Prime Minister: Need to provide solutions to complete the 2018 disbursement task

On the morning of June 2, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the regular Government meeting for May. Despite positive assessments of the socio-economic situation in May and the first 5 months, in implementing administrative procedure reduction, the Prime Minister said that many ministries announced procedure reduction but it was still a formality, not going into substance, still causing difficulties for businesses and the investment environment.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the Government meeting in May 2018.

Speaking at the opening session, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc assessed that the socio-economic situation in April and May had positive changes and international organizations highly appreciated Vietnam's economic prospects. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), an index forecasting business conditions in the manufacturing sector, increased to 53.9 points in May, the highest in ASEAN.

The Prime Minister also assessed that some areas had outstanding growth, including agricultural production in the winter-spring crop with an increase of over 1.1 million tons of rice output. The high price of rice also helped rice farmers earn good profits. According to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in many regions, rice farmers can achieve profits of 30 to 50%.

With many localities achieving large production values ​​such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, some southeastern provinces and key localities, the Prime Minister said that there is a competitive atmosphere to promote growth.

Domestic demand improved strongly with total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue increasing by 10.1%. International tourists reached over 6.7 million arrivals. Exports in the first 5 months reached over 93 billion USD, high growth and a trade surplus of about 3.4 billion USD. Along with the sharp increase in disbursement of foreign direct investment, in the past 5 months, the whole country had nearly 53,000 newly registered enterprises, with newly registered and additional capital reaching 1.42 million billion VND.

However, the Prime Minister also said that we cannot be subjective about the risks to the economy, in which the consumer price index (CPI) in May increased by 0.55% compared to the previous month. The Prime Minister emphasized that this is a high increase while the important goal of this year is to stabilize the macro economy and control inflation.

“We must calculate comprehensive solutions to control inflation below 4% according to the National Assembly Resolution. This spirit must be thoroughly implemented at all levels, in all sectors, and in all localities. I propose that the Ministers of Finance, Industry and Trade and some ministries (implement) the direction of not increasing electricity prices this year. Only adjust medical service prices if conditions allow at the right time. Along with that, production and business credit, money supply regulation and appropriate fiscal policy, do not let the pressure of price increases be large” - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Regarding the disbursement of public investment capital, the Prime Minister pointed out that in the first 5 months of the year, only 29% of the plan was achieved. Not only did ministries and branches have low disbursement rates, but economic locomotives such as Hanoi only disbursed 30% of the plan, and Ho Chi Minh City only achieved 15% of the plan. This is the reason for increased costs, capital overruns, and delays in putting projects into operation, affecting economic growth. Therefore, the Prime Minister asked members of the Government to come up with solutions to complete this year's disbursement tasks.

Considering that the amount of investment capital per unit area is still low, the Prime Minister requested localities, ministries and branches to promote the attraction of foreign direct investment; promote the growth of industrial production value, especially the processing and manufacturing industry. Given the fact that the value of agricultural exports is very large but mainly small-scale exports, so the contribution to growth and GDP is very low, the Prime Minister said that in the long term, this problem needs to be overcome.

Regarding the situation of security, order and social safety, the Prime Minister pointed out that there is still a complicated situation of deforestation in some localities such as Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Bac Can, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Quang Nam... Besides, there were still fires, explosions and serious traffic accidents in May, including 4 railway accidents in one week.

Although the number of new enterprises has increased positively, the Prime Minister said that it is necessary to continue improving the business investment environment, especially cutting administrative procedures as the ministries and branches have committed: "Especially the reduction of 50% of procedures. Many ministries announced the reduction of procedures but it is still formal, not going into substance, still difficult for businesses and the investment environment. Resolution 19 has announced very specific targets, but some levels and branches are still not resolute in this matter. We discuss this issue to create a better investment environment to achieve the target of 1 million enterprises by 2020 and businesses must change in quality. We are saying that domestic investment must be promoted more strongly, then procedural barriers must be better removed".

Although only 5 months of this year have passed, the Prime Minister stated that the year is almost halfway over, so from this month, ministries, branches and localities must proactively review the tasks and targets set to achieve this year's socio-economic targets, and not wait until the end of June to be passive./.