On the morning of November 10, 2017, the National Assembly voted to approve the Resolution on the Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2018 with 417 out of 424 participating National Assembly deputies voting in favor, achieving a rate of 84,93% of the total number of deputies.
The National Assembly passed the Resolution on the socio-economic development plan for 2018 with a high percentage of agreement.
Accordingly, the Resolution sets out the overall goals for socio-economic development in 2018, including: continuing to ensure macroeconomic stability and control inflation; creating significant progress in implementing the three strategic breakthroughs, innovating the growth model associated with restructuring the economy, improving the quality of growth, labor productivity and competitiveness; encouraging innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, developing new-style enterprises and cooperatives, and promoting economic growth…
Based on the overall objectives, the National Assembly unanimously set 12 specific targets in the 2018 socio-economic development plan, including: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 6,5% - 6,7%; Total export turnover increase of 7% - 8%; Trade deficit ratio compared to total export turnover below 3%; Average consumer price increase rate of approximately 4%; Total social development investment capital of approximately 33% - 34% of GDP; Poverty rate according to the multidimensional poverty approach reduced by 1% - 1,3%, with a 4% reduction in poor districts; Unemployment rate in urban areas below 4%; Trained workforce rate reaching 58% - 60%, of which the rate of trained workers with training of 3 months or more and recognized training results reaching 23% - 23,5%; Number of hospital beds per 10,000 people reaching 26 beds (excluding beds at commune health stations). The health insurance coverage rate reached 85,2%; the percentage of operating industrial parks and export processing zones with centralized wastewater treatment systems meeting environmental standards reached 88%; and the forest cover rate reached 41,6%.
Based on the above objectives, the Resolution has set out key tasks and solutions, focusing on strengthening macroeconomic stability and ensuring major economic balances… Continuing to strive to reduce lending interest rates in line with macroeconomic conditions, ensuring liquidity, strictly controlling and improving credit quality, and ensuring system safety, especially lending to the real estate and securities markets.
In particular, the National Assembly emphasized a group of solutions focusing on strengthening financial and budgetary discipline; creating significant changes in handling outstanding land use fees, combating revenue losses, tax evasion, tax arrears, transfer pricing fraud, violations of tax laws, fees, and charges, and implementing electronic invoices; rigorously appraising projects and improving investment efficiency; thoroughly saving on state budget expenditures and the use of public assets and official vehicles; and restructuring the state budget towards gradually increasing the proportion of domestic revenue and development investment expenditures, reducing the proportion of recurrent expenditures, and ensuring social security, social welfare, and national defense and security.
In addition, the National Assembly also agreed to continue encouraging and supporting startups, innovative businesses, and small and medium-sized enterprises; to develop appropriate solutions to encourage individual business households to establish enterprises; and to encourage the increasingly strong development of the private economic sector.
Continue to vigorously promote administrative reform, focusing on further innovation and streamlining the organizational structure of the political system to ensure efficient and effective operation; innovate the organizational and management system, improve the quality and efficiency of public service units; promote socialization, develop the public service market, and create an equal playing field between public and private entities.
