“Enhancing the digital platform for the service industry - Valuable policy recommendations at the Conference to announce the Vietnam Annual Economic Report 2022” – the topic has been discussed by policy makers, scientists, international organizations, businesses, and press agencies at the 2022 Vietnam Economic Annual Report Announcement Workshop (Autonomous Economic Report 2022) organized by the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), the VNU University of Economics and Business (VNU-UEB) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Institute (FNF) Vietnam on May 20, 2022.

Digital transformation - an inevitable trend for global service businesses to live together safely, flexibly and effectively to COVID-19

In 2021, digital transformation trends such as working remotely (Work from Home) have emerged; 5G network; Artificial Intelligence AI, Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Customer Data Platforms (CDP)... The developed economies have gone into depth and are at the stage of focusing on handling the "core" issues of the digital economy, but Southeast Asia (except Singapore) is at the start of the global digital transformation. across all sectors and is still lagging far behind developed countries. 

Digital transformation in service industries has been and is taking place globally, and there are differences by industry. Digital transformation in Logistics services is increasing strongly based on the development of information and communication technology. In financial services, the digital transformation process takes place at different levels depending on the technology and financial capabilities of each implementing organization.

According to the results reported by experts at the conference, Vietnam has is ranked 70/141 countries in the ranking of digital transformation readiness. In 2021, Vietnam has left many important imprints in digital transformation in response to the Covid-19 pandemic with 50% of enterprises investing in technology deployment for internal operations; 36.76% of enterprises recruit and train employees remotely; 8 million new users on digital platforms. More than 60% of Vietnamese businesses intend to continue to combine remote working and working at the office, more than 77% of businesses choose to deploy a combination model of online and on-site business after the epidemic. Digital transformation has been carried out in all economic and social fields (Health, education, e-commerce, finance and banking, Logistics, etc.), although there have been many positive growth signals. from the figures and forecasts of the General Statistics Office for nearly the first half of 2022, The recovery process of Vietnam's economy is somewhat slow compared to many other countries in the world. Supportive policies and drastic recovery solutions have also been promulgated by the Party and Government and required industries, localities and the business community to promote all motivations to maintain the growth rate at pre-contemporary levels. Translate. Therefore, Vietnam needs to accelerate economic restructuring in association with renovating the growth model based on innovation and improving the digital economy platform.

Forecasting 3 growth scenarios in 2022

Vietnam's economic forecast in 2022, VEPR assessed, the economy is in the process of recovering but will continue to face many difficulties and obstacles.

Those are the risks from the pandemic, the risk of new strains appearing despite recent developments showing an improvement in global disease control. Obstacles also come from inflation pressure and rising production costs, risks from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Although the direct impacts are not too large due to the relatively small bilateral trade and investment relations between these two countries with Vietnam, the indirect effects are very large. Next is the slowdown of the global economy and important partner economies of Vietnam, especially China in the context that the country continues its "zero Covid" policy with control measures. Strict epidemic control can cause stress to the economy, affect supply chains, thereby affecting Vietnam's economy.

From the analysis and general policy recommendations, the Report emphasizes that Vietnam needs to continue to achieve the goal of both economic recovery, macroeconomic stability and soundness; financial market transparency from the perspective of living with Covid-19; implement fiscal and monetary policies with a focus on boosting demand and prioritizing resources for the business sector to recover and develop.

The report has presented GDP growth scenarios in 2022, with the base scenario being that the growth rate this year will reach 5.7%, the extreme scenario is 6.2%. However, if the context is negative, the GDP growth that VEPR forecasts will decrease to 5.2%.

The scientists attending the conference recommend that, in the context that the pandemic can still develop complicatedly, proactively controlling the disease, minimizing negative impacts, and protecting and supporting economic recovery need to be prioritized.

In particular, it is necessary to accelerate the implementation of solutions for economic recovery and development. In which, continuing to implement social security solutions, policies on tax and fee exemption and reduction, etc. proposed at the Socio-economic Recovery Program 2022-2023. Accelerate the progress of the solution. public investment capital budget, effectively harmonizing public investment capital from the capital of the Recovery Program and capital from the medium-term public investment plan.

Another issue that should be noted is speeding up the implementation of measures to reduce interest rates and support interest rates, but it needs to be closely associated with strict supervision and control of bad debt situation...

The Vietnam Economic Annual Report is a key product of the VEPR. Over the past 14 years and 14 reporting periods, the Institute has focused on independent research and analysis, based on evidence from the reality of Vietnam's macroeconomic issues in the year of publication of the report and forecast for the next year. In addition, the reports also highlight achievements, difficulties, opportunities and challenges in the process of economic development in Vietnam, contributing to providing a scientific basis for macroeconomic policymaking. at the same time, selectively discuss some outstanding and in-depth economic issues of Vietnam.