Hanoi (VNA) – Increasing labourproductivity and improving institutions should be made the top priorities toensure high and sustainable economy growth.

The recommendation was given by the NationalFinancial Supervisory Commission in its recent report updating the economic andfinancial situation in April 2018.

The report said in the short term, economicgrowth is being supported by the recovery trend of the economy and thegovernment’s policies to improve business environment.

But in the middle and long run, the countryneeds further institutional reform to improve economic growth.

The report made positive assessments on thedomestic business production in April, which has been the case since thebeginning of this year.

It said business conditions in 2018 will be underpinnedby a number of favourable factors, notably the 29-month improvement of theManufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

The average consumer price index (CPI) in thefirst four months of 2018 increased 2.8 percent over the same period last yearwhile core inflation was maintained at a stable level, up 1.34 percent.

The report said if strict control is not takenfor the roadmap for adjusting up the prices of public services, the CPI growththis year may be higher than the pace in 2017.

The CPI rise was mainly driven by the hikes inprices of healthcare services (up 16.76 percent), transport (up 5.64 percent),and accommodation and construction material (3.38 percent). 

In the period, more than 46 trillion VND (2billion USD) from government bonds were mobilised, equivalent to 23.01 percentof the yearly target, the report said, noting a strong drop in the rate ofsuccessful bidding from 66.2 percent in March to 37.5 percent in April.

On the stock market, despite downwardadjustments in April following hot growth in the first quarter, there are goodsigns of foreign investment flow. Since the beginning of 2018, net purchase ofshares by foreign investors came to 590 million USD and bonds - 62 millionUSD. 

They have actively participated in initialpublic offering (IPO) and share sales of large private companies such asTechcombank, Vinhomes, and Vingroup. 

This showed the confidence of foreign investorsin the development prospects of the private economic sector in Vietnam.

Regarding the State budget, the report notedthat as of April 15, the State budget surplus stood at 11.3 trillion VND, whilein the same period of 2017, budget overspending was 20 trillion VND. 

Debt ratios were within the limit of theNational Assembly, with public debt equal to about 55.9 percent of the grossdomestic product (GDP), government debt about 47.4 percent, andgovernment-guaranteed debt nearly 8 percent. 

To ensure sustainable budget balance, theNational Financial Supervisory Commission suggested continuing to cut regular expenditures,balancing the collection and expenditure for social insurance and buildingmechanism to encourage more people to join voluntary social insurance, andadjusting the law on public investment to attract buyers of governmentbonds.-VNA