According to Nguyen Thanh Phong, deputy director of the Central Economic Commission, both this year and last year the Gross Domestic Product would have grown very close to seven percent had it not been for the multiple difficulties brought about by the disease.

But in 2020 it only did so at 2.91 percent and in this one it could do so at 2.5 percent, Phong told a national forum on post-pandemic economic recovery.

For his part, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Economics Committee Vu Hong Thanh said the business rescue package should focus on key sectors capable of recovering quickly and safely.

Delegates agreed on the need to concentrate efforts on investment, exports, domestic consumption and digitalization of the economy.

Dang Hong Anh, chairman of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association, stressed the wish of ensuring that money flows into production, rather than risky areas such as real estate.

The country reports more than 1,300,000 cases of Covid-19 and 26,260 deaths, figures that soared after the fourth wave of the disease at the end of April.

Authorities lifted the strictest containment measures at the end of October and are looking for solutions to contain the disease and, at the same time, revive the economy.

mh/etc/jf/asg