He said more efforts are needed to accelerate public investment disbursement, better implement both financial and fiscal policies and push ahead with investment attraction, especially capital flows from the private sector and foreign businesses.

With free trade agreements like the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Tran-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Vietnam needs to enhance exports and expand the market, he suggested, asking the Ministry of Industry and Trade to put forth more specific measures on domestic consumption stimulation.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has called for resolve to perform the dual tasks of containing COVID-19 and preventing negative economic growth. (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai).

The PM noted that with the return of the pandemic, stimulus measures need to be adjusted in accordance with the priority of preventing the disease from spreading. He urged ministries and agencies to firstly adopt measures to ensure socio-economic security and safety, protect very economic sector, especially businesses, and prevent widespread unemployment.

Ministries need to map out suitable growth scenarios and better coordinate in the statistics work, he said.

PM Phuc singled out limitations in statistics work, citing as an example the gap in export-import statistics provided by difference agencies, partially due to the inefficient coordination between the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the General Statistics Office, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance.

He also requested the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam to update monetary, credit and State budget statistics more quickly.

The PM stressed that statistical data must be accurate and complete, in accordance with the law.

The Government leader repeated his request that ministries review and update growth scenarios for the third quarter, the whole year and 2021, along with measures to support the national economy, enterprises, cooperatives, business households and labourers.