Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Plᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚanning and Investment (MoPI)has devised two growth scenarios for the second half of 2021, saidDeputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong.

At a press conference following the Government’s regular meeting inHanoi on July 1, Phuong said under the first scenario with a growth target of6 percent for the whole year, growth in the third and fourth quarters should reach 6.2percent and 6.5 percent, respectively, provided that the COVID-19 pandemic isbasically curbed in July and there are no pandemic clusters in industrial parks and no social distancing inmajor cities and provinces. To achieve a 6.5 percent growth rate this year under the second scenario, thecountry must reach growth of 7 percent in the third quarter and 7.5 percentand above in the fourth quarter providing that the pandemic is controlled in June and there are no pandemic clusters in industrial parks and no social distancing in major cities and provinces. The MoPI reported that the economy encountered challenges in thefirst half of this year, mostly from COVID-19 outbreaks with new variants, risingprices in real estate, materials, transportation and international trade risks. In the first half of this year, the country's gross domestic product (GDP)expanded by 5.64 percent, higher than 1.82 percent recorded in the same periodlast year but lower than 7.05 percent and 6.77 percent in the same periods in2018 and 2019. The consumer price index went up 1.47 percent in the first halfof this year, the lowest since 2016. As of June 23, credit grew by 5.08 percent from late2020 and 15.41 percent year-on-year. State budget collections hit 57.7 percent of the estimate, up15.3 percent annually. Total budget expenditure was down 4.9 percentyear-on-year, or 41.2 percent of the yearly estimate. Food security was stillensured./.