Regular Government press conference September 2023

Minister, Head of the Government Office Tran Van Son, Government Spokesperson, chaired the September 2023 press conference - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

The press conference took place right after the regular Government meeting in September 2023 and the Government's online conference with localities to discuss the socio-economic situation in September and the first 9 months of 2023 along with a number of other important contents, with the theme " Strongly promoting growth drivers ; accelerating the development of industrial production, especially the processing and manufacturing industry; striving to achieve the highest level of goals and tasks of the 2023 plan".

Informing the press about the Government meeting and the Conference with localities, Minister and Head of the Government Office Tran Van Son said that the meeting took place in the context that our country has gone through 3/4 of the way of 2023 with the international and regional situation continuing to develop rapidly, complicatedly and unpredictably; difficulties and challenges outweigh opportunities and advantages such as: the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are prolonged; geostrategic competition between major countries is increasing fiercely; conflicts in Ukraine are prolonged; inflation in countries has cooled down but is still at a high level; global supply chains are locally broken; protectionist barriers are increasing; the risk of losing energy security and food security exists; traditional and non-traditional security challenges such as population aging, climate change, extreme weather, transnational crime, cybercrime... are increasingly fierce, causing serious consequences. Domestically , we are subject to "double impacts" from adverse external factors and long-standing problems that are more evident in difficulties; while our country is a developing country, the economy is in the process of transformation, the scale is still modest, openness is high, adaptability and resilience are limited.

In that context, the Government and the Prime Minister have directed the drastic implementation of the Resolutions and Conclusions of the Central Committee, the Politburo , the National Assembly, and the Government, focusing on building and perfecting institutions and laws; prioritizing promoting growth associated with macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, ensuring major balances of the economy; focusing on removing difficulties for production and business; promptly and effectively handling a large volume of regular tasks and work, gradually resolving long-standing problems and newly arising problems; practically and effectively implementing many dense and very successful foreign affairs programs of key leaders, Party and State leaders...

Minister and Head of the Government Office Tran Van Son provides information on the socio-economic situation in September and the first nine months of the year to the press - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Discussing at the meeting, Government members and local leaders unanimously agreed that: in the face of many difficulties and challenges, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, directly and regularly led by the Politburo and the Secretariat, headed by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, with the participation of the entire political system, the efforts of the entire people and the support of international friends, we have resolutely, synchronously, and focusedly implemented the tasks and solutions set out. Thanks to that, the socio-economic situation in September and the first 9 months continued to show a positive recovery trend, with each month being better than the previous month, each quarter being higher than the previous quarter, and achieving important results in many areas. Notably:

- Macroeconomic stability continues to be maintained; inflation is controlled; growth is promoted; major economic balances are ensured; public debt, government debt, national foreign debt, and state budget deficit are well controlled.

Inflation generally tends to decrease in the context of high global inflation. The average CPI in the first 9 months increased by 3.16%, much lower than the set target (about 4.5%), creating room for monetary and fiscal policies to boost aggregate demand and economic growth.

Growth recovered positively, each quarter was higher than the previous one. GDP in the first quarter increased by 3.32%, in the second quarter by 4.14%, in the third quarter by 5.33%; the total growth in the first 9 months was 4.24%, among the high growth countries in the region and the world.

The monetary market and exchange rate are basically stable; interest rates continue to decrease, and average deposit and new loan interest rates have decreased by about 1% compared to the end of 2022.

State budget revenue in the first 9 months reached 75.5% of the plan, while tax, fee, charge, and land rent exemption, reduction, and extension reached 152.5 trillion VND.

Import and export continued the positive trend. Exports in September increased by 4.6%, imports increased by 2.6% over the same period; overall, the trade surplus in the first 9 months was 21.68 billion USD.

Energy security and food security are guaranteed (in 9 months, over 6.6 million tons of rice were exported, with a turnover of 3.66 billion USD, an increase of 23.1% in volume and 40.4% in value over the same period).

- Major industries and sectors recovered and developed stably. Agriculture continued to affirm its role as the foundation of the economy; rice had a good harvest and good prices, increasing both output, productivity and selling price. Industrial production increased again; the added value of the entire industrial sector in the third quarter increased by 4.57%, of which the processing and manufacturing industry increased by 5.61%. The service sector maintained a good growth rate, total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue in September increased by 2.4% over the previous month; the total for the first 9 months increased by 9.7% over the same period; international visitors to Vietnam in the first 9 months reached 8.9 million people, 4.6 times higher than the same period and exceeding the 2023 plan.

- Investment was strongly promoted, becoming an important driving force for economic growth. Total social development investment capital in the third quarter increased by 7.6%; in the first 9 months, it increased by 5.9%. Investment capital of the state sector in the first 9 months increased by 15.1%. In particular, disbursement of public investment capital in the first 9 months reached over 363 trillion VND, equal to 51.38% of the plan, higher than the same period (46.7%) and the absolute number was about 110 trillion VND higher. Total registered FDI capital in the first 9 months reached 20.21 billion USD, up 7.7% over the same period. 8/11 sections of the North-South expressway in the East, phase 1 have been put into use; Construction started on 12 North-South expressway projects in the East for the 2021-2025 period, 3 East-West expressways, Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, Hanoi Ring Road 4, Long Thanh International Airport terminal, Tan Son Nhat T3 terminal... It is expected that by the end of the year, 1,832 km of expressway will be put into operation.

- Business development continues to be positive. In total, in the first 9 months, 165,200 enterprises registered for new establishment and returned to operation, up 1.2% over the same period and higher than the number of enterprises withdrawing from the market (135,100 enterprises).

- The fields of culture, society, education and health are focused on; people's lives continue to improve; care for people with meritorious services and social assistance are well implemented... Organizing many unique and meaningful cultural and artistic programs and activities to celebrate major holidays...

- The political and social situation is stable; national defense and security are maintained; social order and safety are basically guaranteed. The work of preventing corruption and negativity continues to be strengthened.

- Foreign affairs and international integration are promoted, especially high-level foreign affairs and economic diplomacy; our international prestige and position continue to be consolidated and enhanced.

- Information and communication are focused on, especially policy communication; actively providing quick, accurate and complete information on the country's socio-economic situation; promptly preventing, removing and refuting many fake, bad, toxic, offensive and anti-Party and State information.

International organizations continue to have positive assessments of Vietnam. HSBC rates Vietnam as an attractive destination for foreign enterprises; ADB forecasts that Vietnam will recover in a short time... Notably, in the 2023 Global Innovation Index (GII), Vietnam ranked 46/132 countries/economies, up 2 places compared to 2022; business environment ranking increased 12 places;...

The regular Government press conference for September 2023 took place on the afternoon of September 30 in Hanoi - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Regarding the direction and tasks for the coming time, after analyzing the international, regional and domestic situation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh clearly stated the requirements: Continue to maintain the general goals set out. That is, stabilize the macro economy, control inflation, promote growth, ensure major balances; well control public debt, government debt, and budget deficit; focus on social security, ensure people's lives; maintain political and social stability; further promote the work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity; consolidate and strengthen national defense, security, and foreign affairs;...

The guiding viewpoint is: We must stick closely to reality, respond to policies flexibly, promptly, and effectively with a spirit of high determination, great effort, and drastic action; persistently and tenaciously carry out the set goals and tasks. Do not wait, rely on, or avoid responsibility; definitely do not say no, do not say difficult, do not say yes but do not do.

Continue to concretize the Resolutions of the 13th National Congress, the Resolutions of the Central Committee, the Politburo, the National Assembly, the Government, and the direction of the Prime Minister; focusing on promoting: Industrialization and modernization; Implementing strategic breakthroughs; Strongly promoting emerging industries; Accelerating urbanization, building smart cities associated with the development of 6 socio-economic regions...

The Government unanimously chose the highest growth scenario for 2023 as the target to strive for. Accordingly, the focus in the coming period is to prioritize growth, especially focusing on industrial development, focusing on processing and manufacturing industries. Promote infrastructure development, especially strategic infrastructure, climate change infrastructure, digital transformation, healthcare, culture and education infrastructure. Focus on training human resources to meet development requirements in the new situation. Strengthen decentralization and strong delegation of power. Promote administrative procedure reform, reduce compliance time and costs, and reduce inconvenience for people and businesses.

Regarding the main tasks and solutions , the Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities:

- Proactively and flexibly manage, synchronously and harmoniously coordinate policies, especially fiscal and monetary policies, including continuing to implement proactive, flexible, timely and effective monetary policies; closely and synchronously coordinate with reasonable, focused and key expansionary fiscal policies and other policies to prioritize promoting growth while ensuring macroeconomic stability.

- Strongly promote the three growth drivers of investment, export and consumption. Focus on developing key industries and sectors. Speed ​​up the disbursement of public investment capital, resolutely implement the Socio-Economic Recovery and Development Program, and the three National Target Programs.

- Focus on taking advantage of opportunities, developing emerging industries and fields, creating driving forces to promote growth (such as semiconductor chip manufacturing, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, clean energy, green growth, circular economy, sharing economy, etc.).

Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

- Strongly promote administrative procedure reform, remove difficulties and obstacles for production and business. Promote the role of 26 working groups of the Government; focus on promptly and effectively handling recommendations and proposals from localities, people and enterprises in a spirit of openness and listening.

- Focus on developing cultural, social and environmental fields, especially policies for meritorious people, social protection, healthcare, education and training, poverty reduction, ensuring social security, and improving people's lives. Strengthen forecasting and warning of natural disasters and climate change, proactively take measures to prevent, combat and overcome consequences.

- Seriously and effectively carry out the work of preventing corruption and negativity; thoroughly practice thrift and combat waste; resolve complaints and denunciations as soon as they arise at the grassroots level, not allowing "hot spots" to form...

- Firmly ensure national defense, security, social order and safety; maintain independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; focus on suppressing all types of crimes and handling violations of the law. Focus on organizing a general review and inspection of fire safety in apartment buildings, houses, rented houses combined with production and business with high risk of fire and explosion to have appropriate solutions immediately; strictly handle violations.

- Effectively implement foreign affairs and international integration activities; promote economic diplomacy, seek markets for key export products (textiles, footwear, agricultural products, wooden furniture, electronics, etc.).

- Strengthen information and communication work, especially policy communication, contributing to strengthening trust and creating social consensus; promptly and effectively combat and refute bad and toxic information, wrong and hostile viewpoints; and strictly handle violations.

From the above-mentioned groups of tasks and solutions, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has assigned specific tasks to ministries, branches and localities. He requested that the Ministers, Branch Heads and Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and cities, according to their functions, tasks and powers, focus on leadership and direction with higher determination, greater efforts, further promote the role of the leader, and strive to achieve the highest results in the assigned goals and tasks.

Source: https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/hop-bao-chinh-phu-thuong-ky-thang-9-2023-363847.html