Supporting exporters to prevent economic recession

Illustration photo

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT), the total export turnover of 2008 is estimated to stand around US $63.5-64 billion, up 30.8-31.8% against 2007.

Recently, the NA fixed the export growth rate at 13% for 2009, equivalent to a turnover of US $72 billion.

However, due to the global economic difficulties, Việt Nam can earn US $66-67 billion from export next year.

The MIT calculated that the 2009 export turnover will slightly increase, reaching US $84 billion, 2.4% higher than this year. So, the excess of import over export may be US $17-18 billion.

The Ministry is entertaining a package to stimulate export and production, including a bailout of US $1 billion for the Development Bank and other commercial banks to lend producers and exporters, especially those trading in aqua-products, rice, coffee, pepper, textiles, apparels, and footwear.

It is also necessary to lower prime interest rate, encourage banks to provide preferential loans, and temporarily lift import tax imposed on some input materials.

The MIT also proposed five measures to reduce import and narrow trade gap: (1) To continue the solutions being implemented in 2008, such as managing import activities through automatic licenses; (2) to further supervise quality of imports and apply technical barriers; (3) to expand the production of goods of competitive advantages; (4) to speed up the signing of bilateral and multilateral agreements on free trade areas to facilitate export activities; and (5) to minimize waste in capital construction and consumption as well as soundly use domestic resources.

The Ministry called upon people and enterprises to purchase made-in-Việt Nam products and save materials in production and consumption.

By Nguyên Hồ