Vietnam Should not Trade off Environment for Economic Growth: Economists

Leading economists have cautioned that Vietnam should not trade off its economic growth for the quality of environment on the heel of massive fish deaths in central Vietnam over the past weeks, which make the public so worried. In order to achieve economic growth in a sustainable manner, Vietnam must map out medium and long-term development strategy and should not pursue economic growth at any cost while paying no attention to the quality of the environment, economists pointed out. A study on overall impacts of foreign-invested firms on Vietnam carried out by the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), a government think tank, indicated that 67% of foreign-invested companies operating in Vietnam belong to low value-added chain using energy-consuming backward technology. CIEM raised an alarming bell following massive fish deaths in four central provinces. Meanwhile, local authorities have yet to issue final decision on a transport and hydropower plant project worth VND24 trillion ($1.1 billion) on the Red River, the public is raising concerns over the efficiency of the project. Dr. Do Thien Anh Tuan, a Fulbright economics program lecturer, said: “Vietnam remains a low middle income earning nation so that Vietnam should not attract FDI at any costs.” “Vietnam should not exchange healthy environment for economic growth,” Dr. Tuan emphasized. In Vietnam, environment disasters are related to the fact that economic growth is recorded without due attention paid to the environmental protection, said Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son. Other economists have proposed that Vietnamese authorities tighten control over approving and licensing investment projects given that environment effects are taken into account. Taking a look back at the past 25 years, Vietnam’s economic growth is in part exchanged for the worse environment. (Business Time May 13 p3)