Deputy PM gives direction to prevent 'double' inflation

Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has asked the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to actively and proactively direct monetary policy; closely combine  with fiscal and macro-policies to control inflation; and prevent 'double' inflation caused by higher foreign exchange rates and global fuel prices.

Deputy PM Hue, who is also head of the Government’s Steering Committee on Price Direction, gave the direction during a meeting in Hanoi on July 10 to review first-half performance and outline tasks for the remaining months of this year.

He ordered the Ministry of Transport to reconsider managing air fares and add the adjustment of aviation and bus prices into its price control plan.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been asked make a report on managing pork prices and strive to reduce them.

Ministries, agencies, and localities must closely follow price management scenarios between now and the year’s end and continue with biddings at the Ministry of Health and Vietnam Social Security (VSS) to cut medicine and medical equipment prices.

The Ministry of Health and VSS will review adjusting healthcare service prices in the near future under the watch of the Ministry of Finance.

As tuition fees will go up 0.07 percent in September, prices of public services need to be thoroughly considered.

Hue agreed with a plan to enhance the use of price stabilisation 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 Management Department Nguyen Anh Tuan said in order to counter possible inflation, the Government has requested not to hike power prices this year, stabilising goods priced by the State in June as well as others with possible higher prices.

SBV Vice Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said the basic interest rate has stayed low at 1.35 percent. In the first half of this year, credit growth hit 7.88 percent compared to 9.06 percent during the same period last year. The country ran a trade surplus of 2.7 billion USD.

Representatives from ministries and agencies proposed solutions to important goods impacting inflation between now and the year’s end such as pork, petrol, liquefied natural gas, education, healthcare, transportation, and telecommunications.

The Ministry of Finance’s Price Management Department and the MoIT’s General Statistics Office devised two scenarios on price management to ensure that inflation will stay below 4 percent. -VNA