Government leader warns higher inflationary pressure this year

The focus will also be on discussing amendments and supplements to articles of the Amnesty Law, the Law on Cultivation, the Law on Livestock, the Law on Urban Development Management, the Law on Population.

Drastic changes were seen in the socio-economic situation during the first two months, yielding positive results in multiple fields, according to a report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Export turnover increased sharply, reaching an estimated US$33.62 billion, up 22.9% and more than US$1 billion in trade surplus, which was viewed as a bright spot in the January-February period. Meanwhile, trade deficit hit close to US$ 50 million.

The industrial production index surged by 15.2%, over 6 times higher than the same period last year (2.4%). In particular, the processing industry increased by 17.7% (up 6.6%), mining (5.7%) (the same period dropped by 13.7%).

Total retail sales of goods and services expanded by 10.1% when compared to the corresponding period last year at 5.1%.

International visitors to Vietnam showed a marked increase of 29.7% to over 2.86 million.

Disbursed FDI surged by 9.7% (up 3.3% for the same period), capital contribution and purchase of shares of foreign investors increased 102.5%.

There were more than 18,700 newly-established enterprises in two months, up 29.4% in the number of enterprises and up 29.3% in registered capital and nearly 7,000 enterprises resumed their operations.

Consumer price index (CPI) during the month of lunar New Year (Tet) festival soared by 0.73%, thus two-month rise of 2.9% on average against 5.12% for the same period of one year earlier.

PM Phuc also revealed some limitations, in which investment capital from the State budget in the two month period was very low, meeting a mere 9% of the yearly plan while central budget managed by central run agencies accounted for only 8.5% of the target.

All sectors and localities need to pay greater attention to keeping inflation in check and ensuring macroeconomic stability as inflationary pressure is forecast to be higher this year, he noted.

The prices of crude oil and commodities are showing an upward trend in the global market while Vietnam has attracted a large amount of foreign currencies from foreign direct investment (FDI) capital which will be disbursed in the time to come.

Indirect investment displayed a drastic upturn through share purchase. Vietnam is also one of the 10 countries with the highest oversea remittance inflow in the world at around US$13 billion last year.

Currently, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have risen to about US$60 billion.

Judging from the fact, the cabinet leader requested relevant ministries and sectors to come up with specific solutions, especially the price adjustment to some sensitive goods and services relating to electricity, water, education, and healthcare to ensure it is as effective as the price management of 2017.

He also underlined the need for them to seek more domestic and foreign resources for national development, create a better business environment for investors and businesses, boost economic restructuring and pay heed to combating corruption and negative phenomena of public concern.