Long An's economy grows positively in the first half of 2023

GRDP growth results in the first 6 months of 2023

The growth of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in the first and second quarter of the year reached 3.84% and 2.97% respectively, the first 6 months's GRDP reached 3.43% (the first 6 months of 2022's GRDP reached 5.47%). Although the growth rate tends to slow down and be lower than the same period in 2022, this is a positive growth rate in the context of economic difficulties and challenges. Compared with the growth rate of the first 6 months in the country, Long An ranked 49th among provinces and cities nationwide; ranked 9th out of 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta and 6th in the Southern Key Economic Region.

Compared with the same period in 2022, the 3.71% increase in agriculture, forestry and fishery is the only sector with a higher growth rate (the 1st half of 2022 reached 1.04% ).

Industrial production and construction investment in the province have developed but tended to slow down, estimated to increase by 3.40% (the same period reached 7.15%). The main reason is that the decrease in aggregate demand causes enterprises to lack orders, leading to a decrease in production output.

Trade and service activities in the first 6 months of the year showed quite positive development momentum. The policies to stimulate domestic consumption of the Government and localities help the growth rate of the whole tertiary sector reach 4.06% (the same period reached 5.34%).

In the first 6 months of 2023, industrial production activities in the province have developed but tended to slow down (In the photo: Sang Viet Production - Trading Joint Stock Company, Long Hiep commune, Ben Luc district) Photo: Mai Huong

Forecasting of GRDP growth in the last 6 months and the whole year of 2023

The sowing progress the 2023 summer-autumn rice crop is favorable, the yield is estimated to increase by 14.9% by the end of June. Agricutural sector tends to recover and develop over the same period.

The National Assembly has approved the exemption and reduction of a number of taxes to help businesses overcome difficulties. Flexible monetary policy management is the right and timely solution. The progress of public investment capital disbursement in the province has achieved many positive results.

A number of new enterprises are in construction or initially put into operation, contributing to the province's growth. CPI (consumer price index) tends to decrease month by month from the beginning of the year. Inflation index was under control (4.74%).

In addition to the advantages, there are still many difficulties: The price of animal feed and agricultural materials has increased, and diseases are always at risk of outbreaks in the near future; no large-scale enterprises or projects has been put into operation, so it is difficult to make a breakthrough in growth; a number of large-scale industrial enterprises have arranged branches in other provinces, reducing the scale significantly in Long An.

On the other hand, the increasing cost of raw and input materials causes many difficulties for industrial enterprises; bank interest rates are still quite high, making enterprises difficult to access capital; transport infrastructure has not timely met the development requirements of the province; lack of skilled labor resources;etc.

With the growth rate of GRDP in the first quarter of 3.84%, the second quarter of 2.97%, creating a growth rate of 3.43% in the first 6 months of the year, the Statistics sector proposed 3 specific growth scenarios:

Scenario 1: Economic growth for the whole year is 5.01%, in which, growth in the third and fourth quarter need to be 5.77% and 7.38% respectively, making the second half of the year to be 6.56%.

Scenario 2: Economic growth for the whole year is 6.23%, in which, growth in the third and fourth quarter need to be 7.93% and 10.07% respectively, making the second half of the year to be 8.98%.

Scenario 3: Economic growth for the whole year is 8.03%, in which, growth in the third and fourth quarter need to be 11.06% and 14.13% respectively, making the second half of the year to be 12.56%.

Regarding the solution, the Statistical Sector proposed: The Agriculture sector should pay close attention to the production situation of the Summer-Autumn and Autumn-Winter rice crops of 2023 in order to minimize damage caused by weather and diseases; create favorable conditions for enterprises to easily access capital; propose many preferential interest rate packages for businesses in this difficult period; having policies to support workers such as accommodation, electricity, water, etc, especially those from outside the province so that they can work with peace of mind. In the long term, the province needs to attract more large-scale enterprises to go into production soon such as Long An LNG Power Plant Project I and II to create breakthrough growth; train skilled workers according to market demand, contributing to improving labor productivity./.

Nguyen Van Chuan (Provincial Statistical Office)

Source: https://baolongan.vn/6-thang-dau-nam-2023-kinh-te-cua-tinh-long-an-tang-truong-tich-cuc-a158809.html