Deputy Prime Minister Lê Thành Long delivered reports on economic growth, disbursement of public investment, the gold and real estate markets, education, and law-making at the National Assembly meeting on Thursday, October 30 in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Government has been implementing several measures to control the gold and real estate markets, with GDP growth in 2025 projected to reach 8 per cent, surpassing the target, said Deputy Prime Minister Lê Thành Long.

At Thursday’s National Assembly (NA) meeting, the Deputy PM delivered an explanatory speech clarifying issues related to economic growth, public investment disbursement, the gold and real estate markets, education and law-making.

The Deputy PM emphasised that in 2025, Việt Nam’s GDP growth is expected to reach 8 per cent or higher. For the entire 2020–25 period (excluding 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck), the average growth rate is 6.3 per cent, slightly higher than the 6.2 per cent recorded during 2015–2020.

Another highlight is labour productivity, which is projected to increase by 6.85 per cent in 2025, exceeding the target of around 5.5 per cent.

The contribution of total factor productivity (TFP) during this period is estimated at 47 per cent.

State budget revenue in 2025 is forecast to reach VNĐ2.4 quadrillion (US$92.6 billion), 21.5 per cent higher than the target.

He noted that these results have been achieved despite major challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, complex regional and global developments, geopolitical conflicts, unpredictable multilateral trade and economic policies of major economies and the breakdown of international trade principles established under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) framework.

As of October 23, public investment disbursement reached 51.7 per cent, slightly higher than the 51.5 per cent recorded during the same period last year. In absolute terms, VNĐ465 trillion ($17.9 billion) has been disbursed, up VNĐ116 trillion ($4.5 billion) year-on-year.

However, he agreed with NA deputies that progress remains below expectations despite continuous administrative measures.

The delays were attributed to several causes, including the consolidation of projects – the number of projects dropped sharply from over 12,000 (2015–2020) to fewer than 5,000 (2020–2025), with a goal of under 3,000 (2026–2030) – delays in decentralisation, streamlining administrative procedures and organisational restructuring and workload handover.

According to the Deputy PM, the domestic gold market has been heavily influenced by global fluctuations, with international prices at times nearing $4,400 per ounce.

Citing information from the central bank’s deputy governor, he noted that the price gap between domestic and global gold had at times widened to nearly VNĐ20 million ($770) per tael, though it occasionally narrowed to only VNĐ1 million ($38).

The main causes include geopolitical tensions, inconsistent economic and trade policies of major economies and domestic psychological factors.

The Government has introduced solutions, including strengthening market surveillance, the Prime Minister directing intensive inspections, amending Decree No. 24 to reduce gold market monopolies and submitting to competent authorities a plan to establish a national gold trading exchange to enhance transparency.

Regarding the surge in housing prices and limited affordability, Long acknowledged the situation and said the Government is implementing various measures, including amending and supplementing legal regulations related to land and real estate.

The Government has also submitted to the NA a resolution to address urgent issues in the Land Law, particularly concerning land valuation.

He expressed high expectations for the social housing programme, targeting one million homes. By the end of 2025, completed, under-construction and approved projects are expected to reach 60 per cent of the target, possibly exceeding the one-million-unit goal.

Currently, 165 projects have been completed, equivalent to about 117,000 apartments.

Health care issues

In the morning session, delegates discussed health care issues, emphasising the need to protect and ensure security and safety for medical staff on duty, train human resources in the health sector and resolve financial backlogs after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Minister Đào Hồng Lan said: “We wanted the NA’s resolution to include the provision that assaulting medical staff while they are performing their duties of treating and saving lives should be considered acts of resistance against public officials performing their official duties.”

“This would allow us to adopt stronger, more deterrent measures to protect healthcare workers.”

According to the minister, violence against medical staff in healthcare facilities has long been a pressing issue in the health sector.

This situation not only affects hospital security and safety but also directly endangers the lives and health of healthcare workers, patients and their relatives.

Such incidents have caused widespread public outrage, negatively impacted the psychology of medical staff and undermined their morale and motivation at work.

Deputy Trần Khánh Thu of Hưng Yên Province said that it was necessary to add to the NA’s resolution the content of recognising martyrs and war invalids in cases of medical staff who sacrificed their lives and were injured while on duty.

Meanwhile, Deputy Phạm Khánh Phong Lan of HCM City stated that at present, the working environment is not ensured and violence has become common in health facilities.

At the meeting, deputies raised issues relating to medical human resource training and population ageing, medical staff salaries and procurement and bidding in the health sector. — VNS