TPP off the agenda at NA session

                                                         Photo: Duc Anh

Session to open on October 20 with TPP ratification set aside for the time being.

The 14th National Assembly (NA) will gather for its second session this year from October 20 to November 19.

There is no proposal to ratify the TPP at the session. The legislature will, however, review other major issues, including economic development in 2016 and the economic restructuring plan for 2016-2020, among others, according to NA Secretary General Nguyen Hanh Phuc.

The withdrawal of a bill on commune policemen and a revised law on corruption prevention and combating will be high on the agenda, he added.

Several matters pertaining to lessons and solutions to protecting the environment in the report on efforts to address the consequences of the Formosa environmental incident in northern Ha Tinh province, solutions to ensure food hygiene and safety, climate change-caused socioeconomic damage and solutions in the report on socioeconomic performance, and the management and use of ODA in 2011-2015 in the report on goals and orientations to mobilize and use loans and public debts need to be clearer before being submitted to the NA, he said.

At the NA’s Standing Committee meeting on October 6, NA Deputy Chairman Phung Quoc Hien, also said these bills, which do not fully follow legal regulations, will not be considered at the session.

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan agreed that as the top legislative body the NA must abide by regulations set under the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents.

Vietnam’s economy has continued to exhibit signs of recovery and stable growth in the last three quarters, with GDP growing at an estimated 5.93 per cent, according to the NA’s Economic Committee.

Macroeconomic indicators have been stable and inflation controlled, according to a government report on the implementation of the 2016 socioeconomic development plan presented at the meeting.

Annual inflation is forecast at below the 5 per cent target set by the NA. But a report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) released in early October acknowledged that the GDP target of 6.7 per cent is unlikely to be met due to the impacts of natural disasters on the agriculture sector.

In its latest report the World Bank noted that economic activity moderated somewhat in the first three quarters of 2016 due to the impact of severe drought on agricultural production and slower industrial growth.

“But macro-economic stability has been maintained and inflationary pressures remain subdued,” it wrote in its East Asia and Pacific Economic Update released on October 5.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) late last month revised Vietnam’s GDP forecast down to 6.0 per cent for 2016 as a result of contractions in the agriculture and mining sectors in the first half.

“Drought in the Mekong Delta and central highlands regions and low global commodity prices eased economic growth in the first half of the year, but other sectors have grown strongly,” said Mr. Eric Sidgwick, ADB Country Director for Vietnam.

by Nguyen Ha / vneconomictimes