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Dear readers,

Due to a host of varying factors, both internal and external but particularly the continued headwinds from global
economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions, Vietnam was unable to achieve all of the socio-economic targets
set for 2023 by the National Assembly, with some indicators, such as GDP growth, export value, and production
value from the manufacturing and processing sector falling well short of targets. Growth, for instance, came in at
5.05 per cent against a target of 6.5 per cent.

Such results, while not viewed too poorly given the circumstances, leave much to do in 2024 for Vietnam to achieve
the targets within its five-year 2021-2025 plan.

Implementation of the 2024 socio-economic development plan will therefore play a decisive role in achieving these
five-year targets.

Vietnam’s economic performance in the first quarter of 2024, though certainly much better than in the same period
of 2023, failed to provide too much promise for the year ahead.

In a roundtable discussion co-hosted in mid-April by Vietnam Economic Times / VnEconomy and the University
of Economics and Business at the Vietnam National University - Hanoi, with the theme “Economic Outlook for
the First Quarter: Opening the Way for the Economy in 2024”, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, former Head of the Central
Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) at the Ministry of Planning and Investment, pointed out that GDP
growth in the first quarter was 5.66 per cent year-on-year, representing the highest growth in the first quarter
during the 2020-2023 period, while total value added across the industrial sector rose 6.18 per cent, contributing
2.02 percentage points to overall value added growth in the economy. However, Dr. Cung added, the growth
pattern of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) fluctuated month-by-month in the quarter, while the
Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector fell below the 50-point threshold in March. “The
economic recovery witnessed in the first quarter of 2024 therefore lacks sustainability,” he concluded.

It is, therefore, difficult to say that the economic achievements in the first quarter will pave the way to achieving
socio-economic targets set for the year as a whole, as economic performance in Vietnam is influenced by many
factors, including difficulties and challenges in the outside world, where political and economic instability are
clear to see.

However, many experts are optimistic that the prospects for Vietnam’s economy in 2024 remain bright.

Our Cover Story in this semi-monthly issue, issued on May 1, looks back at the country’s socio-economic
development in the first quarter while focusing on the favorable factors as well as the obstacles and challenges
ahead as Vietnam works to fulfill its 2024 economic plan and its five-year targets.

DR. CHU VAN LAM
Editor-in-Chief