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Cities urged to tighten belts
All municipal departments and agencies should practice greater thrift to generate more funds for social welfare measures, HCM City People's Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan said on Wednesday.
He said they should also focus efforts on solving current difficulties facing enterprises to stabilise production and prevent unemployment.
Addressing a meeting held to review implementation of the Government's Resolution 11 issued last month to curb inflation, stabilise the macro-economy and ensure social security, he said the city would have to provide additional assistance to needy people this year.
Besides regular social welfare measures, the city will provide VND100,000 per person per month for about 6,900 very poor people who are old, ill or living alone and subsidise electricity bills for 36,000 poor households to the tune of VND30,000 per month.
This additional assistance will cost about VND176 billion (US$8.5 million), according to the city's Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
Thai Van Re, Director of the city's Department of Planning and Investment, said at the meeting that the "task of ensuring social security has been carried out well by the city."
The city's districts have prevailed upon 18,800 landlords so far to refrain from increasing rents until the end of this year, benefiting about 399,800 low-income workers and students.
Dao Thi Huong Lan, Director of the city's Department of Finance, said that after the city had calculated ways to cut public spending from April to the end of this year, including a temporarily halt to the purchase of automobiles and other facilities, a savings of VND410 billion ($19.6 million) would be achieved over this year's initial public spending plan.
Officials said at the meeting that enterprises were facing several problems related to production, besides the higher prices of input materials including petrol and electricity. They were finding it difficult to access credit and had to struggle with high interest rates.
Interest rates of 22-23 per cent per year while profits are often less than 10 per cent have forced enterprises to cut back on production and prevented further investment, officials of the city's Department of Industry and Trade said.
Besides, enterprises now sell US dollar for commercials banks at the listed price, but when they want to buy US dollar for their payment, commercials banks do not have US dollar to sell for them.
Vo Van Luan, Head of the People's Committee Office, said initial results had been obtained after implementing the Government resolution.
For instance, black market foreign currency transactions had been strictly controlled, he said.
"However, commercial banks can only supply a limited amount of US dollars to meet legitimate demand of individuals and companies," Luan said.
Nguyen Thi Hong, Deputy Chairwoman of the People's Committee, asked commercial banks to adjust their loan structure to prioritise loans for production, exports and projects under the city's economic transition programme.
The city would also offer some solutions, including subsidising a part of the interest rate for enterprises that invest in advanced equipment and technologies and produce high quality products to replace imports, she said.
Quan said that the city would next week invite the Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam and the Finance as well as Industry and Trade ministers to work with the People's Committee in devising measures to help enterprises finding it difficult to get loans or foreign currencies for legitimate transactions.
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