VINACHEM

The Government will keep economic and financial policies stable this year, including the environment protection tax on fuels, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was cited as saying by the Government news website on August 1.

At a monthly Cabinet meeting, PM Phuc noted that the value-added tax law as well as the prices of electricity and healthcare services will remain unchanged.

According to him, the country should keep the U.S. dollar-Vietnamese dong exchange rate fluctuating within a band of 2% compared with the rate last year. There will be no amendments to monetary policy either, he confirmed.

Regarding the country’s socioeconomic development, the Government leader stressed that four macroeconomic targets have been achieved: robust gross domestic product growth, price stability, a reduction in unemployment and trade surplus. The country’s unemployment rate has dropped to a record low of 2.2%.

He also noted that the economy has grown strongly since the second quarter, thanks to institutional reforms, the Government’s direction, deeper global integration and an increase in labor productivity.

However, multiple challenges were also pinpointed, such as the impacts of the U.S.-China trade war and natural disasters.

PM Phuc emphasized the need to maintain the driving forces of Vietnam’s economic development not only this year but also in the coming years, adding that the country should continue to stabilize its macroeconomy, control inflation, enhance the confidence of enterprises, protect the environment and ensure social order and security.

He ordered Cabinet members to urgently fulfill their duties, while requesting ministers and provincial chairpersons to prepare detailed plans to accomplish tasks assigned by the Government, thus contributing to the country’s overall development.

The PM also urged the ministries to speed up the disbursement of public investment capital. He blamed project delays on the slow capital disbursement.

Therefore, the Government will hold a meeting this month to discuss draft laws, including the draft law on public investment.

The equitization of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) remains slow, so he assigned the Government's working group to urge localities to quickly restructure the SOEs under their management.

He also called for the prevention of the influx of low-quality technological products into Vietnam.

Regarding the imported scrap backlog at ports, he said that the Government had assigned the Ministry of Transport to coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to promptly classify and address containers of secondhand products abandoned at ports.

The Ministry of Public Security will need to clarify the origin of these containers and impose strict penalties on those illegally importing waste into the country.

Regarding solutions to deal with natural disasters, he said that the relevant ministries need to provide accurate forecasts, relocate households in areas prone to landslides and floods to safer places, ensure safety in areas surrounding reservoirs and penalize those involved in deforestation.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport has been assigned to take steps to ensure traffic safety following a recent spate of serious road accidents.

The leader also talked about the large-scale corruption in the national examination. He asked the Ministry of Education and Training to improve its administrative system and the Ministry of Public Security to continue its investigations and impose heavy sanctions on the violators. - SGT -