in our FDI (foreign direct investment) inflows,” he said, adding that for the first five months of this year, Vietnam posted an FDI inflow of around five billion USD.
The country, he added, registered eight per cent growth last year and was taking strong measures and implementing policy packages to restore macro-economic stability.