Vietnam’s economic growth in 2019 on course to surpass 7%: Deputy PM

He revealed the projection at a meeting of the Price Regulation Steering Committee on December 25.

Citing calculations by the Ministry of Finance, the Deputy PM said inflation in 2019 is to be estimated at 2.73%, which is much lower than the growth rate, making the already strong growth figure even more significant.

In 2019 inflation has been primarily driven by higher food and fuel prices, especially in the latter half of the year when pork prices skyrocketed as supplies were reduced sharply due to the result of the deadly African swine fever.

But overall price increases have been restrained thanks to appropriate management which combines various measures in line with market developments and scenarios constructed by the steering committee.

Deputy PM Hue said the inflation rate in 2019 is the lowest it’s been over the past three years, compared with 3.54% in 2018 and 3.53% in 2017, adding that it is even lower than the committee’s projection of 3.3-3.9% made at the start of the year.