Vietnam must stabilise the macro economy in 2016 while ensuring stellareconomic growth, according to instructions issued by Prime MinisterNguyen Tan Dung on May 29 on the designing of socio-economic developmentplans and budget estimates for next year.

The instruction gavethe overall target for economic growth in 2016 as over 6.5 percent,driven by economic restructuring and growth model reform.

Theagriculture sector will be shaken up with the continued building of newstyle rural areas and the introduction of high-tech applications intoagriculture production. The country will push forward exports andcontrol imports of non-essential commodities.

The investmentclimate should be greatly improved while administration procedures andgovernment management efficiency will be quickly improved, especiallyacross the fields of tax, customs and social insurance. The move aims tocreate favourable conditions for both residents and enterprises.

Socialsecurity diversification is also a key objective in 2016, with thefocus on enhancing labour quality, developing education-training andscience-technology, promoting health care socialisation and implementingethnic and religion policies.

Regarding budget estimatesplanning, the instruction said budget revenue from export-importactivities is set to rise up by 6-8 percent while revenues from tax andfees should be 18-19 percent of the GDP. Domestic revenue estimate(excluding revenue from land use) should be at least 15 percent higherthan the estimated figure for this year.

The PM’s instructionalso stated out that state budget expenditure estimate for 2016 must bein line with the socio-economic blueprints for 2016 and the 2016-2020period.

Ministries, branches and localities need to set up budgetforecasts in accordance with the government’s fund allocating norms,which priotise defence and security as well as key sectors as defined inParty and National Assembly’s resolutions.-VNA