Prime Minister: Localities are not satisfied with growth results

On the morning of August 2, at the Government headquarters, the first meeting of the National Steering Committee for Economic Restructuring and Growth Model Innovation for the 2016-2020 period took place, chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Head of the Steering Committee.

Also attending were Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue and leaders of a number of central and local ministries and agencies.

Emphasizing that growth model innovation is a continuous process, in line with the trend of the times in the context of rapid development of science and technology, the Prime Minister said that the Party and State have recognized this issue early and proposed policies on it.

The Prime Minister also asked the members of the Steering Committee to point out limitations, orientations, tasks, new solutions and implementation organization in restructuring the economy and renewing the growth model. Evaluate the implementation of 120 specific tasks of Resolution 27 of the Government, thereby proposing adjustments or institutional supplements for more effective implementation.

"I think the action program as well as the tasks in the Resolution are very clear, the only thing is whether we do it or not, or just do it out of habit. For example, in the agricultural sector, some localities have done very well, restructured very clearly, changed completely to increase the value of products. Many localities still have the old style, old traditions, old products. Why is that? Because the awareness of the Party Committee, the authorities, and the leaders there have not grasped, understood, and have not organized implementation," the Prime Minister stated.

Looking back at the results of restructuring and growth model innovation in recent times, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that economic growth has achieved impressive results, the scale of the economy has expanded, reaching over 5 quadrillion VND. That has helped reduce the public debt ceiling from over 64% of GDP to 61% of GDP.

In addition, the macro economy is stable and inflation is under control. The business environment and national competitiveness, innovation index have been ranked higher by many international organizations. Most recently, the World Bank ranked Vietnam's logistics performance index (LPI) in 2018 up 25 places.

From those analyses, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc raised the question: "What are we looking for in the new growth momentum of this period and the next, especially in 2019-2021, in the context of conflicts and trade protectionism in the world? Second, what room do we need to do? People are saying that agriculture, information technology, and tourism have very large spaces. Is there any larger room for growth?"

The Prime Minister gave an example in the agricultural sector: from a country with food shortages, thanks to restructuring and innovation in production relations, our country has become a rice exporter.

Emphasizing that development policies are very important, the Prime Minister stated that, as leaders and directors of the country's macro-economy, leaders of ministries, branches and localities must base on the country's reality to propose breakthrough policies to promote growth.

The Prime Minister also asked the members of the Steering Committee to re-evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation of the restructuring action program and growth model innovation. For example, many provinces such as Dong Thap, An Giang, Thai Binh, and Ha Nam have restructured agriculture quite successfully, bringing high efficiency, but the Prime Minister said that many provinces have restructured unsuccessfully. That shows that the capacity to direct actions of the Steering Committee and all levels of sectors and localities is very important, and this process needs to be urged and inspected.

In addition, the Prime Minister also requested that the meeting assess the mechanism and solutions to monitor the implementation of the restructuring policy and growth model innovation.

According to the report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, implementing 120 tasks of Resolution 27 of the Government, most of the tasks were carried out on time and achieved results at different levels. 28.5% of the tasks had clear results; 57.5% of the tasks were being implemented but had not yet had clear results; 16.7% of the tasks were being implemented slowly or not yet implemented.

In addition, propaganda work on implementing the task of renewing the growth model and restructuring the economy has also been focused on, especially through the Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency, etc.

However, some ministries, sectors and localities are slow or have not yet issued programs and action plans to implement Resolution 27, such as the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Health, Kon Tum, Soc Trang, Long An, Ninh Thuan provinces, Ho Chi Minh City, etc../.