The Vietnamese government has set a growth target of 6.7 percent for 2016 on the foundation of solid economic recovery, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in a report to the National Assembly.
Other targets for next year include inflation of 5 percent, a 1.3-1.5 percent reduction in the percentage of poor households nationwide and 4 percent in disadvantaged districts, and health insurance coverage of 76 percent.
According to the prime minister’s report, Vietnam has met 13 out of 14 socio-economic targets set last year, with the only missed goal concerning the forest coverage rate.
The report underlines the strong recovery of the domestic economy in the first nine months of the year with gross domestic output increasing by 6.5 percent and the consumer price index rising by 0.74 percent.
Loans in the nine months to September rose by 10.78 percent compared with 6.62 percent during the same period last year, indicating a marked improvement in credit to the economy.
The report also acknowledges the shortcomings of the economy, including low productivity, a high spending deficit, rising public debt, high bad debt, and struggling exports of agricultural products, among others.
After examining the government’s report, Chairman of the NA’s Economic Committee Nguyen Van Giau agreed that the Vietnamese economy has seen positive development in the past year, but its competitiveness remains poor.
He urged the government to manage the economy with more flexible monetary and fiscal policies, and focus on removing difficulties for enterprises, especially small and medium ones.
The government was also required to tackle bad debt in an effective manner, exert strict control over public debt and cut down on recurrent expenditure while taking measures to boost the value of exports and revive the property market with a VND30 trillion home loan package.
NDO
Vietnamese
