National Assembly assigns multiple tasks to Government
National Assembly assigns multiple tasks to Government
Although the local economy in the first four months of the year still maintained its growth momentum from the end of last year, the Government should make a greater effort to achieve targets this year, according to the National Assembly (NA) Economic Committee.
On the first working day of the NA’s seventh sitting on May 20, after Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh delivered a Government report on the nation’s socioeconomic performance in 2018 and January-April of 2019, Vu Hong Thanh, head of the NA Economic Committee, said that the Government had worked out action plans to fulfill its assigned tasks.
As a result, the country has achieved quite high economic growth, stabilized the macroeconomy, kept inflation under control and realized the State budget revenue and spending targets.
However, the processing and manufacturing sector showed signs of a slowdown due to the modest number of industrial products bearing national brands and the limited participation of domestic firms in new value chains.
In addition, the agro-forestry-fishery sector still faces multiple difficulties. Specifically, epidemics have challenged the livestock sector.
Loan shark rings remain rampant, causing social disorder. Further, pressing issues in the education sector need to be resolved, such as the recent decline in the quality and ethics of teachers, national high school exam fraud, the lack of transparency in enrolment and school violence.
Thanh said that 2019 is a pivotal year for making breakthroughs to achieve socioeconomic development targets in the 2016-2020 period.
The NA Economic Committee agreed on the Government’s solutions for the rest of this year, focusing on three main tasks: maintaining macroeconomic stability and inflation control and applying flexible macroeconomic policies to respond to possible unexpected developments in the regional and global economy; restructuring the economy and improving the business environment; and speeding up the execution of key projects, especially those in the transport and information technology sectors, Thanh said.
The committee asked the Government to quickly complete draft laws for submission to the NA as well as issue guidelines on the implementation of laws that have come into force.
The Government should also continue to simplify administrative procedures and impose heavy penalties on violators of regulations in all sectors, especially in investment, construction and transportation. It was urged to apply technology to management processes, enhance cooperation among ministries and management agencies, encourage the participation of the private sector in national key projects, and promote the innovative startup ecosystem.
Comprehensive solutions are needed to accelerate the disbursement of public capital for investment projects; improve control over tax collection, transfer pricing and online businesses; and promote noncash payments.
The Government must encourage coordination among ministries, agencies and localities to settle bad debts, propose solutions to help State-run commercial banks raise charter capital, simplify lending procedures and tighten credit for risky sectors.
The cooperation between the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises and ministries should be intensified. Moreover, the Government must work out solutions to successfully work out the equitization plan this year and help enterprises complete renewable energy projects.
The Government should act with determination in controlling epidemics affecting the livestock sector; severely punish those involved in the national high school exam fraud last year and ensure the success of this year’s exam organization; and impose heavy sanctions on drivers caught abusing drugs or alcohol while driving as well as those charged with child molestation.
Policies on foreign investment attraction should be amended as well, Thanh added.
