Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung pressed for all possible means to ensure the State budget estimate since early next year at a teleconference in Hanoi on December 30 to review the 2013 State finance-budget performance and set tasks for 2014.

Touching on the budget collection and spending, PM Dung called for stronger joint work between the Ministry of Finance and other ministries, agencies and localities to achieve budget targets for 2014, such as an economic growth of 5.8 percent next year.

Inflation must settle at 6.5-7 percent, foreign exchange rates at stable level while social welfares and national defence and security are ensured, he said.

He also requested the finance sector to prioritise spending on salary reforms and social welfares. Costs of working trips at home and abroad should be cut down, he added.

The government leader asked for macro-economic stability on the back of fiscal and monetary policies, the removal of barriers to business and production, and an impulse to growth recovery.

In terms of price management, PM Dung urged the ministry to better manage prices, especially those of essential goods in the run-up to the traditional Lunar New Year.

The ministry must direct the restructuring and equitisation of State-owned enterprises that must divest themselves of non-core areas.

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Binh said the financial and banking sectors must exert stronger efforts to control the State budget over-spending at 5.3 percent and curb inflation at below 7 percent next year.

In the last months of 2013, the collection of State budget is projected at some 99 percent of the total estimate.-VNA