Prime Minister of Vietnam: Don’t let the economic crisis happen

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh started when concluding an online conference to work with businesses and associations on August 8. The Prime Minister emphasized that the highest goal is not to let the economic crisis, the health crisis, strive to bring the country back to normal quickly.

In the meantime, the number one priority across the country is to control, prevent and repel the epidemic, where it is safe to continue to maintain and boost production. At the same time, the highest goal is not to let the economic crisis, health crisis, put people’s health and life first and foremost, and strive to bring the country back to normal in the context of the complicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Businesses face many difficulties

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment report, as of July 2021, about 840,000 enterprises are operating in the whole country. With the spirit of accompanying businesses, over the past time, the Government and the Prime Minister have promptly issued many policies and offered solutions to support and remove difficulties for enterprises’ production and business activities. They are contributing to maintaining positive GDP growth in 2020 and the first six months of 2021, reaching 5.64%.

“However, it must be frankly admitted that the 4th outbreak of COVID-19 with the Delta mutation, especially starting from July 2021, has caused gray patches to spread very quickly in the whole picture business. Already hurt businesses are more difficult than ever. Reserve resources are dwindling while the market has not shown any signs of recovery or is recovering very slowly”, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung emphasized.

The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically affected the production and business activities of enterprises. The data reported by the General Department of Taxation (Ministry of Finance) also shows a clearer picture of the “health” of businesses during the pandemic. By the end of July, the total amount of debt managed by this industry was estimated at over VND 116.8 trillion, an increase of nearly 23% compared to the end of 2020 and a rise of 0.8% compared to the end of June.

With a group of urgent policies and solutions that need to be done immediately, Mr. Dung proposed a reasonable and practical allocation of Covid-19 vaccine resources, including additional priority subjects for injection in areas at risk of epidemics diseases (supply chains, workers in industrial zones, and clusters, workers in some fields with high exposure). Research on a mechanism to allow enterprises to purchase their tools, take the initiative in self-testing, and promote industrial production in the medical industry (vaccines, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and equipment). “This is a strategic policy for both the immediate and long-term”, Mr. Dung emphasized.

(Source: vnexpress)