National Assembly deputies have voiced their concern about how to improve the standard of living for remote communities and ethnic minorities at a time of surging inflation and price rises.

At their working session on May 9, law-makers asked the government to formulate prioritised investment policies to support development in rural and disadvantaged areas.

They proposed policies to focus on transportation, education, natural disaster mitigation and the allocation of land and housing.

The legislators also requested the government not to slash investment reserved for socio-economic infrastructure and healthcare in disadvantaged areas.

In relation to the government’s solutions to curb inflation, there are still shortcomings in implementing socio-economic targets, including those for industry and shifting plant and livestock structures, the legislators said.

Most deputies agreed with the Government’s proposal to adjust the GDP growth target from 8.5-9% to 7% following fluctuations in the world and domestic markets in the past months. They asked the Government to make clear the reasons for the adjustment as this will have a big affect on employment and people’s incomes.

Deputy Duong Trung Quoc from the southern province of Dong Nai said that the growth target is usually set by the Government and later approved by the National Assembly. Once the country fails to meet the target, he noted that it is necessary to consider the accountability of the Government as well as the capacity of NA deputies.

Deputy Nguyen Minh Thuyet from the northern border province of Lang Son said that this is the first time the NA has discussed the implementation of socio-economic development tasks in the face of economic slowdown and high inflation. He said that the Government should frankly look at its responsibility as well as that of Cabinet members.

Deputy Thuyet attributed the situation to the Government’s weak forecast and said that at present the Government should not fixate on stabilising market prices, as this is just an immediate solution. Instead, he suggested that the Government devise solutions for ensuring social welfare, mainly for the poor and State workers.

They asked the government to take drastic measures to speed up applying its eight of solutions to beat inflation and maintain sustainable economic growth.

The legislators also called on the government to provide reliable forecasts on the domestic and global economies in addition to macro-development strategies for each ministry, sector and locality to use in the fight against inflation.

Later in the day, legislators reviewed outcomes of the implementation of last year’s socio-economic goals and State budget, and the rate of implementation of those tasks in 2008. (Nhan Dan, VNA)