If Typhoon Yagi had not occurred, causing heavy damage, the third quarter growth figure could have been even higher than 7.4%, according to Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong.
At the Government’s regular press conference on the afternoon of October 7, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong assessed that storm No. 3 (Yagi) and the post-storm circulation were unprecedentedly strong, causing huge damage. “The Ministry of Planning and Investment estimates that Typhoon Yagi will reduce GDP growth rate by 0.15 percentage points,” Mr. Phuong said.
Yesterday, the General Statistics Office said that GDP in the third quarter was estimated to increase by 7.4% over the same period last year. Thus, in the first three quarters of the year, GDP increased by 6.82% compared to the previous year, higher than the growth rate of 2020, 2021 (the time affected by the Covid-19 epidemic) and 2023. Hai Phong, Quang Ninh , Phu Tho… are localities heavily affected by Typhoon Yagi, but still maintain high growth momentum in the first 9 months of the year.
According to Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong, if Typhoon Yagi had not occurred, the third quarter growth figure could have been even higher than 7.4%. “With the results of the third quarter and 9 months, the Ministry of Planning and Investment continues to report to the Prime Minister and the Government to maintain the whole year growth target of 7%. If conditions permit, we can strive to be higher than this number. “, he said.
This morning, at an online meeting with 63 localities, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also asked leaders of ministries and localities to give top priority to growth so that “this year’s GDP is over 7%”.
Investment industry leaders also said that unaffected localities with high growth potential need to share and make more efforts to compensate for the losses of affected localities. “This is one of the solutions advised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment with the Prime Minister,” he said.
According to him, the two key areas achieving high growth, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, will play the role of “the locomotive, the main driving force, having a very good impact on the economic growth of the whole country”.
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong responded at the Government press conference, October 7. Image: Write Tuan
Typhoon Yagi landed in Vietnam in early September, affecting 26 northern provinces and cities and Thanh Hoa. These localities account for over 41% of GDP and 40% of the country’s population. The storm left 318 dead, 26 missing and 1,976 injured. Regarding the economy, by September 27, the estimated loss was about 81,500 billion VND. Public works and major local infrastructure were severely affected.
Leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment said that immediately after the storm passed, the banking industry quickly had solutions, such as restructuring, maintaining the same debt group, and continuing to lend new loans to restore production. Up to now, the banking industry has provided loans to about 84,500 affected customers, with a total amount of about 5,000 billion VND.
At the same time, the financial industry also continues to have policies such as delaying and postponing tax and fee payments to create cash flow for businesses and households to recover soon. Insurance companies review and assess damages to compensate for insurance contracts with affected assets, businesses, and factories.
“These are policies that have a timely and immediate impact to restore production,” he said, adding that in industrial parks in Hai Phong and Quang Ninh – the two localities that suffered the heaviest damage during the storm – Businesses returned to production very quickly, recovering after just over a week.
However, the Deputy Minister assessed that the agriculture and tourism sectors will be affected longer. For example, agriculture, especially plants and animals, need a long time to recover. With tourism, especially those using large assets such as boats, recovery will take a lot of time. Therefore, the Ministry of Planning and Investment also asked the Prime Minister to pay more attention to the two sectors of agriculture and tourism, which are damaged areas.