Debating the new economy

Debating the new economy

VietFinanceNews.com - Members of the NA Standing Committee yesterday debated the comprehensive economic restructure to the year 2020 with a focus on restructuring financial markets, public investment and enterprises, especially State-owned bodies.

Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh said that the project set four key goals: raising the competitiveness of the economy to ensure average growth of 7-8 per cent per year, maintaining economic stability and national financial security, establishing a suitable development mechanism among sectors and localities, and replacing low-tech industries with high-tech and value-added alternatives.

Vinh said these steps would contribute to the goal of socio-economic development set out in the 10-year strategy until the year 2020. He said that they were necessary conditions to ensure the effectiveness of the country's economic restructure. He added that transparency would be crucial to the success of this project, creating a fair and equal environment for business, developing high-quality human resources and improving modern infrastructure.

NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said restructuring the financial market, enterprises and investment would be priorities of the 10-year project. He noted the plan affected other areas of life beyond the economy, including society, the environment, national security and defence, and foreign policy.

Members of the committee put forward solutions for economic restructuring.

Vinh said to restructure the financial markets, including credit control and the stock market, the project planned to focus on controlling inflation and managing monetary policies based on market tools. These included decreasing dependence on the US dollar, gold and other foreign currencies as settlement methods in the domestic market, and implementing flexible exchange rate policies.

Nguyen Van Giau, chairman of the NA Economic Committee, suggested it was necessary to focus on settling weak credit institutions in the period of 2012-2015.

He said restructuring commercial banks should be put in close relation with restructuring State-owned enterprises and markets.

Members of the NA Economic Committee also agreed that the project should develop the stock market because its growth would serve as a channel for mobilising investment resources and facilitating the equitisation process of state-owned enterprises. This would also help with transparency regarding business activities.

Regarding restructuring investment, especially public investment, Vinh said the project planned to clearly define priority fields which would receive public investment, including infrastructure, human resources, health services and social securities, while raising productivity and quality of the agricultural sector.

Under the project, public investment would not be spent on private sector interests such as trading services, hotels, restaurants and real estate. The Law on Public Investment Management, a decree on medium-term investment management and a plan on medium-term investment management in the period of 2013-2015 would also be drafted and implemented.

The project plans to publicise and make transparent information related to public investment as well as specifically define the rights and responsibilities of residents in managing public investment.

Members of the NA Standing Committee shared the same idea that it was necessary to set up financial models for projects funded by public investment to minimise the overlapping of investment sources and lack of management.

In terms of restructuring enterprises, especially state-owned ones, Vinh said the enterprises or groups in which the State was the majority shareholder must redefine business plans to focus on investing in technology and management.

These groups needed to withdraw funds from irrelevant fields and settle any outstanding loans by 2015. If necessary, they could declare bankruptcy if they were unable to do so.

Phung Quoc Hien, chairman of the NA Committee for Finance and Budget, said one of the most important tasks was redirecting financial resources from ineffective fields to key areas.

Vinh also emphasised that the State would boost competitive market rules on state-run enterprises and stop using preferential treatment for them in terms of access to information from state agencies, rights to land use and other resources and capital sources.

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, deputy chairwoman of the NA, said the State regulated the economy by its systems of laws and policies, not by those imposed by State-owned enterprises.

On the same day, members of the NA Standing Committee also discussed the programme to build laws and ordinances in 2013.

Le Thanh Long, deputy minister of justice, said the Government planned to submit 35 draft laws and three draft ordinances to the 13th National Assembly in the fifth and sixth session.

The Government also suggested delaying three draft laws this year, which are the amended Land Law, the amended Law on Tax Management and the Capital Law, he said.

Members of the NA Standing Committee agreed with these suggestions and added that these laws played an important role in socio-economic development.

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