Hanoi (VNA) – Cabinet members started to review the national socio-economicsituation in May – the first month after the social distancing measures werelifted and the economy entered the “new normal” period – during a Governmentmeeting in Hanoi on June 2.

Inhis opening remarks, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that Vietnam hasgone through 48 days without COVID-19 infections in the community, and most ofthe patients have been discharged from hospital.

Vietnam’sperformance in the fight against the pandemic has been praised by internationalnews agencies, he said.

Theleader lauded cities and provinces like Hanoi, Hung Yen, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong,Bac Ninh and Dong Nai, among others, for their great efforts to complete assignedsocio-economic development targets.

Thedomestic tourism sector has also proven its strong vitality last month, hesaid, adding that aviation and tourism that were severely hit by the pandemichave begun to resume their normal activities.

Thanksto a range of activities adopted by the Government to support production andbusiness, May indexes are much better than those of April, according to the PM.

Thisis an opportunity for Vietnam to move ahead in the context of difficulties andchallenges faced by the world, he said, calling for efforts to optimise this“golden opportunity” while containing the spread of the pandemic.

ThePM said major economic balances have been ensured, inflation reduced andpeople’s living standards improved.

Inthis session, he went on, the Government will maintain discussions on issuesrelated to socio-economic development and the building of legal institutions,while carefully assessing risks and challenges that need to be overcome in thetime ahead such as drought, hot weather, and negative impact of the COVID-19 oneconomic relations and tourism activities.

TheGovernment leader called for more drastic measures to gain bigger economicdevelopment in the remaining months of 2020, and keeping a close watch on theinternational situation to have policies on trade, investment and tourism so asto take advantage of the global shift of investment flows.

Hestressed the need to discuss stricter measures to address child abuse, togetherwith those to ensure children’s rights. Localities, social organisations, theWomen’s Union and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union were asked to upholdtheir responsibility in caring for and protecting the rights of the children.

Theprices of pork must be also put on table, he stated, emphasising the importanceof stabilising them by value chains and by encouraging investment inlarge-scale husbandry and applying modern technology in production.

According to the Ministry of Planning andInvestment, more than 5,000 businesses resumed operations in May 2020, ayear-on-year rise of 32.7 percent.

Growth was seen in the total retail sales ofgoods and services (26.9 percent), index of industrial production (11.2percent), and exports (5.2 percent).

Revenues from trade activities and services inMay rose sharply by 26.9 percent compared to the previous month, but declinedby 4.8 percent against the same period of 2019.

In January-May, the total retail sales of goodsand services saw a year-on-year reduction of 3.9 percent.

Trade of goods was seriously affected byCOVID-19. However, Vietnam still maintained a trade surplus after the firstfive months of the year, which was estimated at 1.9 billion USD.

The index of industrial production (IIP)expanded by only 1 percent, the lowest in the past few years.

Meanwhile, the State budget collection in thefive-month period reached 529.6 trillion VND (22.8 billion USD), equaling 35percent of the annual estimate./.