HÀ NỘI — Amid the complex COVID-19 situation, accelerating the disbursement of public investment is one of the main tasks Hà Nội will carry out in the remaining months of 2021 to achieve the best possible economic outcomes.
The municipal People’s Committee has demanded district-level People’s Committees take drastic actions to implement measures for promoting economic growth, public investment disbursement, and sustainable exports in line with the Government’s Resolution No 63/NQ-CP, according to the Công Thương (Industry & Trade) newspaper.
The Hà Nội administration asked all-level authorities and sectors to effectively manage and use the budget, reduce regular expenditures to increase local budget reserves, focus on COVID-19 prevention and control, and invest more in performing security - defence tasks and important and urgent activities of the city.
So far, Hà Nội has disbursed just 31 per cent of this year’s public investment capital assigned by the Government, lower than the rate in the same period last year and the national average.
Given this, the municipal People’s Committee requested leaders of agencies and localities to keep paying attention to the task while tackling difficulties and quickly completing procedures for projects funded by public capital.
They need to speed up the disbursement progress so as to disburse 100 per cent of the assigned public capital, the committee said, asking them to view the disbursement of public funds as one of the important solutions to fuel the city’s economic growth in the remaining months of 2021.
The People’s Committee of Hà Nội has also identified some other focal tasks, including piloting the urban administration model, developing five suburban districts (Đông Anh, Thanh Trì, Hoài Đức and Đan Phượng) into urban districts, and carrying out the Government’s Resolution No 97/NQ-CP, issued on August 28, on reducing power bills and prices for the fifth time since the start of the pandemic.
In August, many local businesses suffered from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many indices declining from July and the same period last year.
Ha Noi recorded about US$1.28 billion in exports in August, down 0.7 per cent month on month and 34.6 per cent year on year. That added up to an eight-month turnover of over $9.78 billion, down 5.2 per cent from a year earlier.
The index of industrial production (IIP) fell by some 8 per cent from the previous month, with the processing and manufacturing sector down 8.8 per cent, and electricity production and distribution down 2 per cent.
Nevertheless, the index increased 6.3 per cent year on year during the first eight months, statistics show.
Total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue were estimated at VNĐ25 trillion (over $1 billion) in August, down 32.2 per cent month on month and 51.2 per cent year on year. The sum stood at around VNĐ349.5 trillion in the reviewed period, down 6.3 per cent from the same period last year.
However, the capital city also recorded encouraging outcomes in several aspects.
The January - August State budget revenue was estimated at VNĐ164.48 trillion, equivalent to 69.8 per cent of the target assigned by the Government and 110.3 per cent of the figure in the same period last year.
The IIP of some industries still grew strongly during the eight months, including the production of motorised vehicles up 21.6 per cent, apparel 18.2 per cent, beverage 16.1 per cent, timber processing and wood product manufacturing 10.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, domestic revenue, except for oil, managed by taxation authorities increased 9.7 per cent from a year earlier, with the revenue from production and business activities up 28.9 per cent.
Amid complex developments of COVID-19, enterprises in Ha Noi have made efforts to sustain operations. Many of them have applied the “three-on-site” model, which involves workers eating, sleeping, and working at factories and taking rotational leave.
Many districts have recorded good progress in public capital disbursement such as Thanh Xuân, Phú Xuyên, Hà Đông, Hoàn Kiếm and Cầu Giấy. — VNS