PART II MACRO AND<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
CONOMICS - KINH TẾ VĨ<br />
MÔ VÀ KINH TẾ QUỐC<br />
TẾ<br />
34. Measures of Economic<br />
Performance: There is More Than<br />
Meets The Eye!<br />
Viet Nam's GDP growth rate is expected<br />
to be about 7% this year. Gross<br />
domestic product is the annual market<br />
value of all final goods and services<br />
produced in the economy. The figure of<br />
<br />
7% refers to growth in inflationadjusted* or real GDP. GDP per capita<br />
is very closely related to average annual<br />
income. While GDP is a good overall<br />
measure of the economy's performance,<br />
two important sets of caveats need to be<br />
kept in mind.<br />
First, a positive GDP growth does not<br />
mean that all sectors of the economy<br />
grow equally; some sectors may in fact<br />
be declining. Different regions of the<br />
country could be growing at different<br />
rates. The incomes of certain groups<br />
<br />
could be growing faster than 7%, while<br />
some incomes may be stagnant. Also,<br />
GDP calculations do not take into<br />
account the "bads" that are produced in<br />
conjunction with goods, such as<br />
increased<br />
pollution<br />
and<br />
traffic<br />
congestion.<br />
Second, GDP is not the only measure of<br />
macroeconomic performance. Inflation<br />
and unemployment rates** are other<br />
major indicators. These indicators are<br />
interrelated: an improvement in one<br />
measure may be accompanied by a<br />
<br />
deterioration in another. For example,<br />
China in the 90's experienced an<br />
acceleration in GDP growth but higher<br />
inflation as well.<br />
Some macroeconomic indicators in<br />
Vietnam have improved substantially in<br />
recent years. Vietnam was one of the<br />
fastest growing economies in the 90's. It<br />
also saw a dramatic decline in inflation<br />
(see chart).<br />
A critical question for Vietnam is<br />
whether these levels of performance are<br />
sustainable given the evolution of<br />
<br />
domestic policy and world events.<br />
Average annual rates of real GDP<br />
growth and inflation<br />
<br />
* Inflation:is the annual percentage<br />
change in the level of prices.<br />
<br />