Prime Minister: Consider reducing regular spending by 10% to increase salaries

The Prime Minister directed that localities and ministries consider saving 10% of regular expenditures to increase salaries for civil servants.

Continuing the regular Government meeting in November, on the afternoon of November 29, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Government members continued to discuss the socio-economic situation in November 2016; gave opinions on major orientations for building the Government's Resolution on tasks and solutions to implement the socio-economic tasks in 2017; gave opinions on the Draft Resolution of the Government on implementing the Central Resolutions 4 of the 12th Party Central Committee.

Faced with the fact that the new budget investment capital has only reached 70% of the plan, threatening this year's growth target, budget deficit, and public debt, the Prime Minister directed localities and ministries to launch a peak month for disbursement of capital construction.

According to the report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the implementation of socio-economic tasks has been more positive. The number of newly established enterprises in the past 11 months has exceeded 100,000; foreign investment attraction has increased significantly; the consumer price index is under control; the trade surplus is 2.8 billion USD. Regarding the issue of exchange rate fluctuations, the State Bank said that these fluctuations are not worrisome and the State Bank is fully capable of intervening to stabilize the market.

The Prime Minister concluded the meeting.

However, the big problem in the remaining months of the year is completing the budget collection task. In the past 11 months, the whole country has collected over 911,000 billion VND, equal to 89.9% of the estimate. Compared to the level reported to the National Assembly that the whole year collected about 1,039 million billion VND, so far it has only reached 87.7%. While budget collection is difficult, the disbursed budget capital is very low, only reaching over 70%, even the disbursed government bond capital is only over 46%.

Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung is concerned that budget collection is difficult but disbursement of investment capital from the budget is slow, which could affect public debt and budget deficit: "There is money, there are targets, there are estimates, there are plans, but they cannot be spent. Therefore, it is necessary to review and strictly implement Resolution 60 of the Government. This year, according to the Government Resolution, if it cannot be spent, it must basically be cut, because it is related to public debt. If the GDP value does not reach 4.6 million billion VND, the targets for public debt and budget deficit will increase. The budget deficit will not be 4.95% of GDP and public debt will not be 64.98% of GDP anymore. Therefore, it is extremely important to control spending and promote growth".

Faced with this reality, the Prime Minister directed: "The Government Office must immediately issue a telegram, which I will sign this afternoon, to urge Ministers, Provincial People's Committees, heads of Government agencies, and relevant ministries and branches to disburse quickly and in accordance with regulations in December. Because the amount of capital that still needs to be disbursed is very large. Good disbursement will contribute to good growth."

Regarding the economic growth task in 2016, the Prime Minister assessed that the environmental incident in the Central region, damage caused by climate change, natural disasters, drought and floods across the country have caused a loss of nearly 1% of GDP. Therefore, the fact that GDP this year reached 6.3-6.5% is a great effort of the Government and ministries. In the remaining months of this year, the Prime Minister assigned tasks to ministries, calculated specific targets, and had drastic and effective management measures to achieve the growth task. To achieve the growth task, December's growth must reach 7.1 to 7.3%. Localities and ministries launched a peak month, focusing on directing many issues such as disbursement for basic construction, boosting consumption of goods, traffic safety, and proactively implementing socio-economic tasks to the grassroots.

Regarding the 2017 plan, the Prime Minister stated that this year the Government will assign the plan early, on that basis, ministries, branches and localities must proactively implement it.

Regarding the early development of Resolution No. 01/2017 and the implementation of socio-economic development tasks, the Prime Minister requested that the Resolution, when issued, must be short, concise, predictive, and focus on solutions to major issues. Along with the solutions proposed, the spirit is that the entire government apparatus must operate effectively, fight bureaucracy, have integrity, and serve the people; not only the Prime Minister and the Government must move, but the entire system from the Central to the districts and communes must move, serving development.

The resolution must also propose solutions to address issues related to the health of the credit system and bad debt, including enhancing the role of VAMC; handling loss-making businesses; building a national trade system; ensuring food safety and hygiene; and setting out criteria and technical barriers to protect domestic goods.

The Prime Minister also directed that the upcoming Resolution 01/2017 must also outline solutions to save public spending, especially in the context of many ministries, branches, and localities still going on business trips abroad too much, frequently holding meetings, eating out, and spending wastefully: "In the budget estimate submitted to the Government by the Ministry of Finance, it is possible to reduce 10% of regular spending, minus salaries, to use that money to raise salaries. I have looked at the budget estimate and see that many spending items are not lower than previous years. Going abroad, entertaining guests... are still many. Can we announce to the whole population that we are saving 10% of regular spending, minus salaries, to raise salaries for civil servants? This is a huge benefit for the country and each locality. Any local ministry or branch that can save will leave it to that unit."

The development of Resolution 01 must also focus on the issue of transparency, including solutions for public bidding, publicizing norms, expenditures, etc., as a basis for strengthening supervision and fighting corruption. Along with that, it is necessary to promote socialization to have resources to implement projects, especially urban infrastructure; decentralize authority, strengthen inspection; enhance the spirit of fulfilling promises to the people with the motto of saying what you do; apply information technology in controlling negative aspects of the market.

Regarding the implementation of Resolution No. 4 of the 12th Party Central Committee on strengthening Party building and rectification; preventing and repelling ideological, moral and lifestyle degradation, and manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within the Party, the Prime Minister directed:

"Regarding Resolution 4 of the Central Executive Committee, the Ministry of Home Affairs is requested to complete 5 groups of solutions into an action program and the Government will have a Resolution on this issue. In which, clarify the appointment of officials, criteria for evaluating officials. For example, criteria on work efficiency, qualities, viewpoints and positions... The Ministry has many people, but can they propose to the Minister and the Government any solutions to be able to grow and develop the economy?"

In the report submitted to the Government this morning, the Ministry of Home Affairs proposed solutions to strictly implement the mechanism of inspection, supervision and control of the exercise of power by those in positions of authority and power, in the direction that where there is power, there is responsibility. Along with that, there is a clear distinction of authority and collective and individual responsibility in each stage of work resolution and there are strict sanctions for violations.

The Ministry of Home Affairs proposed that the Government assign the Ministry to coordinate with the Central Organizing Committee and relevant agencies to evaluate and amend and supplement the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants and the Law on Public Employees; urgently supplement regulations on strict handling of cadres, civil servants and public employees who commit violations, including when they quit their jobs or retire.

In addition, the Ministry also proposed to develop and implement housing policies to motivate officials and civil servants in the direction of involving many subjects, minimizing the use of the State budget.

The Ministry recommends that localities and ministries tighten discipline in administrative agencies at all levels; immediately put an end to the situation of eating, drinking, partying, meeting during meetings or when being promoted or transferred to work, and the organization of lavish and wasteful weddings, funerals, death anniversaries, etc. Along with that, increase the authority and promote the responsibility of leaders in suspending subordinates for review when there are signs of violations, delays, stagnation, and ineffectiveness in performing assigned duties and tasks.

According to VOV