On October 29, Mr Nguyen Van Nen, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office and Spokesman of the Government of Vietnam, chaired the regular monthly press conference for October hosted by the Government Office.
He briefed the conference on the contents of the October cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on the same day.
The Government listened to reports and discussions on social and economic situations in October and in the first 10 months of 2014 and delved into burning issues like public debt, bad debt, business development and budget structure.
Mr Nen said cabinet members agreed on social and economic reports. Inflation was controlled. Consumer price index (CPI) rose only 2.36 percent the first 10 months, the lowest in the same period in 11 years. Interest rate, exchange rate and forex market were kept stable. Social security and political stability continued to be maintained.
Long Thanh Airport construction for long-term development
Minister Nen said the Government will seek the advocacy for the construction of Long Thanh International Airport although the current situation is difficult. However, this is necessary for long-term development.
He said Transport Minister Dinh La Thang reported in detail on the construction of Long Thanh International Airport to the National Assembly for consideration. “The Government has asked for investment ratification although we are now facing in grave difficulty. But, this is for long-time development. The Government agreed to report it to the National Assembly and we are waiting for the opinion of the National Assembly,” he said.
Not to use State budget to pay bad debt
At the press conference, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said the Government told the SBV to seek measures to reduce bad debts in the coming time.
She said that bad debt is in the downward trend. In September, the bad debt ratio was just 3.88 percent, much lower than 5.18 percent in August.
The Deputy Governor said many countries in the world have to use up to 15 percent of GDP to deal with the bad debt but Vietnam cannot use the State budget for this. Thus, it established Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) to tackle the debt bad.
Besides, the Government will also amend legal documents to create the regulatory framework and tools for VAMC to better handle bad debt without having to use the State budget.
She added that the Government also instructed the SBV to lower interest rates to support businesses given slowing inflation and sluggish economic recovery. Currently, lending rate stays at 12 percent per annum while the rate for priority fields is below 10 percent.
She said that, in order to ensure liquidity and operations of commercial banks, the SBV approved the commercial bank restructuring scheme in October 2013.
Development investment budget reduced
The Government reported on spending structure to the National Assembly. Minister Nen said “Although our growth missed expectations, we did not reduce any spending on human, social security and national defence.”
Meanwhile, we accepted to reduce some sources of incomes and delayed tax payments for companies, thus affecting our budgetary revenue and spending.
The growth rate of recurrent expenditures was higher than GDP growth in the same period. This is an irrational balance. The Government considered measures to balance the budget. And, the budget for development investment was slashed.
L.T
Vietnamese
