All ministries should continue to apply effective measures to fulfill the country’s social and economic development targets set for the year 2013, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The PM made the call at a regular cabinet meeting held on Thursday to review socio-economic performance in the past six months and discuss solutions for the rest of the year.

The country was on the right track in the period with GDP expanding 5 percent in the second quarter compared to 4.76 percent in the previous one, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said. Exports rose 16.1 percent to over US$62 billion in the first half of 2013, while the import value was nearly $63.5 billion, up 17.4 percent year on year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Total foreign direct investment (FDI) was reported to reach $10.473 billion, up 15.9% from the same period last year, and FDI disbursement also increased by 5.6 percent  to $5.7 billion.Challenges remain However, the Prime Minister said the country is still facing many challenges and all ministries must do their best to overcome them.   Among the challenges are unstable macro-economy, risk of recurrent inflation, and slow credit growth, the PM said. The State Bank, therefore, must continue lowering lending interest rates to a reasonable figure that is suitable for constraining inflation. Stronger efforts are needed to step up economic development in order to realize the GDP growth target of 5.5 percent for the whole year, he said. The PM urged all sectors to actively implement the domestic market development program, and enhance the efficiency of trade promotion activities, while further expanding export markets. It is essential to better implement policies on tax exemption, reduction and extension in order to help enterprises improve their business efficiency. He also emphasized that curbing inflation and stabilizing macro-economy are among the top priorities in the second half of the year. As far as social issues are concerned, the PM called on concerned agencies to continue carrying out social welfare policies effectively, boosting national programs on poverty reduction and employment, and take measures to boost vocational training and create more jobs.

He also said more efforts are required in reducing the patient overload at hospitals and in preventing flooding in the rainy season.