The Asian Development Bank expected Vietnam’s economic growth of 6.7% in 2016, staying unchanged compared to 2015, despite downside risk due to ongoing severe drought, said the ADB in a press release on Friday, Xinhua reported. The country’s economic growth is projected to stand at 6.5% in 2017, said the press release issued during a two-day visit of ADB President Takehiko Nakao to Vietnam. Meanwhile, in late 2015, Vietnam’s National Assembly targeted the country’s economic growth to be 6.7% in 2016. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in early June said his country’s economic growth is expected to hit around 6.8% in 2017. Recently, ADB has approved $3 million in granting assistance to support relief efforts in the wake of the drought and salt water intrusion in Vietnam’s South Central, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta regions.
