VietNamNet Bridge – The responsibilities of State-management agencies, the growth target for next year and support for farmers and rural development topped the agenda at yesterday’s meeting of National Assembly deputies.

Farmers rush to harvest rice before floods hit the southern province of Kien Giang’s Tan Hiep District. Policies on agriculture and farmers are among hot topics being discussed by National Assembly deputies.

However, many said that for certain matters, the report should be supplemented with more than the existing eight targets.

Deputy Vo Dinh Tuyen from southern Binh Phuoc Province said the reason for shortcomings in the country’s economy was not just because of the impacts of the world’s financial crisis, but involved the responsibilities of State agencies.

He gave as examples the recent cheating at many petrol stations, environmental pollution and the sudden increase of rice prices several months ago, adding that now farmers could not even sell their product.

“I suggest the addition of one more solution to economic problems, and that is the enhancement of management responsibilities of State agencies,” he said.

While sharing the view, deputy Bui Dac Luyen from the northern province of Ninh Binh said the responsibility should not be focused on the Government.

“Though the Government is the highest management agency, the responsibilities have already been decentralised to grassroots levels,” he said.

Luyen pointed out that local authorities and National Assembly deputies should be the ones to accept the responsibility for matters arising in their localities.

“The Government’s responsibility should be to closely check and strictly punish those at lower levels who cause the problems,” he said.

Unprofessional and inaccurate forecasts were also blamed for weak management. Deputy Bui Van Duoi, from the northern province of Hoa Binh, said there were many shortcomings in the predictions, adding that they caused embarrassment and created passive management.

Deputy Tran Thi Quoc Khanh from Ha Noi called for more investment in people working in forecasting activities.

Confusing targets

Deputies discussed at great length the Government’s 7 per cent growth target for 2009.

Deputy Vo Dinh Tuyen from Binh Phuoc Province agreed with the target, saying that it should not be higher than 7 per cent.

“The growth rate this year has so far been about 6.5-7 per cent,” he said. “The socio-economic situation has changed positively and there has been initial success in curbing inflation. We should set a target of 7 per cent or a bit higher.”

In contrast, Deputy Thao Xuan Sung, from the northern province of Son La, suggested a target growth rate of 6.5 to 7 per cent.

Sung said that although the Government report showed there had been great effort to keep track of projects, there had been slow disbursement of investment capital for those funded from the State budget and Government bonds. Many agreed with him.

Deputy Vo Hong Phuc from Thanh Hoa Province, who is also Minister of Planning and Investment, confirmed that the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of Viet Nam this year was estimated to be at 6.7 per cent while the consumer price index (CPI) was expected to be 22 per cent.

He said the financial crisis in the US and Europe was having an impact on trading activities and attracting foreign investment, both direct and indirect, for Asian countries, including Viet Nam.

“And the situation next year is forecast to be more difficult,” he said.

Phuc said the decrease in the CPI in October did not reflect deflation (which can cause a deflationary spiral and create even greater problems).

He advised the Government to be aware of this and follow developments in coming months to prevent deflation.

Support for farms

Discussions also focused on one of the Government’s target areas - agriculture.

Deputy Thao Hong Son from the northern province of Ha Giang compared the ethnic minority Mong and Dao people in mountainous areas, who often had only corn for meals, with farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta who could not sell their rice.

He said while the hill people did not have rice to eat, the Mekong people had to import corn to feed their animals.

“I suggest the National Assembly and the Government set aside a part of the budget to buy rice for (hill) farmers and subsidise its transport fee from abundant areas,” he said.

Sharing the view, deputy Le Dinh Khanh from the northern province of Hai Duong said that there were many shortcomings in importing agricultural products and in supporting agriculture and rural development.

“Import policies in the past have led to State budget losses,” he said. “The price of oil, pesticides and fertilisers have been high, while the prices for rice, fish and litchi have gone down a lot.”

He suggested the Government adopt an appropriate policy to support farmers that did not violate WTO pledges. He said this would push up the agricultural economy and rural development.

Deputies also discussed administrative reforms, defining the investment structure in State-owned enterprises, the fight against corruption, and improving social-welfare policies.

(Source: Viet Nam News)