The government is steadfast in its stance of sacrificing economic interests for people's health.

On the morning of March 3, at the Government headquarters, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the regular Government meeting in February 2020, assessing the situation of fighting the Covid-19 epidemic and the implementation of socio-economic tasks.

Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that at this time, the Government firmly believes that it is ready to sacrifice economic interests to protect the health and safety of Vietnamese people and foreigners in Vietnam.

No new Covid-19 cases in the past 18 days

In recent times, under the leadership of the Party, the Government has taken drastic measures to prevent and combat the Covid-19 epidemic. Thanks to that, the whole country has only had 16 positive cases of Covid-19, all of whom have recovered. In the past 18 days, there have been no new cases of Covid-19.

One of the solutions is to resolutely quarantine people from epidemic areas entering Vietnam. This solution continues to be implemented but ensures humanity and responsibility, while at the same time, there are solutions to limit people from epidemic areas entering Vietnam as much as possible. To date, Vietnam has quarantined nearly 10,000 people in different localities.

In the context of the complicated developments of the pandemic in many countries, instead of exempting visas as before, the Prime Minister said that Vietnam will resume issuing visas and will continue to consider this solution for countries that are currently exempted from visas by Vietnam but are experiencing complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Directing ministries, branches and localities to continue implementing epidemic prevention and control solutions, the Prime Minister emphasized a proactive and unhesitant attitude.

Understand to have closer measures

The Prime Minister also said that the Covid-19 pandemic is causing the world economy to be as gloomy as the 2008 economic crisis. The pandemic has caused losses of about 30 billion USD to the aviation industry and 80 billion USD to the tourism industry. Vietnam's major trade, investment and tourism partners, China and South Korea, are also facing difficulties due to the pandemic.

However, the Prime Minister reported encouraging figures about the country's economic situation in February. The economic situation was stable, the consumer price index (CPI) in February decreased by 0.17% compared to the previous month. Budget revenue increased by 9.3%. The central budget spent 517 billion VND on anti-epidemic work.

In particular, thanks to the Government's flexible solutions, including the solution to diversify export markets, since the past half month, allowing exports to the Chinese market again..., exports have still increased, estimated at nearly 37 billion USD, up 2.4% over the same period, trade deficit is under control. Agriculture has developed stably. The number of enterprises has developed impressively with over 17.4 thousand enterprises, 12 thousand enterprises have returned to operation. Social security is concerned, people's lives are guaranteed.

However, the pandemic has also affected the trade and investment sectors, disrupted many supply chains, and slightly reduced FDI attraction. The growth rate of many industries has decreased compared to the same period, such as manufacturing and processing, total retail sales of goods and services. Many businesses face the risk of raw material shortages.

Notably, the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the first two months of this year increased by 5.91%, the highest in the past 7 years. Initially, the cause was attributed to the increase in pork prices, but according to the Prime Minister, this is something that needs to be clarified and addressed, because gasoline prices have recently dropped sharply.

The Prime Minister also requested Government members to discuss the Prime Minister's Draft Directive on urgent solutions to remove obstacles in production and business, ensure social security, and respond to Covid-19 to achieve the dual goals this year, including a number of specific tasks.

Although there is a policy to promote the disbursement of public investment capital, after 2 months, only 7.38% of the capital has been disbursed, which is low. There are still 6 ministries and 9 localities that have not allocated all the capital plan. This is an issue that needs to be discussed and resolved. If public investment capital for key national projects is not handled and resolved, there is no way to complete this year's tasks.

"I see that some agencies have not focused on directing, have not promptly resolved difficulties for production, and have not understood that production and business are still facing difficulties. Yesterday, the State Bank announced a package of 250,000 billion VND (equivalent to 10 billion USD), but how can it be put into production and business soon with appropriate interest rates in the current context of Covid-19?" - said the Prime Minister.

The head of the Government requested to discuss and issue fiscal policies, especially the extension and postponement of some taxes and fees to facilitate production and business. "The Government must understand this, sectors and levels must understand this to have closer guidance measures," said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Previously, on March 2, the State Bank announced a VND250 trillion preferential credit package for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to some assessments, commercial banks may reduce interest rates by 0.5% - 3% for new disbursements, both in VND and USD.

Vu Dung