VINACHEM

This year’s first quarter saw the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth hitting 7.38%, or 30 basis points higher than in the final quarter of 2017, heard a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Ha Ngoc Chien, head of the NA Ethnic Council, was quoted by VnEconomy as saying at the meeting on May 14 that the higher GDP growth rate of last quarter was a good result, as GDP growth in the first quarter of the previous years was often lower than in other quarters.

Deputies attending the meeting spoke highly of positive socio-economic results of last year.

Chairwoman of the NA Justice Committee Le Thi Nga said the Government had acted promptly upon pressing issues, and relevant agencies have managed to live up to commitments by the Government. Such performance is made possible owing to a working group having been established to oversee the implementation of conclusions of Government leaders, she added.

According to Nga, much red tape has been removed. In addition, the Government has operated in a more transparent manner when dealing with cases such as the MobiFone-AVG deal and the 12 loss-making projects under the management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

However, while factors behind good results were analyzed in detail in socio-economic reports, areas with poor performance have not been brought to light, head of the NA Committee for Legal Affairs Nguyen Khac Dinh commented on the Government’s reports.

According to Dinh, export growth has still depended greatly on foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises. Besides, the capital of investment projects licensed in January-March averaged out at only US$3.4 million, equivalent to one third of the projects in 2014.

Head of the NA Committee for External Relations Nguyen Van Giau asked the Government to pay special attention to dealing with weaknesses and drawbacks of the economy, including low labor productivity. - VNN -