Vietnam premier says country’s economy faces more virus-related risks.
Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh warned the nation’s economy will continue to face pandemic-related risks ranging from a widening state budget deficit to rising bank bad debts this year, according to the government’s website.
Prime Minister said the challenges will require “very skillful” measures, the website reported, citing the premier during a meeting with local government officials on Wednesday.
Related: Inflation in Vietnam this year are expected to accelerate from last year
The difficulties facing the economy include struggling businesses, disbursement of public investments at a multi-year low, the state budget’s increasing non-recurring revenue and the pandemic’s affect on efforts to restructure the economy, the prime minister said.
The finance ministry estimated the 2021 state budget deficit to be below 4% of gross domestic product, the government’s website reported, citing information from a ministry meeting on Thursday.
State budget revenues were estimated at 1,563 trillion dong, or 16% higher than planned, with state spending seen at 1,879 trillion dong, an 11% increase from the government’s plan, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Vietnam health ministry reported 16,278 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, including 16,254 locally transmitted and 24 imported.
Also read: Hanoi sees record daily high of new Covid-19 cases
The Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the locality with the highest number of infections on Friday with 2,723 cases, followed by northern Hai Phong city with 795 cases and central Khanh Hoa province with 790 cases.
The infections brought the country’s total tally to 1,859,841 with 33,877 deaths. Nationwide, as many as 1,479,048 Covid-19 patients have so far recovered, up 14,633 from Thursday, according to ministry of health.
The data showed, some 157.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including 70.5 million second shots and 9.1 million third shots, have been administered, according to the ministry.
@ Bloomberg
