On the afternoon of October 30, the National Assembly discussed the implementation of the state budget; medium-term public investment; national finance and loans, public debt repayment; and expected national 5-year financial plans.
Speaking to clarify some of the contents that delegates were interested in, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that our country is still a developing country with a transforming economy. The scale of the economy is still modest, the openness is high, and the resilience to external shocks is limited.
In the past 5 years, there have been many great shocks from the outside, but we have overcome them. More importantly, our economy is resilient to external shocks.
The head of the Government affirmed that in this term, we must resolve many outstanding issues.
"The most important of which is the 12 projects that have been at a loss for decades, we have basically resolved them and many projects are effective and profitable. 4 banks, together with SCB Bank, will also be resolved during this term," said the Prime Minister.
According to the Prime Minister, there are currently nearly 3,000 projects that need to be further resolved. The Government has just classified, among which, under the authority of the Government, localities, ministries and branches, there are about more than 2,000 projects that must be resolved. The remaining 500-600 projects must be reported to competent authorities, including the National Assembly, to be resolved.
Regarding infrastructure, the Prime Minister said that since the beginning of the term, he and the Provincial Party Secretaries "had only discussed whether they were determined to do it or not, the most difficult problem was not the money but they were able to arrange it to do it".
The expressway system to the northern mountainous provinces is currently being implemented, which is the reason why we are rearranging expressways in the Central region, expanding the expressways that were previously built.
Our country also invests in expanding ports and airports; preparing to invest in the high-speed railway that is clearing land, the standard gauge railway on the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong route is expected to start construction on December 19.
Regarding spending on social security, the Prime Minister said that children are now exempted from tuition fees, free lunch, and are building 200 border schools and inter-level boarding schools. All of the above funding sources are from increased revenue and decreased expenditure.
Of which, our country reduces spending by 10% each year, last year our country reduced spending by 5% for 6 months, then we immediately put aside to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses. This year, we have reduced the expenditure of the last 6 months of the year to build a school for the children. This shows that we have used the source of increased revenue and expenditure savings very effectively.
"If we do not increase revenue, if we do not save spending, we will not have this," said the Prime Minister.
The Government leader affirmed that all these sources of increased revenue and reduced expenditure are consulted by the National Assembly and are in the right direction, spending on people.
The Prime Minister stated that we have left behind 70% of this increase in revenue to increase salaries according to Resolution 27. We could not do it in the previous term, but this term we only have it, because if we increase revenue and leave 70% of it, we will have a salary increase.
As the National Assembly deputies are proposing to increase salaries next year, on July 1, 2026, the Prime Minister said that based on the National Assembly's opinions, the Government will consider, balance resources and seek opinions from competent authorities, including the National Assembly, we will increase salaries sooner.
