Assembly approves socioeconomic recovery program

The National Assembly has approved a socio-economic recovery program post-Covid-19 proposed by the Government.

During its week-long extraordinary session which ended Tuesday, the legislature debated and passed a resolution for the program, which is aimed to quickly recover production and supply chains, stabilize the macroeconomy and ensure social security and people’s livelihoods. The program, which requires over VND340 trillion, comprises five major groups of targets and solutions to implement in 2022-2023, including general solutions to reopen the economy while ensuring Covid-19 infection prevention and control; improving the healthcare capacity; social security and job support; facilitating the recovery of enterprises, cooperatives and household businesses; infrastructure development and unlocking social resources for development investment; institutional and administrative reforms and improvement of the business environment.

The Government proposed a fiscal package worth VND291 trillion for the program, which is sourced from the State budget (VND240 trillion), government bond issue and tax, land rent and fee reduction. It also proposed a monetary package with solutions such as debt restructuring and interest rate cuts for enterprises, cooperatives and household businesses, especially those active in industries hit the hardest by Covid-19.

The legislature also passed the investment policy for the construction of the eastern section of the NorthSouth Expressway. The project, with an investment estimated at nearly VND147 trillion (US$6.4 billion), will be developed under the form of public investment. Work is scheduled to start in 2023 and to be completed in 2025.