Hanoi (VNA) –🅘 The Government is determined to weather all setbacks and challenges to attain the highest possible economic growth, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stated at the first regular meeting of the 2016-2021 Government in Hanoi on August 1-2.

Cabinet members discussed the country’s socio-economic development in July and during the first seven months of this year on August 2, the last working day of the July meeting. According to a report presented by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, between January and July, the country’s inflation increased by 1.82 percent on average, lower than the figure recorded in the same period last year. Of note, fishery exports expanded by 3.9 percent as compared with a 7 percent decrease in the corresponding time of 2015. During the reviewed period, disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) was estimated at 8.5 billion USD out of 13 billion USD registered capital. Thanks to the drastic implementation of the Government’s resolutions on administrative reform and business climate improvement, the number of new businesses increased by 23 percent, and up to 16,700 failing businesses resumed their normal operation. Aside from these figures, attention has been paid to ensuring social welfare and order, employment and political security, the report said. However, it also pointed out a galaxy of challenges facing the country, such as natural disasters, drought and saltwater intrusion, that have hampered efforts to reach the national growth target. Low budget collection, which has just met 49.4 percent of the yearly target, sluggish exports, which edged up only 5.3 percent year-on-year, a far cry from 10 percent set for this year, along with smuggling and trade frauds are also among the problems. Against this backdrop, the ministry presented three scenarios on economic growth in 2016 with the first targeting 6.27 percent, the second at 6.5 percent, and the third at 6.7 percent, which was set by the National Assembly. The ministry, however, admitted that it will be hard to fulfill the target of 6.7 percent or if so, it will require great endeavours from all sectors, especially agro-forestry-fishery, and the industrial sectors. Regarding the recent hacking on the website of the Vietnam Airlines Corp, Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan described the attack as sophisticated and dangerous as it targeted Vietnam Airlines and caused losses for Vietnam’s information infrastructure. The incident has been repaired, he affirmed, but pointed to limitations in information sharing that hindered the recovery work. He said more than half of Vietnamese agencies and organisations have yet to set forth their own standardised processes in response to cyber attacks, and asked them to lay out plans and conduct exercises on information safety regularly. PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc commented that this is a serious incident, asking ministries, agencies, economic groups and corporations to proactively work with the Ministry of Public Security to screen their network security systems to deter future cyber attacks. Concluding the meeting, he reasserted that the Government will work to devise and spur growth, uphold integrity and act to serve people, and asked the political system, sectors and branches to work with the Government in that effort, to remove all hindrances for people and businesses. He requested the prompt building of a decree regulating the Government’s functions, tasks and rights to ensure the body soundly performs its function of State management and ensures law compliance. While approving the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s three development scenarios and recognising difficulties to achieve the GDP growth of 6.7 percent as set early this year, the PM stated that the Government is determined to weather all setbacks and challenges to attain the highest possible outcome. He reiterated that the Government will continue giving the top priority to safeguarding the macro-economy’s stability, along with managing inflation and maintaining economic growth, and reducing state budget overspending to achieve a positive budget balance. Moving forwards, domestic consumption must be accelerated, investment attraction stepped up, export markets fully tapped and imports must be put under control, he said. He reminded ministries, sectors and localities to lend a practical helping hand to businesses so they could sharpen their competitive edge. The finance sector needs to unblock existing hindrances to facilitate capital access for businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. On the work to remedy the Formosa-caused marine environmental incident in four central provinces, he asked ministries, sectors and localities to concentrate on assisting affected residents, and ensure Formosa’s compensation money is allocated to the right people. He requested Formosa to strictly implement its commitments. The Government leader requested ministries, sectors and localities enhance their instructions on the work of surmounting the consequences of typhoon Marinae, providing prompt assistance to affected people so they can shortly normalise their daily activities and production. At the meeting, he declared the Government’s resolve to combat smuggling and trade fraud, asking for harsh punishments to be taken against smugglers and illegal traders.-VNA