The Government's determination and efforts to accelerate and create a breakthrough in growth
Báo Dân trí•11/07/2023
In the first months of 2023, with a series of "unprecedented" challenges from both inside and outside, Vietnam's economic growth did not meet expectations. Firmly pursuing the growth target of 6.5%, the Government has introduced a series of solutions to cope with the volatile situation, striving to maintain major economic balances and create breakthrough momentum for growth. "Many localities in important dynamic regions had a GRDP growth rate in the second quarter higher than in the first quarter, as well as higher than the national average" is the good news announced by Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung at the Government's online conference with localities, after the whole country has passed half of 2023 and the new term has also passed halfway. Specifically, according to Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, Ho Chi Minh City's GRDP in the third quarter increased by 5.9% (in the first quarter, it only increased by 1.1%); Binh Duong increased by 5.7% (in the first quarter, it increased by 1.7%); Dong Nai increased by 4.8% (in the first quarter, it increased by 3.1%); Bac Giang increased by 13.8% (in the first quarter, it increased by 8.1%)... Just 3 months before, many concerns arose when the GRDP growth of the economic locomotive Ho Chi Minh City only reached 0.7% - the lowest among the 5 centrally-run cities and lower than the national average, ranking 56/63 localities. Reporting to the Government on the situation in the second quarter and the first 6 months of the year, Ho Chi Minh City Chairman Phan Van Mai said that the locality has had positive changes. Mr. Mai acknowledged that the Government, Government leaders and ministries and branches have been very determined in perfecting institutions, removing difficulties and promoting driving forces, especially in the field of public investment. Regarding Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Mai said that the government is very determined to remove difficulties and obstacles for businesses. Up to now, Ho Chi Minh City has resolved over 50% of the petitions of State-owned enterprises; 169/189 petitions of 148 real estate projects have been received, have solutions and will focus on resolving them in the near future... In recent times, Ho Chi Minh City has also focused on promoting public investment projects. Regarding public investment disbursement, as of June 30, the City has disbursed nearly VND 15,500 billion, reaching 23%. Although this level did not reach the target of 35% by the end of the second quarter, it was 9 times higher than the first quarter and 24 times higher than the same period in 2022. Notably, in the second quarter, Ho Chi Minh City started construction of the Ring Road 3 project to ensure progress. This is a very encouraging signal, recognizing the movement of the entire system. With the position of the capital of the country, Hanoi also recorded many "bright spots" in socio-economic development. Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh said that the city's socio-economy has clearly recovered, and major balances have also been ensured. In particular, GRDP in the first 6 months of the year increased by 5.97% - higher than the national growth rate (3.72%). The number of tourists to Hanoi also increased by 2.5 times (of which international visitors increased by nearly 7 times) compared to the same period. According to Mr. Thanh, Hanoi has accelerated the disbursement of public investment capital, reaching 33.9% in the first 6 months of the year (23.7% in the same period in 2022). In particular, the City has made efforts to direct the site clearance work to implement the Ring Road 4 - Capital Region Project. As one of the localities with high growth in the second quarter, Bac Giang is also a place that attracts outstanding investment. In the first 6 months of the year, the province attracted 1.48 billion USD in converted investment capital, up 47% over the same period, of which FDI capital attraction reached 1.16 billion USD, 4.5 times higher than the same period (ranking 3rd in the country after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City). According to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, in recent times, the Government and the Prime Minister have proactively and flexibly managed, adapting to the new situation in the world and in the country; focusing on promoting economic growth, especially removing difficulties and obstacles for enterprises, investment projects, and the real estate market. However, Mr. Dung assessed that the difficulties and challenges are still very large, creating risks and pressure on growth management and macroeconomic stability. According to the Minister of Planning and Investment, in the last months of the year, it is necessary to have drastic and proactive management solutions, seize every opportunity, take advantage of time to restore growth, and implement medium and long-term solutions such as green growth, digital economy, circular economy, etc. "In the context of a sharp decline in world demand, most countries have inflation and public debt at record levels, Vietnam's economic growth in the first 6 months of the year is higher than the world average, inflation is controlled, public debt is low, the currency value is stable, many important infrastructure projects are removed, completed and put into use", according to National Assembly delegate Pham Van Thinh (Member of the Economic Committee), this is a positive and very encouraging result. "Right direction, drastic, effective" are the 6 words that Master of Economics Pham Van Thinh used to evaluate the management of the Government and the Government's leadership in recent times. He analyzed that the Government has been very on the right track when focusing public investment resources on important and essential infrastructure projects such as the system of highways, roads, inter-regional connecting bridges, infrastructure for the health, education, and digital transformation sectors - to create a spillover effect to promote rapid and sustainable growth. In the second quarter, the Ministry of Transport put into operation four component projects: Mai Son - National Highway 45, Phan Thiet - Dau Giay, Nha Trang - Cam Lam and Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet with a length of 312 km. These projects facilitate inter-regional connectivity, promote investment attraction, develop tourism; help people and businesses participate in traffic and transport goods more conveniently and safely. In addition, a series of important expressways have been started one after another, such as Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang, Bien Hoa - Vung Tau, Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot, Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, Hanoi Ring Road 4, Cao Lanh - An Huu, Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang... The Government's correct management, according to delegate Thinh, is also demonstrated through the implementation of tax exemption, reduction and extension policies to promote production and consumption. Another proof of the drastic and effective management is that the Government and Government leaders regularly urge, inspect and give opinions to promptly remove obstacles for businesses and localities in public investment and in the implementation of key projects. Nearly 500km of the North - South expressway has been completed and put into operation; completely switched to non-stop toll collection; construction of Hanoi Ring Road 4 and Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 has been started; Resolving and accelerating the progress of key national energy projects such as the Thai Binh Thermal Power Plant, Can Tho Gas Power Complex, etc. are clear results of this, according to delegate Pham Van Thinh. "The promotion of decentralization and delegation of power associated with individual responsibility has created clear results, as evidenced by the fact that the progress of decentralized work is much faster and more positive," the delegate acknowledged. Delegate Hoang Van Cuong (Vice Principal of the National Economics University, Member of the Finance and Budget Committee) also acknowledged the Government's dynamic and decisive management in the first 6 months of the year, when the economy faced many unpredictable fluctuations and challenges. As evidence for this assessment, according to Mr. Cuong, the Government has made many timely decisions to remove difficulties and obstacles for important markets such as bonds and real estate. A series of policies to help businesses overcome difficulties such as tax deferral, postponement, reduction and exemption have also been issued by the Government in a timely manner. In addition, the management of banking activities is also very drastic with 4 interest rate cuts, while many large banks in the world are still hesitant. In particular, Mr. Cuong highly appreciated the fact that Government leaders regularly inspect and urge the implementation of key projects and works across the country. In the context of the world and regional situation with many rapid, complicated and unpredictable changes, the Government has managed decisively, comprehensively, flexibly and effectively, mobilizing the participation of the entire political system, the entire population and businesses. That is also the assessment of National Assembly delegate Ma Thi Thuy (Tuyen Quang). The female delegate also appreciated the Government and Government leaders' regular meetings, establishment of inspection teams to organize the implementation of important national programs and projects, issuance of many resolutions, decisions, mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties, promote production and business activities, mobilize and focus on implementing many key transport infrastructure projects, and complete and put into use 310km of highways. Acknowledging the Government's determination not to adjust the 6.5% growth target for 2023, the female delegate said that it is necessary to take advantage of every opportunity to promote the process of socio-economic recovery and development, maintain long-term growth momentum and exploit new growth drivers. Ms. Thuy suggested that the Government should promptly review all the preferential support policies that are being implemented. According to her, the fastest, most effective and most easily absorbed measure by businesses at this time is to use fiscal tools to directly support businesses, such as reducing bank interest rates; reducing land rent; reducing corporate income tax; reducing, extending, and exempting interest rates and exempting late payment interest on social insurance. In addition, she suggested that the National Assembly and the Government need separate and specific mechanisms and policies on public investment, and be more determined to remove obstacles for slow-disbursement projects, especially large-scale key projects that have spillover effects and improve the production capacity of the economy. Based on the results of the second quarter and the first 6 months of the year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has proposed 2 growth scenarios. Scenario 1 is that the whole year's growth is expected to reach 6%; growth in the third quarter is 6.8%, and in the fourth quarter is 9%. With this scenario, the overall growth in the last 6 months of the year must reach 8%. Scenario 2 is that the whole year's growth is expected to reach 6.5%; growth in the third quarter is 7.4%, and in the fourth quarter is 10.3%. To do so, growth in the last 6 months of the year must reach 8.9%. Commenting that the task in the last 6 months of the year is very heavy, Economic Committee member Pham Van Thinh said that the Government has fully identified the difficulties as well as the advantages and proposed many major solutions. Going into specifics, he proposed that the Government boldly accelerate the roadmap to mandate non-cash payments in the economy. "Currently, our economy has nearly 120 million personal payment accounts at commercial banks and over 100 million subscribers who can immediately switch to mobile payments. If we switch to an economy that limits cash payments, it will contribute to GDP growth of 0.5-0.7%," Mr. Thinh analyzed. According to him, our country's economy currently has a slow cash turnover, so requiring non-cash payments will contribute to increasing cash turnover, leading to boosting growth. In addition, the delegate from Bac Giang province said that it is necessary to speed up public investment, especially in strategic infrastructure such as highways, seaports, regional connecting roads, and invest heavily in digital transformation of the economy. In implementing investment projects, Mr. Thinh emphasized the need to continue to decentralize and delegate power thoroughly. "To grow in the short and long term, there must be new investment projects or expansion. Therefore, reforming procedures to quickly implement projects is an effective method to promote growth and create jobs," said delegate Thinh. At the same time, he recommended drastic measures to encourage and remove obstacles for businesses to meet the conditions for green production or carbon reduction. According to the delegate, this will be an important criterion to help manufactured goods have advantages and opportunities to export to major markets such as the US and EU. Although the growth results in the first 6 months of the year did not meet expectations and the challenges for the last 6 months of the year are very large, delegate Hoang Van Cuong emphasized that efforts must be made to achieve the best results. According to him, there are still many opportunities to promote growth at the end of the year, but in the immediate future, he noted the need to boost public investment to create an increase in aggregate demand, promote spillover to all sectors and help businesses have more resources for development. In addition, it is necessary to promptly remove psychological barriers to break down the stagnation in the system, promote all work and procedures to be carried out more quickly and effectively, because in reality, many activities are currently stalled due to legal problems. In the long term, the Hanoi delegate said that it is necessary to actively aim at and focus on promoting new growth drivers such as renewable energy, green economy, digital economy, etc. Delegate Le Huu Tri (Khanh Hoa) also suggested that in order to achieve the socio-economic development goals for the whole year of 2023, there needs to be more drastic and effective direction in a number of issues. First of all, effective solutions are needed to promptly resolve difficulties for businesses, improve the investment and business environment, and have solutions to ensure adequate capital supply for the economy. "This is a very difficult requirement, while we must both control inflation and ensure interest rates are consistent with the market economy and market developments," said Mr. Tri. In addition, according to him, effective solutions and strict implementation of discipline are needed to immediately overcome the limitations and weaknesses of public investment that have lasted for many years. "Public investment is considered a leading tool, a seed capital to stimulate consumption, promote economic growth," said Mr. Tri, and suggested that it is necessary to clarify the cause, determine responsibility and solutions, not to let this situation continue to drag on, creating bad consequences. Also according to delegate Tri, the Government needs to take immediate measures to rectify the working style of the State apparatus at all levels if there are signs of fear of responsibility, shirking responsibility or causing prolonged congestion when handling administrative procedures of people and businesses. Emphasizing the importance of listening and promptly resolving the recommendations of people and businesses, National Assembly delegate Pham Van Thinh believes that the results of the first 6 months of the year are the basis to show that the economy is on the right track and opens up prospects for strong and sustainable growth in the coming time.
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