Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has pledged that the Government will
persist in drastically implementing set objectives, tasks and measures
in an effort to fulfill the 2013 socio-economic development plan at the
highest level.
In a recent interview granted to the Vietnam
News Agency, PM Dung highlighted the immediate tasks of stabilising the
macro economy, controlling inflation, removing difficulties for
businesses, boosting growth and ensuring social welfare and security.
“The Government will continue to cut interest rates, increase
lending in priority sectors, stabilise exchange rates and the foreign
exchange market, effectively manage the gold market and closely control
the State budget to ensure a balance between collection and spending,”
he said.
He added that the Government will adopt tax
incentives, put into operation credit organisations’ asset management
company which focuses on tackling bad debts and reducing inventories to
make it easier for companies to access loans.
It will continue removing
difficulties for the real estate market by effectively implementing
credit packages for social housing. In the meantime, the executive body
will accelerate administrative reforms, especially simplifying
procedures on credit lending, taxation, customs and property.
According to PM Dung, the Government will direct the implementation of
the approved overall scheme on economic restructuring, focusing on
public investment, State-owned enterprises and credit institutions.
It will get social welfare policies underway, adopt synchronous moves
to deal with hospital overloads and improve medical treatment and
education, especially tertiary and vocational training, and take care of
those who rendered service to the nation while preventing natural
disasters, reducing traffic accidents and ensuring social order and
safety.
“The Government will strengthen national defence and
security, improve the efficiency of external relations, maintain
political security and firmly safeguard national sovereignty,” he
stressed.
Ministries, departments and localities will be
instructed to actively inform the media and the public of the
government’s policies and mechanisms as well as its settlement of
emerging issues to forge social unity, contributing to realising the
plan, PM Dung said.
In the interview, the Government leader
highlighted important achievements recorded during the first half of
this year, which according to him, are attributable to the drastic
implementation of the Party and National Assembly’s Resolutions and
efforts of the entire political system, ministries, departments,
businesses and people nationwide.
He said inflation was under
control with the consumer price index in the January-June period up 2.4
percent, the lowest increase in the last 10 years. Lending decreased
consecutively while liquidity improved in the banking sector. The
exchange rate and foreign exchange market became stable and foreign
currency reserves increased.
Exports topped 62 billion USD, up
16 percent year-on-year. Foreign direct investment (FDI) jumped nearly
16 percent to over 10 billion USD, of which over 5.4 billion USD has
been disbursed. The disbursement of official development assistance
(ODA) was estimated at 2.2 billion USD, or 51.1 percent of the yearly
target, marking a year-on-year rise of 10 percent.
During the
period, the country’s GDP growth hit 4.9 percent. In the second quarter,
the rate was 5 percent, higher than the first quarter’s 4.76 percent.
The index of industrial production rose over the months,
reaching 6 percent in the second quarter, higher than 4.5 percent in the
preceding three months. Inventories fell, and despite unfavourable
weather conditions and slow consumption, the production value of the
agro-forestry-fisheries sector inched up 2.4 percent.
Total
sales of services grew by 6.16 percent in the second quarter, higher
than the previous quarter’s 5.65 percent, pushing the six-month rate to
5.92 percent, higher than 5.29 percent recorded during the same period
last year.
The Government paid special attention to ensuring
social welfare and security, especially for welfare beneficiaries, the
poor and ethnic minorities. Total lending as of late June was estimated
to surge 10 percent year-on-year to over 118 trillion VND (5.6 billion
USD), focusing on poor households, students and job creation.
Regular allowances worth 9 trillion VND (428 million USD) were earmarked
for 2.5 million people and 45,000 tonnes of rice were allocated to the
poor. Over 720,000 new jobs were created during the period.
Apart from existing policies, a string of new incentives came into
effect to provide housing for citizens who rendered services to the
country and improve health insurance for the needy. Another 23 poor
districts received aid in infrastructure building and 154 communes were
added to the list of those with special difficulties, making it easier
for them to access funding for production and infrastructure
construction.
As a result, Vietnam’s poverty reduction was hailed by the international community, the PM stressed.
He said the country accelerated administrative reforms, handling of
denunciations, corruption fight, thrift practice and wastefulness
prevention. External relation efforts were strengthened while national
defence, security, social safety and order were ensured.
He,
however, noted that the socio-economic climate remained tough with an
unstable macro-economy and poor inflation control. Bad debts were still
high, credit growth was low and consumption faltered.
Economic growth
was equivalent to that of the same period last year. Jobs, incomes and
the lives of people have not yet improved significantly, especially poor
households. Traffic accident fatalities climbed on an annual basis.
Regarding national defence, security and external relations, PM
Dung said over the past six months, the work has received due attention
and recorded important results, thus improving Vietnam’s role and
position in the international arena. By late June, Vietnam held
diplomatic ties with 181 countries and trade ties over 200 countries and
territories, hitting 126 billion USD.
With the establishment
of strategic and comprehensive partnerships with many countries, Vietnam
has proved itself as a responsible member of ASEAN and the
international community for peace, cooperation and development, he said.
The nation has been active in international integration in
various realms as well as negotiations for free trade agreements,
especially the Trans-Pacific Partnership, FTAs with the EU, the Republic
of Korea and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, he
added.
According to PM Dung, political security, social safety
and order have been ensured while national independence and sovereignty
have been safeguarded.
Vietnam’s stance on peace, stability,
equal and mutually beneficial cooperation for prosperity, maritime,
security, safety and freedom in the East Sea on the basis of
international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties
in the East Sea (DOC) towards formulating a Code of Conduct in the East
Sea (COC), have been hailed and supported by the international
community, he said.-VNA