A view of the session. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The 15th National Assembly (NA) on Sunday discussed the implementation of the socio-economic development and State budget plans for the first six months of the year. They also discussed solutions for the performance of tasks in the second half of the year and the development plan for 2021 to 2025.

Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Bình Minh reported on the socio-economic and State budget situation for the first half of 2021, noting that the economic growth of 5.64 per cent during the period was relatively high compared to other countries. He also noted that many localities hit by the COVID-19 pandemic still posted growth, that the macroeconomy stayed stable, that inflation was kept low, and that's the major balances of the economy, the monetary market, credit, exchange rates, and interest rates were also stable.

For the remaining months of 2021, the Government is determined to keep macroeconomic stability, guarantee the major balances, closely coordinate fiscal and monetary policies with other policies, facilitate production and business activities, and support economic recovery.

It will also continue working to control inflation, ensure reasonable credit growth, and eliminate unnecessary expenses, he said, stressing that the Government is resolved to realise its targets, but that the current priority is containing COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the proposed socio-economic development plan for 2021 to 2025 features the overall goal of securing fast and sustainable economic growth on the basis of enhancing sustainable macro-economic stability; developing science, technology and innovation; and fully optimising the country’s potential and advantages.

It targets a five-year growth rate higher than the average figure for the 2016- 2020 period and says that by 2025, Việt Nam will become a developing country with high-tech oriented industry and will escape from lower-middle-income status. It also looks to improve the economy’s productivity, quality, efficiency, and competitiveness, uniformly taking solutions to effectively address the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact, and swiftly recover and develop the economy.

COVID-19 concerns

Deputy Nguyễn Thị Thuỷ, deputy head of the NA Committee for Judicial Affairs, said that in the past, many localities have had creative and flexible solutions to control the pandemic. However, there are also localities that apply extreme measures and not in a consistent manner. This has caused congestion in the transportation of goods in many places.

In the past, there were localities that did not allow goods transportation vehicles to go through checkpoints even though the owners had pandemic safety certificates. In other cases, many vehicles, after going through many pandemic checkpoints, still had to return because each locality had its own regulations, Thuỷ said.

"Localities can’t be totally isolated due to the pandemic, we’re applying quarantine and social distancing, not isolation!” she said, citing the Prime Minister's criticism of how localities have been applying extremely strict measures on the transportation of goods.

Thủy also said that it is necessary that the Government has a second support package soon. She suggested that the Government soon assign relevant ministries and agencies to build statistical software that can manage the recipients of the support package so that the money and supporting policies go to the right places.

At the same time, she recommended reviewing the current resilience of enterprises to have radical solutions in the future.

Delegate Nguyễn Minh Tâm from Quảng Bình Province said that the current measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic were still short-term and proposed the Government build long-term solutions and strategies for the country. She also emphasised the need to tackle waste in the context of the pandemic, which is not taken seriously by many.

Delegate Vũ Thị Lưu Mai, vice head of the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly, emphasised the need to draw lessons from the VNĐ62 trillion support package. She said that during the implementation of the second VNĐ26 trillion package, the Government needed to apply more open, timely and transparent execution policies.

Deputy Nguyễn Anh Trí from Hà nội said the Government's socio-economic reports and verification reports show the overall picture of the country's situation in the past and in the midst of many difficulties, the country had gained a lot of success.

Deputy Trí suggested the Government pay attention to updating and developing scenarios on the pandemic and then build targets and scenarios for production and economic development in an effective and sustainable manner.

In the immediate future, he said it is necessary to strongly focus on prioritising resources to fight the pandemic, maintain macroeconomic stability and ensure people's lives, he said.

Socio-economic situation

Commenting on the five-year socio-economic development plan for 2021-2025, deputy Nguyễn Thị Kim Bé, from Kiên Giang Province, said that the Government has built its plan based on careful analysis and evaluation of the achievements and limitations of implementing the five-year socio-economic development goals for 2016-21.

For the Mekong Delta region, she said that the Government should give priority to investment in the development of transport infrastructure in this area in order to strongly exploit the great potential of the region. 

She noted that in the future development plan, there is no expressway construction project linking Kiên Giang-Hà Tiên-Rạch Giá. She suggested that such a project be included in the plan.

Referring to the planning and implementation of investment projects, Deputy Vũ Thị Lưu Mai from Hà Nội suggested that the Government, ministries and localities should pay special attention to the development of environmental impact assessment reports.

Deputy Nguyễn Cao Sơn from Hoà Bình Province said in the future the Government should boost the speed of budget reimbursement, conduct inter-regional transport projects, and invest in in irrigation to facilitate agricultural production. VNS