(VOVworld) - The Vietnamese government has reiterated its determination to continue its goals of stabilizing the macro-economy, curbing inflation and maintaining reasonable economic growth and ensuring social security. The government has devised a number of solutions to support production and markets in order to achieve the set targets.

At June’s government meeting, cabinet members agreed that despite the difficult circumstances, the socio-economic situation saw some drastic changes in the first half of this year as inflation controls paid off, the macroeconomy remained relatively stable, and 4.38 percent economic growth was maintained, thanks to some economic restructuring efforts. The consumer price index (CPI) in June continues to fall, serving as a foundation for keeping inflation this year at 7-8 percent, ensuring the implementation of monetary policies for the second half of the year.  Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stated that for the remaining months of this year the government will maintain its set socio-economic development goals, and continue to prioritize curbing inflation, stabilizing the macro-economy, and maintaining a reasonable growth of around 5.2-5.7%. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung: said to achieve this target, it’s necessary for the government to address its shortcomings in the state-owned sector: "I urge ministers to quickly consider restructuring the state-owned enterprises. We should focus only on major industries and at the same time reorganize the production activities of these sectors. That’s one task. The other one is to reform governance and management methods to ensure effective production. Last but not least, it’s very important to strengthen the organizational apparatus as the government will define the powers and duties of each enterprise."

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the government's monthly meeting for June 2012

Helping businesses access bank loans and deal with bad debts and large inventories were the major topics of the cabinet meeting which took place in Hanoi over the past 2 days. Regarding key tasks for the second half of the year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to manage the monetary policy flexibly and efficiently in order to lower lending interest rates, stabilize exchange rates, and deal with bad debts. Nguyen Van Binh, Governor of State Bank of Vietnam, said: "Under the Prime Minister’s instructions, we have asked all banks and their branches to work with businesses as soon as possible to lower the interest rates for all businesses under 15% to help them develop."

PM Dung asked relevant ministries and sectors to support production and speed up the disbursement of capital allocated for agriculture, rural development, exports, support industries, small and medium-sized enterprises, and labour intensive businesses. He also stressed the need to practice thrift, reduce production costs and prices, improve product competitiveness, promote trade, and expand both domestic and foreign markets. He said it is imperative to strictly control imports, especially imports of agriculture produce. The PM asked the Ministry of Finance to keep State budget overspending in line with the target adopted by the National Assembly and implement financial and monetary policies properly and effectively to boost total consumption, production and trade. PM Dung demanded that ministries, sectors, and localities speed up the disbursement of investment capital, especially that from the State budget, Government bonds, and target national programmes, to stimulate domestic demand. More attention should be paid to ensuring social welfare, generating jobs, increasing worker incomes, resolving complaints and denunciations, and improving people’s healthcare.