Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has requiredministries, sectors and localities to focus on completing all socio-economic targetsset by the National Assembly.

He made the request at a cabinet meeting on July 4 with theonline presence of leaders of all 63 localities nationwide.

The Government leader noted that in the first six months ofthis year, the domestic economy maintained good growth with stable macro-economyand controlled inflation, with the recovery and expansion of many sectors.

However, the PM said GDP growth in the first half of the yearat 6.76 percent was below the target in the most optimistic scenario, which didnot show breakthroughs in general development as well as growth of eachsectors.

In the rest of the year, the economy is likely to face manychallenges, especially due to declining world demand that affects the country’sexports as well as domestic production and business, he said.

He noted complaints that the streamlining of businessconditions failed to produce substantial results, thus obstacles still remainto business of some sectors and small-and-medium-sized enterprises.

The PM asked leaders of ministries, sectors and localities toidentify their shortcomings and problems to seek effective measures.

He called for the involvement of the whole political system,the business community and society to work together to make furtherachievements in all areas.

According to a report delivered by Minister of Planning andInvestment Nguyen Chi Dung, although GDP expansion in the first half of thisyear was lower than in the same time last year, it is higher than the figurerecorded in the first half of each year from 2011 to 2017, in the context ofgrowth slowdown in 70 percent of economies around the world, including most developedones.

Notably, agriculture faced difficulties as a result of thespread of African swine fever, leading to low growth of only 1.3 percentcompared to 3.07 percent in the first half of 2018, he said.

June’s consumer price index decreased by 0.09 percent against the previousmonth, while the average CPI in the first half of the year rose by 2.64 percenton a yearly basis.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) disbursement in the firsthalf of 2016 is estimated at 9.1 billion USD, up nearly 8 percent from the sameperiod last year. As of July 2, the country’s export turnover reached 122.4billion USD, while import turnover was 120.8 billion USD, resulting in a tradesurplus of 1.6 billion USD.

In the period, the country had nearly 67,000newly-established enterprises, up 3.8 percent year-on-year. More than 21,600enterprises resumed operations, a year-on-year rise of 31.4 percent.

Minister Dung stressed the third quarter is extremelyimportant and decisive to the growth rate of the whole year.

He asked the agricultural sector to continue taking measuresto tackle African swine fever and recover production.

Localities were required to bring into full playopportunities brought by major projects in the processing and manufacturingindustries.

The minister also underlined the need to step up exports andseek measures to maintain stability in major export markets such as the US,Japan, the EU, China and ASEAN by taking advantage of free trade and investmentagreements.

With the world economy changing rapidly and complicatedly,the Prime Minister requested ministries, sectors and localities to stayflexible to deal with anything.

This was the second government meeting via the e-Cabinet system sinceits launched on June 24.

The e-Cabinet system is able to update, store and managedocuments for government meetings, as well as offer electronic voting withdigital signatures. It also sends texts, emails and other notifications toCabinet members. 

The system aims to cut 30 percent of time duringGovernment meetings later this year, minimise the use of paper documents whichwill be replaced with electronic forms, except for confidential matters.-VNA