Hanoi (VNA) – Economists have forecast that theVietnamese economy could grow by 6.86 percent this year, higher than the 6.6 –6.8 percent set by the National Assembly.

They made the prediction during a symposium held by theNational Centre for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (NCIF) in Hanoi onJuly 11 discussing 2019 mid-term economic report.

Speaking at the event, NCIF Director Tran Thi Hong Minh saidthe growth of agro-forestry-fishery sector could reach 3.02 percent,agriculture and construction 8.61 percent, and services 6.84 percent. Inflationwould be about 3.13 percent, well below the targeted 4 percent.

The economy expanded by an estimated 6.76 percent in thefirst half, lower than the 7.08 percent growth recorded during the same periodlast year.

NCIF Deputy Director Dang Duc Anh said while macro-economywas stable in the past six months, but various challenges arose during January– June, including unfavourable weather conditions, the African swine fever andslow disbursement of public investment capital.

Export growth also slowed down due to adverse impacts of theworld economy.

A bright point was the increasing inflow of investmentcapital from China which soared to over 2.2 billion USD while foreigninvestment via mergers and acquisitions nearly doubled year-on-year.

In order to achieve economic growth target, Anh suggestedcontinuing to pursue a cautious monetary policy to keep foreign exchange rateand interest rates stable, gear credit towards manufacturing and trade whilestepping up the disbursement of foreign and private investment capital.

He called on the government to intensify the fight against tradefrauds, improve workforce quality via connecting with firms to offer vocationaltraining, and promote start-ups.-VNA