Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc made the comment while chairing the Government’s regular meeting in Hà Nội yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc told a meeting of Government yesterday he was worried about the slow disbursement of public investment capital.

The PM made the comment while chairing the Government’s regular meeting in Hà Nội, noting that only 55 per cent of the year’s investment plan had been spent so far. 

Urging sectors and localities to speed up, he ordered that capital that could not be disbursed as scheduled should be used for other urgent issues.  

The Government leader also expressed dissatisfaction at the slow pace in equitisation of State-owned enterprises, noting that just 18 out of 44 targeted SOEs had been involved so far. He added that divestment of State capital amounted to only VNĐ11.8 trillion out of the planned VNĐ60 trillion. 

Reviewing the nation’s socio-economic performance, the PM praised the breakthrough economic growth of 7.46 per cent in the third quarter. This was higher than the 5.15 per cent in the first quarter and 6.28 per cent in the second. 

He said with such momentum and provided that there were no major natural disasters, the Government could fulfill targets assigned by the Party Central Committee and the National Assembly. He underlined the remarkable fact that growth was mostly driven by production and services instead of credit and mining. 

The Government leader said the World Economic Forum recently raised Việt Nam position five places in the competitiveness index. Compared to five years ago, Việt Nam had climbed 50 places in the index. The country also earned 53 points in the Purchasing Managers’ Index released by the Nikkei, the highest among ASEAN member states. Exports were also expected to achieve 20-21 per cent growth. 

The PM said that with the involvement of the entire political system, more than 5,000 administrative procedures had been cut, making it easier for production and trade.

He said the macro-economy continued to be stable with inflation at 3.79 per cent in the first nine months. The State budget collection and credit surged 14 and 12 per cent, respectively. The major index of the stock market topped 800 points, the highest since 2008. Foreign currency reserves surpassed US$44 billion while foreign direct investment soared 34 per cent to about $26 billion.

The PM said that about 94,000 new businesses had also been established nationwide, adding that culture, education, healthcare, national defence, security and external relations had also performed well. 

Despite the positive signs, the PM warned ministries and sectors not to forget that the growth rate must hit 7.4-7.5 per cent in the fourth quarter if it was to achieve a 6.7 per cent goal for this year. The focus was on manufacturing and processing. 

The PM asked ministries and agencies to discuss measures to facilitate production, trade and exports while making thorough preparations for the coming fifth session of the 14th National Assembly. — VNS