The Government’s regular meeting – June 2011

RESOLUTION

The Government’s regular meeting – June, 2011

The Government convened a video-conference of its regular meeting with Chairmen of Municipal and Provincial People’s Committees on June 30 and July 1 to discuss and decide the following issues: 

1. The Government debated reports on: Socio-economic performance in June and the first six months of 2011; the implementation of Resolution 11/NQ-CP; Cabinet’s performance and management in the first half and implementation of its working program for the rest of 2011; the realization of Việt Nam’s international commitments in the first six months of 2011; the implementation of the administrative reform in the first half of 2011; and the settlement of complaints and accusations, anti-corruption work in the first half of 2011. The reports were presented by the Minister of Planning and Investment, the Minister-Chairman of the Office of Government, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Home Affairs, and the Government Chief Inspector.

After listening to comments of the Cabinet members and the Chairmen of the Municipal and Provincial People’s Committees, the Government reached consensus as followings:

In the first half of 2011, the domestic economy weathered a string of multifaceted impacts from the world economy, especially high inflation rates on global scale. In Việt Nam, inflation escalated and some factors that could cause macro-economic instability appeared. In that context, the Government put forth Resolution 02/NQ-CP, dated January 9, 2011 on key solutions to the implementation of socio-economic development plan and State budget estimate in 2011 while adjusting targets and shifting focus to conducting the key solutions for controlling inflation, stabilizing macro-economy, and ensuring social welfare in drastic and synchronous manner, and issuing Resolution 11/NQ-CP, dated February 24, 2011.

The country achieved initially positive outcomes after drastically implementing the Politburo Conclusion 02-KL/TW and the Government’s Resolution 11/NQ-CP. Consumer price index’s growth has slowed down and tended to gradually dip; foreign currency and gold markets have been stabilized; exchange rate has been put under control; interest rates have been decreased; banking system’s market liquidity has been gradually improved; public investment and spending cut has been seriously complied for better inflation control; budget collection has been moderately good; overspending has been reduced; export turnover rose three time higher than planned figure; trade deficit shank. Economic growth rate was estimated at 5.57% in the first half; industrial production outpaced the preset target; agricultural production gained stable development; total retail sales of commodities and services soared. Social welfare has been given due attention with positive changes; investment in poverty reduction, agriculture, peasants, and rural areas has been strengthened. The fields of education-training, science-technology, healthcare, culture, sports, information, environmental protection, and job generation have progressed. The administrative reform has improved. The settlement of complaints and accusations, anti-corruption work, thrift practice, anti-wasting achieved specific outcomes. National defense was consolidated. Political security, social order and safety was maintained; national big events, especially the 11^th National Party Congress, the elections of the 13^th National Assembly and People’s Council at all level for 2011-2016 term were held successfully. Diplomatic activities and international relations achieved good outcomes.

The positive achievements stemmed from the sound leadership of the Party, the concentrated, drastic and responsible instruction and management of the Government, the effective coordination of the Fatherland Front of Việt Nam, people unions, and the endeavor of the whole agencies, levels, business community and people. The outcomes highlighted that the key solutions for controlling inflation, stabilizing macro-economy, and ensuring social welfare as stipulated on the Politburo Conclusion 02-KL/TW and the Government’s Resolution 11/NQ-CP are the right direction to the national reality.   

Besides the achievements, there were some shortcomings and limitations in the socio-economic performance in the first half, including high inflation rate despite of the downsizing trend; the production and business that met difficulties and low growth rate affected job generation and incomes; rising wildcat strikes in industrial parks; lower interest rate and trade deficit but still at high level; decreasing foreign investment attraction; relatively serious traffic accidents and congestions; urgent matters of food hygiene and environment; and difficulties of the poor and low-income people. 

The Government asked ministries, agencies and localities to drastically conduct the key solutions which are stipulated on the Politburo Conclusion 02-KL/TW, dated March 16, 2011, National Assembly’s Resolution 59/2011/QH12, dated March 29, 2011, Government’s Resolution 02/NQ-CP, dated January 9, 2011 and Government’s Resolution 11/NQ-CP, dated February 24, 2011, and other guiding and management documents in the second half and the coming time. The solutions aim to rein in inflation, stabilize the macro-economy, ensure social welfare and major norms in 2011 by keeping inflation at 15-17%; scoring GDP growth rate of 6%; reducing credit growth to less than 20%, narrowing trade gap which will account for 15-16% of the total export turnover; and cutting State budget overspending to below 5% of GDP. The Government requested all ministries and localities to focus on the following tasks:

 - To pursue the tightened, cautious, and effective monetary policy; ensure the preset targets of credit growth and total means of payment at around 15-16% with quarterly and monthly even allocation in accordance with real market situation. To control, check, and ensure credit quality, especially to apply credit growth to the fields of profitable production, export, agriculture, rural areas, small and medium-sized enterprises, reduce credit growth in non-production aspects, particularly real estate as well as securities; control the real estate market without any negative manifestations. To apply monetary tools in active, flexible and effective manner to ease inflation pressure and lower interest rates in accordance with inflation reality, ensure the liquidity of the whole banking system. Bad debt control measures will be strengthened. To maintain appropriate exchange rates, raise foreign reserve; strengthen the inspection and supervision of buying and selling of foreign currencies and gold business. 

- To consistently combine the tightened financial policy and the tightened, cautious, and effective monetary policy to control inflation. Agencies at all levels shall come up with the solutions to enhance budget collection, strive for 7-8% budget collection that is higher than the estimate for 2011; practice thrift and use the 10% cut from regular spending for social welfare; supervise and cut public investment, supervise investment of state-owned enterprises; resolutely cut down investment in ineffective, unnecessary, slow, and prolonged projects; prioritize capital to others which are about to finish and put into operation in 2011. 

- To strengthen supervision of prices, markets, ensure the balance of supply and demand for essential goods and services; ensure price stabilization measures, verify, inspect and oversee the enforcement of price regulations; discourage speculation, market distortions, cross-border trafficking; impose tough punishments on any infringement of price and market regulations. To manage prices of electricity, petrol, and coal in accordance with the market mechanisms in consideration of appropriate roadmaps and moment, in compliance with the goals of inflation curbing and social welfare. 

- To review and timely resolve difficulties and obstacles of production, business, capital access for profitable projects. To propose tax exemption options for businesses and individuals to surmount difficulties and maintain production and business. To boost goods production and services provision for production and consumption activities; allocate resources for agricultural production, rural areas, food security and better living standard of peasants. To conduct synchronous measures to encourage exports and thoughrouly checking imports.

To take fundamental and long-lasting solutions to restructure the economy, shift to the growth model towards sustainability, raise capacity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy. Ministries, agencies, and localities should focus on plans to develop human resources and boost applications of modern science and technologies and combine the plans with their socio-economic development schemes.

 - To allocate resources for the implementation of social welfare, national targeted programs on poor areas, extremely difficult areas, specific policies for ethnic minority groups, and disadvantageous subjects in the society; to continue programs to build houses for workers in industrial parks, low-income people in urban areas; construct dormitories for students; provide the poor with housing supports; take shape groups and lines of habitants and houses in flood areas in the Mekong Delta (second phase), build new rural areas; to adjust minimum salaries for laborers in enterprises;

- To speed up information dissemination to create social consensus about the implementation of the policies of the Party and State, especially on inflation curbing, macro-economic stability, and social welfare guaranttee; to strengthen openness, transparency, and explanation responsibilities; put forth policy dialogues; raise sense of responsibility in press agencies for information control; impose tough penalties on infringements. 

-  Ministries, agencies, and localities shall cooperate on security, national defense, diplomacy, political security, and social affairs, properly resolve the East Sea issue, ensure national sovereignty; realize the administrative reform, settlement of complaints and accusations, anti-corruption work, thrift practice in effective manner; reduce transport accidents; concentrate resources, proactively prepare for natural disasters to early and fruitfully restore production and livelihood for people in disaster-hit areas; positively draft projects and tasks on working programs in the second half, and finalize tasks of the Government’s 12^th term.   

- Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government’s agencies basing on their assigned competence and tasks, will collect comments and suggestions of relevant localities and work with them to resolve difficulties and successfully fulfill the goals which are stipulated on Government’s Resolution 11/NQ-CP. 

-  Ministries and ministerial-level agencies are in charge of instructing law and ordinance making on schedule; composing and finalizing draft documents which guild the enforcement of effective laws and ordinances, especially those which took effect since July 1, 2011. 

The Minister of Planning and Investment was assigned to collect comments of the Cabinet members and delegates to finalize the Socio-economic report for June and the first six months, the report on implementation of Government’s Resolution 11/NQ-CP, dated on February 24, 2011; make report to the Party Central Committee before presenting the reports at the first session of the 13^th National Assembly on behalf of the Government. Minister-Chairman of the Office of Government will collect ideas of Cabinet members to finalize the report which reviews direction, management, and implementation of the Working regulations in the first half and the Working program in the rest of the year, submit the report to the Prime Minister and send it to ministries, agencies and localities. 

2.  The Government discussed and gave comments on options submitted by the Minister of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs on the adjustment of regional minimum wage rates for laborers who work for enterprises in 2011 and 2012.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, the Office of Government, and related agencies, collect opinions of Government members to finalizing the Government’s draft decree on the adjustment of regional minimum wage rates for laborers who work for enterprises in 2011 and 2012, then submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and issuance in July, 2011, and enforcement since October 1, 2011. The Ministry of Information and Communications work with competent agencies and localities to instruct the mass media to disseminate information to create consensus among the business community and society for the issuance and implementation of the new policy.  

3. The Government discussed and approved a pilot project submitted by the MOLISA on wage management in the military-run telecom group (Viettel) in the 2011-2013 period.

The MOLISA, in collaboration with the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Finance, and related agencies collect comments of the Cabinet’s members to finalize the Government’s draft decree on wage management in Viettel in the 2011-2013 period and submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and issuance. 

4. The Government debated the draft resolution presented by Minster of Transport on major solutions to continue easing traffic accidents nationwide.

The Ministry of Transport coordinates with the Ministry of Public Security, the Office of Government and relevant agencies to collect comments of the Cabinet’s members to supplement and finalize the draft resolution, concretizing the regulations, ensure the feasibility of the solutions, especially by raising and upholding sense of self-responsibilities, validity and effectiveness of state management on the field; and submit the draft resolution to the Prime Minister for signing and issuance. The Ministry of Transport works with relevant agencies to compose a project to constrain personal vehicles and submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.   

5. The Government discussed and approved a report, presented by the Finance Minister on tax solutions to resolve difficulties of businesses for production and business expansion. 

The Finance Minister collects comments of the Cabinet’s members to finalize a statement of the Government and a draft resolution of the National Assembly to issue supplement tax solutions to resolve difficulties for businesses and individuals and contribute to boosting economic growth in 2011. On behalf of the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister signs the statement to the National Assembly Standing Committee and the National Assembly on the draft resolution. 

6. The Government discussed reports presented by the Minister of Construction and the Minister of Finance on operation of the real estate market and securities market, recommendations on solutions to manage the markets.

On the basis of their assigned competence and tasks, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Finance chair and work with relevant ministries and agencies to collect comments of the Cabinet’s members to finalize a Prime Minister’s draft direction on expanded management over the real estate and securities markets through synchronous measures, to ensure the stable and healthy operations of the two markets in line with the monetary market and contribute to market and macro-economic stability. The two ministries will submit that draft to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision. 

7. The Government had comments on the draft decree, presented by the Government Chief Inspector, amends and supplements some articles of Decree 37/2007/NĐ-CP which is dated March 9, 2007 on declaration of assets and income.  

The Government Chief Inspector chairs and collaborates with the Ministry of Justice, the Office of Government and relevant agencies to collect comments of the Cabinet’s members to early finalize the draft decree and submit it to the Prime Minister for signing and issuance./.

(For reference only)