Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was worried about the slow disbursement of public investment capital while chairing the government’s regular meeting in Hanoi on October 3, noting that only 55 percent of the year’s investment plan has been disbursed so far. 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (middle) at the meeting

Urging sectors and localities to accelerate the work, the PM instructed that capital that cannot be disbursed as scheduled should be used for other urgent issues.   

The Government leader also expressed dissatisfaction at the slow pace in equitisation of State owned enterprises (18 out of 44 targeted SOEs) and divestment of state capital (11.8 trillion VND out of the planned 60 trillion VND).

Reviewing socio-economic performance, the PM lauded the breakthrough economic growth of 7.46 percent in the third quarter, higher than 5.15 percent in the first quarter and 6.28 percent in the second. 

He said with such momentum and provided that there is no major natural disaster, the government could fulfill targets assigned by the Party Central Committee and the National Assembly. He underlined the remarkable fact that the growth is mostly driven by production and services instead of credit and mining. 

The leader informed that the World Economic Forum recently lifted Vietnam up five places in the competitiveness index. Compared to 5 years ago, Vietnam has climbed up 50 places in the index. The country also earned 53 points in the Purchasing Managers’ Index released by the Nikkei, the highest among ASEAN member states. Exports are expected to achieve 20-21 percent growth. 

With the involvement of the entire political system, more than 5,000 administrative procedures have been cut, making it easier for production and trade. 

The macro-economy continues to be stable with inflation at 3.79 percent in the first nine months. The State budget collection and credit surged 14 and 12 percent, respectively. The major index of the stock market topped 800 points, the highest since 2008. Foreign currency reserves surpassed 44 billion USD while foreign direct investment soared 34 percent to roughly 26 billion USD. Around 94,000 new businesses were established nationwide. 

Culture, education, health care, national defence-security and external relations also performed well, he said. 

Despite the positive signs, the PM warned ministries and sectors not to forget that the growth rate must hit 7.4-7.5 percent in the fourth quarter in order to achieve a 6.7 percent goal for this year, with a focus on manufacturing and processing. 

He asked ministries and agencies to discuss measures to facilitate production, trade and export while making thorough preparations for the upcoming fifth session of the 14th National Assembly.

VNA