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.-

Source: VNA