The government adapts to reality and adjusts its target, keeping inflation at around 8 percent, instead of less than 7 percent as the National Assembly’s resolution agreed in late 2009.

Statistics show that the consumer price index (CPI) rose sharply in early months of 2010.

This goal was noted in a resolution released after the cabinet meeting last week.

The government promised to persistently pursue the target of 6.5 percent of GDP growth this year, reduce budget overspending to 6 percent and hold inflation at 8 percent.

To fulfil these goals, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that the government would take appropriate measures to urgently reduce the interest rates for mobilizing capital to around 10 percent and the lending interest rate to 12 percent, besides some other measures like boosting exports, curbing trade deficit, supplying capital to key projects and measures to stabilize prices.

Statistics show that the consumer price index (CPI) rose sharply in early months of 2010.

The National Assembly’s Committee for Economic representative at last week’s cabinet meeting warned of great challenges for Vietnam to achieve its target of keeping inflation less than 7 percent in 2010.

Many members of the National Assembly Standing Committee also said that it is difficult enought to hold inflation at 8.5-9 percent. So far, many experts have released warnings about high inflation and the failure to accept the National Assembly’s yearly target for inflation.

In early April, a group of researchers who compiled the Annual report about the Vietnamese economy introduced two scripts for Vietnam with inflation rates at 8.5 and 10.5 percent.

Ngoc Le