Amid growing complicated Covid-19 situation globally, Vietnam is determined to repel the current 4^th Covid-19 outbreak to protect people’s lives and boost economic recovery.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the meeting. Photo: Nhat Bac

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh gave the remarks at the government’s monthly meeting on June 3.

“Difficulties and challenges would serve as motivation for the country to move forward,” Chinh stressed.

On specific measures, Chinh requested the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to effectively maneuver fiscal and monetary policies to ensure stable macro-economic conditions and keep inflation under control.

Given the current uncertain economic environment, Chinh assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to update growth scenarios and accelerate public investment, while the Ministry of Industry and Trade should put in place measures to avoid disruption to supply chains amid the pandemic and maintain sufficient supplies of essential goods and services.

The Ministry of Justice is tasked with reviewing existing regulations to address bottlenecks related to Covid-19 vaccine strategy, public investment, trade and macro-economy.

Chinh also called for tightening discipline in budget management by shifting focus on capital expenditure and saving unnecessary cost from regular spending.

According to the PM, the government is set to issue a resolution on supporting measures for workers and businesses affected by the pandemic.

Positive socio-economic performance in Jan-May

Vietnam’s socio-economic performance in the first five-month period of 2021 remained positive despite Covid-19 resurgence in the country.

With the consumer price index (CPI), a gauge for inflation, rose by a modest rate of 1.29% in the January-May period, inflation continues to stay under control.

State budget collection during the period reached over 50% of the year’s estimate and increased by 15.2% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the index of industrial production increased by 10% year-on-year, with manufacturing and processing sector going up by 12.6%.

The country’s trade turnover also surged by 33.5% year-on-year to US$262 billion, while foreign direct investment (FDI) to Vietnam has gradually recovered with total registered capital of US$14 billion.

Another high note was the number of newly-established enterprises at a 5-year high of 55,800, demonstrating the high confidence of the business community on the  economic outlook.

Vietnam is currently the only country in the world whose outlook has been raised by all three major global rating agencies, namely Moody’s, S&P and Fitch Ratings, to positive.

While PM Chinh attributed the positive economic performance to a combination of effective government’s leadership and responsive action from the public, he also pointed out existing shortcoming, including rising trade deficit, the dependence of exports  on the foreign-invested sector, cumbersome administrative procedures and slow progress of vaccination roll-out.

“Government members must set an example in finding solutions to these issues,” Chinh stressed.