Government regular meeting May 2013

Discussing the socio-economic situation in May and the first five months of the year, in addition to affirming the achieved results, Government members pointed out the limitations that the economy needs to focus on overcoming, and emphasized the efforts to focus on removing difficulties, promoting production and business development to maintain the growth recovery momentum, and successfully achieve the growth target set for 2013.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung chairs the regular Government meeting in May, May 26, 2013. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

On the morning of May 26, the Government held its regular May meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Reporting at the meeting on the socio-economic situation in May and the first 5 months of the year, Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh said that in recent times, all levels and sectors have actively implemented and concretized the solutions proposed in the Resolutions of the Central Committee, the National Assembly, Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP, No. 02/NQ-CP dated January 7, 2013 of the Government and Resolutions of regular meetings of the Government to put into practice.

Thanks to that, the macro economy continued to achieve positive results in the right direction; inflation was controlled, prices and markets were quite stable; interest rates continued to be adjusted down, contributing to removing difficulties for production and business activities; the foreign exchange market was relatively stable; liquidity of commercial banks improved significantly; exports continued to maintain high growth momentum, imports of raw materials for production and business tended to increase again; although there were still many difficulties, industrial production showed signs of recovery; social security continued to be ensured.

Focus on removing difficulties and promoting production development

Discussing the socio-economic situation, in addition to affirming the achieved results, Government members pointed out the limitations that the economy needs to focus on overcoming, in which the agriculture, forestry, fishery and industry and construction sectors all faced many difficulties; livestock, poultry and aquaculture declined; industrial production, especially the processing and manufacturing industry, recovered slowly due to reduced purchasing power and slow consumption; the gap between deposit interest rates and lending interest rates was slowly narrowed; restructuring of commercial banks, handling bad debts in the banking system as well as removing difficulties for the real estate market were slowly resolved.

Many members of the Government proposed that it is necessary to be more drastic in focusing on removing difficulties, promoting production and business development to maintain growth recovery momentum, and successfully achieve the growth target set for 2013. Accordingly, it is necessary to continue reviewing and promptly adjusting mechanisms and policies that are no longer suitable; focusing on lending capital to priority areas, finding outlets for products, reducing inventories, and improving product competitiveness...

At the same time, improve the effectiveness of trade and investment promotion activities, consolidate and expand export markets... Accelerate the implementation of public investment restructuring; restructuring state-owned enterprises and restructuring credit institutions to create the premise for long-term economic growth recovery...

Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang proposed that more attention should be paid to solutions to remove difficulties for the real estate market because this is also one of the effective solutions to remove difficulties for construction material manufacturing enterprises and related enterprises.

Agreeing with the above viewpoint, Minister of Construction Trinh Dinh Dung said that in addition to promoting the addition and improvement of mechanisms and policies, the Ministry of Construction is currently focusing on restructuring real estate projects and real estate products to suit the needs of low-income people with real housing needs. Currently, 56 commercial housing projects have been converted into social housing projects.

In addition, Minister of Construction Trinh Dinh Dung and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat also proposed to further promote the disbursement of FDI and ODA capital... as well as speed up the construction of key traffic and irrigation works, which have a positive impact on the country's development.

Deputy Prime Ministers Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Nguyen Thien Nhan asked members of the Government to coordinate closely and proactively in information work, questioning and answering questions before the National Assembly at the ongoing 5th session; focus on solutions to remove difficulties for the real estate market; be more proactive in preventing poultry smuggling in border areas...

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh suggested that ministries, sectors and localities need to be more drastic in dealing with bad debts; be more flexible in handling issues related to monetary and credit policies; and at the same time propose allowing increased issuance of government bonds for a number of key transport projects and unfinished projects.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai emphasized the need to focus on implementing solutions to enhance access to capital for businesses, especially export enterprises; requested that competent authorities do better in price management, especially price management for agricultural products as well as strengthen the management of associations.

In addition, many Government members suggested that it is necessary to pay more attention to vocational training, job creation, and income increase for workers, especially rural workers, workers who have lost their jobs due to dissolved or inactive enterprises, households whose residential land and production land have been recovered; increase the issuance of Government bonds for health care; closely monitor the development of the epidemic situation, implement measures to control and prevent epidemics in humans, crops, and livestock; strengthen measures to ensure traffic safety, minimize traffic accidents; proactively grasp the situation and have plans to deal with the complicated developments of natural disasters and climate change;...

Continue to stick to and be steadfast in your goals

Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung emphasized that the socio-economic results achieved have not been as expected, many policies have been slow to come into effect, and some areas still face many difficulties...

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung requested ministries, branches and localities not to be subjective or negligent in implementing the goals of controlling inflation and stabilizing the macro-economy, considering this a decisive premise for implementing other goals.

The Prime Minister directed that in parallel with implementing solutions to curb inflation and maintain macroeconomic stability, the growth target must be achieved, but it must be sustainable growth; not to push inflation back up and affect economic restructuring for the sake of short-term growth.

With such spirit, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stated that ministries, branches and localities continue to closely follow and steadfastly implement the goals and tasks set out at the beginning of the year (from general goals to key solutions), overcome shortcomings and strive to quickly put policies into practice to promote the implementation of goals in all fields.

Accordingly, it is necessary to continue to maintain price stability; strictly control interest rates on deposits and loans; direct credit growth to priority sectors with output and markets such as agriculture, supporting industries, labor-intensive industries, with great spillover effects, and strong impacts on the country's socio-economic development.

Linking the removal of difficulties for production and business with effective implementation of economic restructuring. Focusing on supporting and promoting the development of agricultural production because this is the pillar of the economy; creating favorable conditions to help farmers easily access loans to develop production; continuing to widely implement the policy of temporary purchase and reserve as well as effectively implementing other support policies for farmers, avoiding economic losses.

Along with that is reviewing and simplifying procedures and regulations related to export activities; promoting the implementation of solutions to expand markets; strengthening and improving the effectiveness of trade and investment promotion activities; promoting the application of science and technology in production to improve productivity, quality and competitiveness of goods and products.

Improve the operational efficiency of the banking system, pay attention to management and supervision to ensure safety for the entire system. Tightly control gold market activities.

The Ministry of Finance focuses on directing the management of budget revenue and preventing revenue loss; managing budget expenditures closely, economically and effectively; reviewing and rearranging spending tasks, thoroughly practicing thrift and combating waste.

Regarding bad debt handling, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stated that mechanisms and policies have been fully issued and requested the State Bank to actively direct the implementation of bad debt handling, and absolutely not allow negative incidents to arise.
Regarding the power outage in 22 southern provinces and cities, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung emphasized the need to focus on overcoming the problem, seriously reviewing the cause and responsibility for the incident and drawing lessons to avoid repeating similar unfortunate incidents. At the same time, he requested relevant ministries and branches to calculate, balance and ensure sufficient electricity output to serve production, business and people's daily needs.

In addition, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also requested ministries, branches and localities to step up public reinvestment, avoid spreading investment as well as speed up the implementation of key national investment projects, especially for key traffic projects. Pay attention to attracting investment, especially FDI, towards attracting investment in high-tech fields, creating great added value. Continue to focus on implementing solutions to overcome hospital overload; ensure traffic order and safety and curb traffic accidents; prevent all types of crime, ensure security, order and social safety.

Resolutely implement solutions to ensure information security and network safety; propose strict measures to handle acts of taking advantage of the Internet to defame, slander, and distort the country's situation, causing harm to the interests of the people.

Regarding information and propaganda work, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung requested ministries, branches and localities to continue to be proactive in this work, providing honest and objective information on all aspects of the socio-economic situation to create consensus and contribute to the successful implementation of the set socio-economic development tasks and goals.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also asked Government members to be proactive and closely coordinate in preparing, providing information, and answering questions at the 5th session of the 13th National Assembly.

According to (Chinhphu.vn) - LT