Nghe An is lacking projects of billions of dollars or more.

At the discussion session on the afternoon of July 10, many delegates of Nghe An Provincial People's Council expressed concerns about the economic growth rate and budget revenue of the province.

Besides, the growth rate in the first 6 months of the year only reached 7.09%, lower than the same period in 2017, 2018 and lower than the growth scenario for the first 6 months of the year set at 8.5%.

Mr. Nguyen Van Do - Director of Nghe An Department of Planning and Investment spoke at the discussion session. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Discussing this content, the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of Nghe An said that according to the assessment of the Politburo based on the opinions of the central ministries, departments and branches, in recent years, Nghe An has been one of the provinces with a fairly fast growth rate. In 2017, it reached 7.19%; in 2018, it reached 7.39%; in the first 6 months of 2019, it reached 7.09%.

However, the growth rate depends a lot on attracting investment, so localities are currently focusing on this field. And to have a breakthrough, a big leap requires projects of billions of dollars or more, but this is what Nghe An is lacking.

Regarding the province's budget collection, currently Nghe An's economic scale ranks 11th in the country, but the difficulty is that budget collection ranks 17th in the country.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Do, currently, many investment projects are enjoying preferential policies, so budget collection is slower; at the same time, the cause of revenue loss cannot be ruled out. However, in terms of budget collection, the province's domestic revenue is assessed as quite stable.

Regarding the growth rate in the first 6 months of the year not meeting the scenario, the head of the Planning and Investment sector said that the growth rate depends on 4 economic sectors: agriculture - forestry - fishery; industry - construction; services and product tax.

A corner of VSIP Nghe An Industrial Park. Photo: Tran Chau

In the first 6 months of the year, agriculture was affected by African swine fever, some key industrial products decreased, so the percentage point of contribution to growth in the first 6 months of agriculture - forestry - fishery and industry was lower than the same period and growth scenario; only the service sector and product tax this year contributed better.

Referring to the solutions for the last 6 months of the year, the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment said that he would closely follow the Resolution of the Provincial People's Council on this issue with 9 groups of solutions; at the same time, the Provincial People's Committee would continue to closely follow the growth scenario.
Besides, the "commanders" of sectors and localities must resolutely reform administration and must be effective. "We cannot allow ourselves to be slow, then the lower levels can do things quickly," said Mr. Nguyen Van Do.

The Provincial People's Committee also continues to maintain working groups to direct and remove difficulties in the fields of investment, budget collection, and key products.