Since the beginning of this year, the Government has asked all ministries, agencies and localities to make a greater effort to carry out their socio-economic development tasks in line with the NA Resolution. Subsequently, the socio-economic situation in the first four months has seen a number of positive changes and high growth rates in various fields, including industry, agriculture and services.

The domestic market has operated well, resulting in increases in retail revenues and development capital, as well as ensuring social welfare. The exchange rate between the US dollar and Vietnam dong in the free markets is now close to the officially rate posted by commercial banks.

However, it is still quite a challenge to maintain a high economic growth while curbing the inflation rate at the same time. Le Quoc Dung, deputy head of the NA’s Commission for Economic Affairs, pointed out that to achieve sustainable growth and combat inflation, it is essential to prioritise to boostings export and make it easier for businesses to access loans. It is also important to ensure an adequate supply of goods on the domestic market and to promote production, he added.

According to Tran Dinh Dan, Chairman of the NA Office, Cabinet members will have two and a half days to discuss this. The opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the inquiries session and the discussions between NA deputies at the ongoing 7^th session of the 12^th NA will be broadcast live on the VOV1 channel of Radio the Voice of Vietnam and the VTV1 channel of Vietnam Television.

Many delegates at the meeting raised their concerns about the new challenges currently facing the national economy, saying they could pose a serious threat. In the first fourth months of this year, Vietnam’s import surplus reached US$4.7 billion, while last year’s balance of payments suffered a deficit of US$8 billion. This will result in the foreign currency market and the exchange rate experiencing more fluctuations, which in turn will affect the management of imports and exports and the balance of payment. Furthermore, the tightening of the monetary policy to prevent a high inflation rate has posed many difficulties for businesses trying to access loans.

Increases in the price of electricity, coal, water and petrol has seen the CPI rise sharply, which concerns many citizens and businesses.

In addition, internal problems in the economy continue to affect socio-economic targets being achieved, such as low growth and industrial value not matching the high level of capital used.

Bui Van Tinh, head a delegation from Hoa Binh, and member of the NA’s Committee for Finance and Budget said that there should a plan to reduce the loan rates at commercial banks as the interest rate is currently too high compared to production output. The quality of products, especially in agricultural processing, must be improved and there needs to be a comprehensive export plan for the future to boost the export of strategic products, said Mr Tinh.

Duong Anh Dien, head of Hai Phong delegation and a member of the NA’s Committee for Finance and Budget said that Vietnam should pay more attention to improving the value of its products. “if we take more care during processing our export value will increase,” said Mr Dien. For example the earnings from exports of titan ore is not very high so the country should commission import processing plants which would raise the export value by 10 times. This is a good way of stabilising the macroeconomy.

Many external factors affect the economy while the management of the economy also faces some problems, such as inflation and exchange rate. Therefore, it is essential to stabilise the macro-economy from now until the end of this year. Together with carrying out the eight key measures stipulated by the Government, including managing currency policies flexibly, maintaining the credit growth rate and payments set at a reasonable level in line with development targets and controlling inflation, Vietnam needs to monitors changes in supply and demand, assessing production and the consumption of essential commodities to avoid shortages and price hikes. They are the main issues that will be discussed at this session.