Vietnam’s once richest man longs for good old days Tam is very open in answering questions from the press gave during a break of the plenary session of the conference on the socioeconomic situation Photo: Tuoi Tre The return of businessman-cum-National Assembly deputy Dang Thanh Tam has heated up the ongoing NA meeting, as Tam was very open in answering questions from the press gave during a break of the plenary session of the conference on the socioeconomic situation. "If I had not stepped into the financial sector, I would not have to suffer like this. I want to go back to the good old days because at that time I owed very little debt, so I did not have to worry about repayment,” Tam said. “Sometimes when people are told to return to ordinary life, it is better than the life of luxury. All businesses are dreaming of those old days," he added. Given the current situation, will there be any opportunities to expand production in 2013? In deciding whether to expand or not, we should look into the State's plan. When the government projects 5-5.2 percent economic growth, I have to say that it’s good to scale down your production for your own sake, as expansion will be a death penalty. With such an economic growth plan, businesses have to understand that 2013 will continue to be difficult, so they need to be aware of their own situation and find the best way to survive. Optimism is good, and we businesspeople need that, but we also have to be realistic, and you must plan ahead to fit in such a socioeconomic growth plan. The final result of 2012 may leave everyone worried. I do not know what the end of 2013 will be like, but I’m sure that the 5.2 percent GDP growth plan is too low. I think that in 2013 it should be at least at 6 percent. Everyone is afraid of bad debt, it’s true. But in my view, it should be classified into two categories: bad debt in securities- real estate, and bad debt in the manufacturing sector caused by rising unsold inventories. Out of the approximately VND300 trillion ($14.4 billion) in bad debt, how many percentage points the two categories make up needs to be sorted out. For the second category, I think it should not be necessarily considered as bad debt, as when the economy flourishes, the flow of goods will regain its speed, thus enabling the borrowers to repay the principal and interest. Regarding the stock market, I think it faces a very long road to recovery. Do you have plans for the future in the field of finance and banking? I, like many other people, rushed to buy banking shares and shares of securities firms in the past. But those old days have passed, and very few people do so now. In this case, I don’t want to tell people to stay away from the market, but I just want to draw a clear picture so that the people recognize the reality, and they will know where they should channel their money to. As for our financial investment, no one wants to say that I failed, and I have to say that I’m absolutely not successful, and have suffered huge losses. If I had not gotten involved in the financial sector, I would not have to suffer like this. Luckily, the field of industrial infrastructure is still profitable and we can still collect factory rents regularly. Financial investment brings me a profit of just a few percentage points per year, while loans cost tens of percent per year. We have to learn from such failures and bitter experiences. We don’t own any stocks of Phuong Tay Bank, and we have divested nearly all our investments in the stocks of other banks to focus on our core business. “A lot of people say we owe so much. But my total debt, including that of my sister at Tan Tao Group, is less than $500 million, while our total capital is worth over VND20 trillion ($960 million). The debt to equity ratio is less than one.” “Regarding our business, particularly in the field of industrial infrastructure and foreign investment attraction, if we die, no one can live " Tuoi Tre News