[8 Dec. 2013] - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was speaking at the Vietnam Development Partnership Forum (VDPF) in Hanoi on December 5 to review the country’s socio-economic performance and poverty reduction over the year.

Economic restructuring will be focused on public investment by effectively implementing the Law on Public Investment, working out medium-term investment plans and better distribution of central and local resources for economic development, Dung said.

He prioritized the need to increase the efficiency of public finance and investment, mobilise capital for key projects, promote private and foreign investment attraction, and offer favourable conditions for foreign businesses to approach and effectively use resources and natural resources.

Regarding the banks and financial market, the government leader said all credit organizations will be comprehensively restructured with a focus on weak joint stock commercial banks. In addition, State owned commercial banks will continue to be equitized.

It is imperative to supervise and inspect the banking system, deal with overlapped ownership and bad debts and increase the Vietnam Asset Management Company’s (VAMC) operational efficiency, Dung said

The banking sector is set to handle VND100-150,000 billion worth of bad debts in 2014.

On State-owned enterprise restructuring, PM Dung emphasized next year will be pivoted on equitizing and restructuring key business sectors, reducing investment capital for sectors beyond their business based on market rules and improve administration capacity and business efficiency.

As many as 500 state-run enterprises will be equitized including one in eighth of economic groups.

Shares of 4/5 equitized State commercial banks will be sold to provide springboards for finalizing equitization by 2020.

PM Dung also stressed the necessary restructuring of agriculture along with development of new rural areas, boosting agricultural production and improving people’s living standards.

In his earlier speech on economic restructuring before development partners, the PM highlighted initial results from the process which will continue to be boosted in the future.

Accordingly, Vietnam allocated capital to key projects and counterpart capital for ODA-funded projects in the 2011-2013 period and carried out medium-term investment plans and increased responsibility for investment efficiency.