Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the regular Government meeting in August.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

According to the program, at the meeting,Governmentwill listen to and discuss the socio-economic situation in August and the first 8 months of 2020; the socio-economic situation in 2020 and the expected socio-economic development plan for 2021; results of the implementation of the medium-term public investment plan 2016-2020; the medium-term public investment plan 2021-2025; the implementation statusState budget(State budget) in 2020, the State budget estimate in 2021 and the national 3-year State budget financial plan for 2021-2023; the implementation of the national 5-year financial plan for the period 2016-2020 and the orientation and national 5-year financial plan for the period 2021-2025; the implementation of Resolution 17/NQ-CP on e-Government development, the report on the implementation of tasks and the inspection results of the Working Group in August 2020...

Regarding the socio-economic situation, last month, according to the report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, we continued to maintain a stable macroeconomic foundation; inflation was controlled. CPI in August increased by 0.07% compared to the previous month, down 0.12% compared to December 2019 - the lowest level in the period 2016-2020.

Local ministries and branches have synchronously implemented solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles, speeding up project implementation progress.public investment; disbursement in August increased by 45.4%; in the first 8 months of 2020, it increased by 30.4%, the highest in the period 2016-2020. Agricultural production still developed stably, ensuring food security. Agricultural products had a trade surplus of about 6.2 billion USD, up 4.9% over the same period. Import and export of goods continued to be a bright spot (total import and export turnover in 8 months reached over 337 billion USD, up 0.03%; exports reached over 174 billion USD, up 1.6%; domestic exports reached nearly 61 billion USD, up 15.3%). There were 27 export items with a value of over 1 billion USD. Trade surplus was over 11.9 billion USD.

Industrial production still grew, but at a low rate of 2.2%. Total retail sales of goods and service revenue in August decreased due to social distancing in some localities.

Production and business continued to face many difficulties, especially small and medium enterprises (in total, in the first 8 months, nearly 89 thousand new enterprises were established, down 2%). However, the encouraging sign was that the number of enterprises returning to operation increased by 27.9%; enterprises temporarily suspending operations pending dissolution procedures decreased by 5.9% and enterprises completing dissolution procedures decreased by 1.9%.

Social sectors are focused on, support packages for people and businesses facing difficulties due to the epidemic continue to be implemented. People's lives are guaranteed. High school graduation exams and university admissions are well organized. Over the past month and the first days of September, we have carefully, solemnly and safely organized many thoughtful activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary.August Revolutionand National Day September 2; anniversary of the founding of many central agencies and sectors...

However, the difficulties and challenges in the coming time are still very great, with many potential risks in the context of the pandemic continuing to develop very complicatedly. With only 4 months left to the end of 2020, the workload is still large; the task of completing the targets of the Socio-Economic Development Plan is very heavy. At the meeting, the Government will focus on discussing measures that need to be taken immediately to complete the targets at the highest level as well as macro-level solutions to create momentum for growth right from the first day of the first month of 2021.