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HCM City strives to reach growth targets through loans, expense cuts
HCM City officials early this week met with different sectors and district authorities to discuss measures to reach growth targets set for 2008.
At the meeting, Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of the city People’s Committee, called on public agencies and local communities to overcome difficulties to promote production and businesses and ensure social welfare.
Nguyen Trung Tin, Deputy Chairman of the city People’s Committee, asked local banks to facilitate the work of giving loans to businesses by prioritising production and business development and the agriculture, import and export industries.
In an effort to stabilise the price of goods, Tin urged banks to provide loans for trading companies to buy essential goods for stock to hamper price hikes in the last months of the year.
Ho Huu Hanh, director of the State Bank of Viet Nam’s HCM City branch, agreed with a proposal made by several enterprises on reducing interest rates to stabilise production. Deposit interest rates are expected not to exceed 16 per cent a year.
The city’s rampant pollution was also a hot topic. Nguyen Thanh Tai, Deputy Chairman of the city People’s Committee, said the city needed to focus on installing waster treatment systems in hospitals and industrial parks to ease pollution on rivers and surrounding areas.
Agricultural and urban zoning should be publicised to help investors make long term business plans. High rise projects in the downtown area must be detailed to reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution.
In an effort to control inflation through the end of the year, city authorities will continue to cut nonessential expenses and cut State budget spending by 10 per cent under plans from the Central Government.
Tai also called on residents to cut down on electricity consumption, buy domestic products and use buses or bicycles to save petrol. Bus subsidies will be increased to encourage public transportation.
High on the meeting’s agenda was the development of social welfare projects to improve the city’s living standards. The city will intensify crackdowns on social evils, including thefts, armed robbers, drug addiction and trafficking to boost public security.
For the new school year, poor students will get scholarships, tuition exemptions and free bus fares to ensure their continued enrollment.
In the last eight months, the city reported an export revenue of US$15.78 billion, an increase of 35.7 per cent over the same period last year.
The city’s consumer price index (CPI) in August rose by 2.09 per cent month-on-month, bringing inflation in the first eight months of the year to 19.56 per cent.
The city’s successful efforts in stabilising the local economy in the wake of price hikes for petrol and input materials have created firm foundations for the city to maintain its targeted GDP growth rate of 12.5 per cent by the end of the year.
VNN
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