Vietnam needs a tremendous budget twice bigger than its annual gross domestic product (GDP) to restructure the economy in the next five years, said Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung last week.

Dung presented the 2016-2020 economic restructuring scheme to the second National Assembly (NA) sitting in Hanoi last week. He said to implement economic restructuring in the five-year period, the country needs over VND1,000 trillion, or some US$480 billion.

The scheme stops short of identifying capital sources, but Dung noted that in some cases State resources can be used to carry out economic restructuring, especially the restructuring of credit institutions and the settlement of bad debt. 

The Government plans to assign a team to boost the economic restructuring process in the 2016-2020 period.

The Government has set five targets for economic restructuring in the next five years. The nation will support the private sector to grow strongly and attract foreign direct investment.

Besides, restructuring will be undertaken in areas of State-owned enterprises, public investments, the State budget and public service units.

The local financial market will undergo restructuring too, with a focus on credit institutions and the equity market.

The land use right, labor and information technology markets, which are crucial to production, will be restructured as well. 

The NA Economic Committee said the scheme must concentrate on the reallocation and efficient use of resources and the removal of the “ask-and-give” mechanism, and pinpoint unsettled issues so that they will be tackled in a timely manner. 

An official of the NA Economic Committee said the State Bank of Vietnam and the State Securities Commission of Vietnam should undergo restructuring to meet demand for economic growth in the coming time.

SGT