HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has told ministries, sectors and localities that consolidating macro-economic stability and promoting growth is their most important task for 2019.

He made the request at the Government’s monthly meeting in Hà Nội on Thursday.
Assessing the socio-economic situation in January, he said a positive trend from last year has been sustained.

Notably, the index of industrial production rose almost 8 per cent, total goods retail sales and service revenue have grown fast and goods supply has been ensured.
Việt Nam recorded more than US$20 billion in exports and $20.8 billion in imports in January, the PM said, attributing the trade deficit to soaring consumption demand ahead of the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday.
More than 10,000 new businesses have been established this month with registered capital surging 53.8 per cent from the figure a year earlier. Meanwhile, some 8,000 firms resumed operations.

The PM asked ministers and heads of sectors to pay special attention to the targets of their fields, adding that they must regularly assess their performance and have suitable responses to domestic and international developments.
He told the State Bank of Việt Nam to keep steering the monetary policy, exchange rates and interest rates in a flexible manner and in harmony with fiscal and other macro policies. Its moves must be consistent with inflation control, macro-economic stabilisation and growth promotion targets, the PM stressed.
Credit provision should be focused on fields that are working as growth engines to curb loan sharking. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance needs to tighten financial discipline in the use of the State budget and enhance budget use inspections.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has to take measures to bolster exports and control imports, PM Phúc said, noting that he had assigned this ministry to build a plan on responding to trade disputes.
At the meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was asked to soon announce the completion of new-style rural area building in some provinces. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and Communications was told to augment efforts to ensure cyber security and strictly deal with actions that abuse freedom of speech and the press to violate interests of the State, organisations and citizens.
As for Tết, the most important festival for Vietnamese, the Government leader stressed that the top task of the ministries and localities is to ensure a safe, joyful but thrifty Tết for everyone. “Efforts must be made to ensure that not even a single people is left without Tết”, he ordered. — VNS