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Agriculture sector key to economic revival, prime minister says
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Tuesday that supporting agricultural production is vital for tackling the economic downturn, as it would affect industrial production and exports.
At a government session in Hanoi Tuesday, the Ministry of Planning and Investment reported a growth of 3.1 percent in the first quarter, much lower than last year’s 7.49 percent.
Dung also instructed concerned agencies to prevent plant and animal diseases, and better manage agriculture production to avoid situations where farmers suffer losses from bumper crops.
Farmers should make a 30 percent profit on their investment, he said.
The Prime Minister also wanted low-interest or no-interest loans given to farmers for purchasing farming equipment, televisions and motorbikes, and to build houses.
To boost industrial production, Dung said administrative procedures have to be simplified and the policy to apply peak-hour prices for electricity consumed by the sector reconsidered.
The disbursement of official development assistance (ODA) and foreign direct investment (FDI) should be expedited and the government would issue more bonds to raise funds to meet the capital needs of the production and commerce sectors, he said.
Dung hailed the management of the financial sector but recommended that the State Bank carefully consider its policy to maintain inflation at around 6 percent.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises will also be offered a 4 percent interest subsidy on two-year loans taken for new investment projects.
Social housing
At the session Tuesday, the government discussed projects to construct more houses for workers and low-income earners, and dormitories for university students.
Earlier, the government had approved a plan to build dormitories to accommodate 60 percent of total students nationwide by next year.
The Construction Ministry reported that only around 20 percent of between 2.2 million and 2.5 million workers in industrial parks nationwide had stable accommodation. Meanwhile, only one third of nearly two million civil servants own a house.
The ministry proposed an VND8 trillion (US$469.42 million) plan to build housing for university students, workers in industrial parks and low-
income earners in urban areas by 2015. Under the proposal houses would be built and leased to low-income earners at favorable rents, or sold with the help of low-interest bank loans.
The government has allowed the municipal administrations of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to start building this year projects to provide accommodation for 200,000 students by 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, construction Deputy Minister Nguyen Tran Nam said.
More stimulus packages
The Ministry of Planning and Investment is considering another stimulus package of VND20 trillion ($1.14 billion) to spur investment and consumption, Deputy Minister Cao Viet Sinh said at the press briefing.
He said government bonds worth VND36 trillion ($2.1 billion) had been sold in 2008.
Recently, Le Duc Thuy, chairman of the National Finance Supervision Committee, had called for further stimulus packages to prevent the economy from slowing down and help it recover soon.
It is now using VND17 trillion ($970 million) from a stimulus package to provide a 4 percent interest subsidy on loans to companies that export, import or produce essential goods.
An official from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said his ministry will propose a plan for not reducing state budget spending so that social welfare projects and other government activities have adequate funds.
Bao Van – Xuan Toan
thanhnien
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