Legislators: stable growth requires a roadmap

Pham Van Hoa, a deputy from the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, said to meet the growth target of 6.5-6.7 percent for 2018 set by the Government, it is necessary to pay attention to quality and efficiency of the economy. 

Both Hoa and Do Van Sinh, from the central province of Quang Tri, shared the view that the growth target is reasonable. 

“An important task in 2018 is how to downsize the public sector, intensify the private sector and call for investments, including foreign investments, in all economic spheres,” Hoa said. 

Sinh held that to develop the economy sustainably, apart from promoting the development of domestic businesses, it is a need to increase Vietnamese investments abroad. 

Nguyen Ngoc Phuong, a deputy from the central province of Quang Binh, considered monitoring state projects the most drastic solution to dealing with public debts. 

Investments must be channeled into priority areas, he said, stressing the need to double effort to fight corruption and wastefulness. 

Talking about projects that have experienced losses for a long time, Hoa said businesses unable to recover should be dissolved or frozen.  

As part of the fourth sitting of the 14th NA, legislators have spent two and a half days to mull over the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and state budget in 2017, the socio-economic development and state budget and allocate for 2018, and the state finance-budget plan during 2018-2020. 

During their discussions, the deputies pointed to illogical GDP growth rate, which dropped freely in the first months of this year and increased robustly in the remaining months.

They said budget overspending remains high, public debt is near the ceiling rate and state budget is forecast to fail to meet the mid-term target. 

The lawmakers also expressed their concerns over foreign direct investment (FDI), saying despite making up 25 percent of the country’s total social investments, more than 70 percent of its accumulated export turnover and half of its industrial production value, the FDI sector contributed only 15-19 percent to the state budget. 

Against the backdrop, the lawmakers agreed that investments should be selected, prioritising sectors using cutting-edge, environmentally friendly technologies, having supply chains, and being ready to connect with local businesses.