Restructuring – key to removing economic obstacles in 2013

The Vietnamese government’smanagement efforts in 2013 have led to its economic restructuringachieving initial results and increasing the economy’s efficiency, saysthe Radio Voice of Vietnam.

In 2013, the Vietnamese governmentfocused its economic restructuring master plan on improving institutionsand policies and reforming the growth model. Top-priority fields weregiven to public investment, financial and credit organisations, andstate-owned enterprises.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade hasimplemented a government resolution on restructuring state-ownedcorporations and economic groups. Following the roadmap, the ministryhas clearly defined functions and asked state owned corporations andeconomic groups to withdraw their investment capital from areas outsidetheir core businesses.
According to Minister Vu Huy Hoang, “TheMinistry of Industry and Trade has implemented the government’sdirective to restructure enterprises and ensure the rights andresponsibility of the state owner in economic groups, corporations, andcompanies under the Ministry’s management. In a number of areas, studiesare continuing before new restructuring policies are promulgated toensure the efficiency of SOEs.”
The efforts have initially improvedthe efficiency of state-owned enterprises. To date, about 80 percent ofSOEs have made profits accounting for 33 percent of GDP.
Regardinginvestment restructuring, especially public investment, the governmenthas directed the adjustment and allocation of investment capital for keyprojects and counterpart capital for ODA-funded projects. Control hasbeen tightened for newly-launched projects while scattered investmenthas gradually been eliminated. A mechanism of investment managementdecentralization is being improved to increase responsibility ofprovincial authorities and investors while private investment isenhanced. So far, the level of non-state investment increased to 62.6percent in the 2011-2013 period from 61.3 percent of 5 years ago.
Initial results have been recorded in implementing comprehensivemeasures to restructure credit institutions. Weak banks have beenrestructured. Bad debts have gradually been controlled.
A plan torestructure the agricultural sector towards greater added value andsustainable development has been implemented. It has focused ontransforming crop and animal structures, promoting the application oftechnology, building large-scale industrial crop zones and high-techagricultural zones, linking production with processing, preservation anddistribution, and integrating into the global production network andvalue chain.
The government’s implementation of plans torestructure the entire economy has remarkably improved the economy atboth macro and micro levels. But generally, Vietnam’s socio-economicdevelopment is still facing many challenges. At the recent VietnamDevelopment Partnership Forum in Hanoi, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dungreiterated the government’s determination to intensify economicrestructuring, creating an impetus for Vietnam’s sustainable developmentin the future.
According to Prime Minister Dung , Vietnamesegovernment will continue economic restructuring and revising the growthmodel so that the national economy can enjoy higher competitiveness anddevelop sustainably. The Prime Minister also set target to stabilise themacro-economy, control inflation, maintain the GDP growth of 5.8percent in 2014 and 6 percent in the following year, and continue tostabilise the exchange rate and maintain export growth.
Under itsWorld Trade Organisation commitment and a similar future commitmentunder the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, Vietnam will equitise 500state-owned enterprises.-VNA