Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue speaks at the meeting (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Huehas asked the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to actively and proactively directmonetary policy; closely combine with fiscaland macro-policies to control inflation; and prevent 'double' inflation causedby higher foreign exchange rates and global fuel prices.
Deputy PM Hue, who is also head of the Government’s SteeringCommittee on Price Direction, gave the direction during a meeting in Hanoi onJuly 10 to review first-half performance and outline tasks for the remainingmonths of this year.
He ordered the Ministry of Transport to reconsider managingair fares and add the adjustment of aviation and bus prices into its price controlplan.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has beenasked make a report on managing pork prices and strive to reduce them.
Ministries, agencies, and localities must closely followprice management scenarios between now and the year’s end and continue withbiddings at the Ministry of Health and Vietnam Social Security (VSS) to cutmedicine and medical equipment prices.
The Ministry of Health and VSS will review adjustinghealthcare service prices in the near future under the watch of the Ministry ofFinance.
As tuition fees will go up 0.07 percent in September, pricesof public services need to be thoroughly considered.
Hue agreed with a plan to enhance the use of pricestabilisation funds to reduce petrol prices. The Ministry of Industry and Trade(MoIT) was assigned to build a scheme to reduce taxes on bio-fuel.
Head of the Ministry of Finance’s Price ManagementDepartment Nguyen Anh Tuan said in order to counter possible inflation, the Governmenthas requested not to hike power prices this year, stabilising goods priced bythe State in June as well as others with possible higher prices.
SBV Vice Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said the basic interestrate has stayed low at 1.35 percent. In the first half of this year, creditgrowth hit 7.88 percent compared to 9.06 percent during the same period lastyear. The country ran a trade surplus of 2.7 billion USD.
Representatives from ministries and agencies proposedsolutions to important goods impacting inflation between now and the year’s endsuch as pork, petrol, liquefied natural gas, education, healthcare,transportation, and telecommunications.
The Ministry of Finance’s Price Management Department andthe MoIT’s General Statistics Office devised two scenarios on price managementto ensure that inflation will stay below 4 percent. -VNA
VNA
