The National Assembly Standing Committee began its 24th session on May 14 with discussions on the Government’s supplementary report on socio-economic performance in 2017. 

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (standing) addresses the opening of the NA's 24th session 

The report said eight out of 13 yearly targets assigned by the NA had been overfulfilled and four fulfilled, while one target was not met. 

In the initial report submitted to the NA’s fourth session in October last year, the Government expected five targets to be surpassed and eight fulfilled. 

That means three more targets have been overfulfilled, which are a GDP growth of 6.81 percent (the forecast rate was 6.7 percent), an average increase in Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 3.53 percent (the forecast rise was around 4 percent) and reductions of 1.51 percent in overall household poverty based on multi-dimensional poverty standard and 5 percent in poor districts (the estimated decreases were 1-1.5 percent and 4 percent). 

Meanwhile, the target on reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP (energy intensity) was not met with a reduction of 0.5 percent, while the target and forecast decrease was 1.5 percent. However, the NA no longer requires the annual assessment of this objective since 2018. Instead, the performance in this field will be reviewed every five years. 

The revised total investment as percent of GDP was also lower than the estimated outcome reported to the NA in the 4th session. 

The NA Standing Committee agreed that the economy posted uniform increases across the board in 2017, which reflected the great efforts made by the Government, authorities and sectors at all levels.  

They highlighted the impressive economic growth which was the highest since 2011, and the record foreign trade revenues. 

Chairman of the NA Committee for Culture, Education and Young People Affairs Phan Thanh Binh noted positive changes in the export of agricultural products, improved competitiveness and higher disbursement of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) capital. 

The participants also took note of the regular increase in labour productivity through recent years, but stressed that labour productivity based on Purchasing Power Parity is still lower than that of many regional countries, and the gap is widening.  

The NA Economic Committee said however, besides industry and export, the potential of other sectors as well as key economic regions has not been fully tapped. It also pointed to other problems in the economy, such as a lack of linkage between production and market demands in the agriculture sector, resulting in falling prices after good harvest. The industrial sector still faces difficulties in raising products’ added value and in joining global value and production chains. 

The NA Standing Committee continued to examine the Government’s supplementary report on socio-economic performance in 2017 and assess the implementation of 2018 socio-economic plans and the State budget in the first months of 2018 in the afternoon of May 14. 

The 24th session of the NA Standing Committee will last through May 16.-VNA