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Government’s comprehensive measures obtain initial outcomes
The Government held its regular monthly press conference on March 3 to review the Vietnamese social-economic situation during February and the first two months of 2009. The conference was chaired by Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Minister-cum-Chairman of the Government Office with the participation of Deputy Governor Nguyen Dong Tien of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and representatives from other ministries and agencies.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc asserted that the country’s socio-economic performance in February and the first two months of the year showed initial positive outcomes thanks to decisive implementation of comprehensive measures to stabilize macro-economy, secure social protection, and maintain sustainable economic growth.
It was reported by a representative of the Ministry of Planning and Investment that industrial production reached 106 trillion VND during the first two months of 2009, a year-on-year increase of 2.5 percent .
During this period, exports earned USD 8 billion , a year-on-year drop of 5.1 percent , while import value was USD 7.73 billion , posting a decrease of 43.1 percent . For the first two months of 2009, Vietnam gained trade surplus of USD 290 million.
According to the report, the consumer price index in February rose by 1.17 percent over January’s figure and registered a year-on-year increase of 16.13 percent.
The country reached ODA funding agreements totaling USD 25 million with donors for two programs and projects during the reviewed period together with the disbursement of USD 125 million of previously-committed ODA.
Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc highly appreciated SBV in properly and flexibly taking consistent monetary policy measures, especially exchange and interest rates to stipulate the economy, promote production and export, stabilize macro-economy, and ensure the safety and liquidity of credit institutions. In the month, 85 commercial banks and branches participated in the interest rate support program and provided VND 93,027 billion to clients. Specifically, the state-owned commercial banks disbursed VND72,630 billion; joint-stock commercial banks lent VND 18,854billion; and the joint-venture banks and the foreign bank branches provided VND 1,543billion for support loans.
For his part, Deputy Governor Nguyen Dong Tien touched upon the issue of merging commercial banks by informing that SBV is currently drafting a circular on guidance of merging commercial banks. He stressed that this is nothing special, but one of the ordinary undertakings of the SBV. The draft of this circular is posted on the SBV Website to obtain public comments and suggestions.
In his conclusion, the Government Office Chairman repeated the Prime Minister’s call for more efforts from ministries, agencies and local authorities to continue flexibly carrying out the five sets of socio-economic solutions as stated in Governmental Resolutions NOs. 30/2008/NQ-CP and 01/NQ-CP.
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