Gov't reaffirms preset targets

The Government's regular meeting, May 3-4, 2012 - Photo: VGP

On the right track

Regarding the performance of the national economy in the first four months, the Cabinet members all agreed that the economy is gaining “initial positive achievements” and “on the right track” as solutions for inflation curbing and macro-economic stabilization are taking effect.

The consumer price index (CPI) began to fall since July 2011. The index was up 1% in January this year, 1.37% in February, 0.16% in March and 0.05% in April compared to the previous months.

In terms banking-finance sector, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has implemented a number of measures to reduce the deposit rate from 14% per year to 12% per year. The central bank also launched policies to support agriculture, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), exports, processing industry while loosening credit for non-production sectors, even the real estate.

The total export and import value in the first four months of the year reached more than US $33.4 billion and US $33.6 billion, up 22.1% and 4.4%, respectively. The trade deficit is estimated at US $176 million, equal to 0.53% of the total export value, much lower than the same period in the previous years.

The total retailed sales of goods and services in the first four months of the year increased around 21.6%. The number of foreign tourists traveling to Vietnam is nearly 2.5 million, up 22.9%.

In the reviewed period, 481,000 jobs have been created. Compared to the same period in 2011, the poor households dipped 16.7%.

Overcoming obstacles to promote production

PM Nguyen Tan Dung praised the achievements of socio-economic development in the first four months, saying they were “quite comprehensive”. He, however, pointed out that businesses are still facing numerous difficulties and inventory level is high.

To address the challenges, the Government chief tasked inferior levels to continue the interest rate reduction roadmap, create favorable conditions for businesses to get access to preferential loans and arrange credits for SMEs, agriculture and export sectors.

In term of fiscal policy, he asked for maintaining budget overspending at 4.8% of the gross domestic products (GDP) as proposed by the National Assembly.

The Government will focus credit capital on infrastructure development, particularly electricity and transport, he said.

PM Dung also tasked inferior levels to take necessary measures to foster production, especially in agricultural sector, expand domestic and foreign consumption market and propose suitable tax policies for SMEs.

The PM requested ministries and agencies to focus on restructuring the economy, especially the State-owned enterprises, banks and public investment and effectively controlling prices of fundamental commodities.

He also asked for launching synchronous solutions to guarantee social welfare through supporting workers to find jobs, reducing poverty in remote areas and providing food support for poor people.

During the two-day meeting, the Government discussed on the draft project on restructuring SOEs.

By Thùy Dung