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| State management is needed to control and restrain inflation and prevent prices from increasing along with wages. |
(VLO) The basic salary has increased to 1.8 million VND/month since the beginning of July. Many workers have not yet had time to be happy but have had to calculate and rebalance their spending appropriately in the context of prices of many consumer goods remaining high, some of which have increased in price over the past month. Many opinions hope that the State needs to have effective price management measures so that price increases do not disrupt people's lives.
The joys and worries of salary increase
Mr. TQN, an official at an agency located in Ward 8, Vinh Long City, shared that as a salaried employee, receiving a salary increase is a joy because he has more income to spend and improve his family's living standards. Each month, his income also increases by nearly 1.2 million VND.
However, the worrying thing is that recently almost all food, consumer goods and some services... have tended to increase.
In particular, the continuous increase in gasoline prices without any sign of decreasing since the salary increase in early July has affected many activities and daily life of the society. “The basic salary must increase, the market price must be kept stable, then the salary increase will be valuable to the workers,” Mr. TQN worried.
Ms. V., a teacher at an elementary school in Vinh Long City, shared that her salary had just increased, but before she could be happy, she had to calculate to balance her family's expenses because now everything in the market has increased.
In early July, cabbage was around 8,000 VND/kg, but now it has increased to 10,000-12,000 VND/kg, pork and chicken prices have also increased by about 10,000-20,000 VND/kg, rice has increased by 3,000 VND/kg...
Each item adds up a little, but adds up to a significant expense. If you don’t “cut your coat according to your cloth,” it will result in a deficit in other family expenses such as electricity, water, gas, not to mention the cost of preparing for the child to enter the new school year and unexpected parties.
As for Ms. Th., in Ward 9, "Before, I spent about 100,000 VND each time I went to the market, but now I have to spend an additional 20,000-40,000 VND to buy enough food for a family of 4 for the day.
Although the extra money for food is not much, the extra money for family expenses is more, and now everything has increased. The price of the regular milk box I buy has also increased by 20,000 VND, from 170,000 VND to 190,000 VND.
“My husband and I are both retired civil servants. The current price increase has made our already tight-fisted family life even more difficult,” Ms. Th. added.
Mr. Th., owner of a Hue beef noodle shop on Hung Dao Vuong Street (Ward 1, Vinh Long City), shared that most of the input materials have increased compared to before. A 12kg gas cylinder increased by 40,000 VND, from 280,000 VND to 320,000 VND; beef increased by 10,000-20,000 VND/kg depending on the type, noodles increased by 1,000 VND/kg; spices such as sugar, MSG, cooking oil... all increased; business premises rent increased by 5%/month...
Although everything has increased, he still sells at the same price and accepts to reduce a part of the profit to share the difficulties and retain customers.
Mr. T., owner of a rice shop in Ward 2, Vinh Long City, said that recently all rice products have increased by 1,000-3,000 VND/kg, except for ST rice which has not increased. Low-grade rice such as IR50404 and Ham Chau rice have increased sharply, by more than 4,000 VND/kg.
If a few months ago these two types of rice were only around 11,000 VND/kg, now they are over 15,000 VND/kg. "The restaurants that sell rice from me also complain that everything has increased, pork has increased by 10,000-20,000 VND/kg, industrial chicken has increased... all kinds of fish, shrimp, vegetables, fuel... have all increased", Mr. T. added.
Talking to Mr. Th., a veteran in Loc Hoa commune (Long Ho) said, "The government has just increased pensions, rice prices have also increased, I feel excited because 4 hectares of autumn-winter rice are about to be harvested, I thought my joy would be doubled, but now everything has increased, especially the price of fertilizer has increased, some types have increased by more than 100,000 VND/50kg bag, not to mention pesticides... In fact, everything is the same, from breaking even to losing money", Mr. Th. shared.
Management is needed
It must be recognized that the 20.8% salary increase for civil servants and 12% for retirees is the highest increase ever, and is a great effort by the Government in the context of Vietnam's economy still facing many difficulties.
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| If wages increase but prices of goods also increase, the lives of wage earners and poor workers will not improve. |
This is a very meaningful and necessary job to increase income and improve the lives of workers at the present time...
However, besides the joy, many people are also worried about the problem of “following the flow”, the price of goods increases with wages. If wages increase and the price of goods also increases, the lives of wage earners as well as poor workers will not improve.
This is the concern of many people and families, especially wage earners and poor workers, and they really hope that the State will soon have appropriate measures to control and restrain inflation and prevent prices from increasing according to wages.
Therefore, in order for the salary increase to be truly a complete joy, contributing to improving living standards and encouraging workers to work enthusiastically, people expect agencies to strengthen solutions to curb inflation, stabilize prices along with stabilizing the macro economy, strictly control prices, and strictly handle violations.
Experts say that the State must “take the lead”. For goods under its management, it is necessary to require price declaration and bring prices down to reasonable levels; strengthen the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, banned goods, and counterfeit goods; strictly implement price posting and selling according to posted prices, including in supermarkets, especially in markets, which are currently being laxed.
At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen solutions to control inflation at a reasonable level, stabilize prices, strictly control prices, especially to stop the price increase of essential goods and services; strengthen market inspection and supervision activities in the areas of prices, product quality, food safety regulations, acts of speculation, hoarding, illegal price increases in the area; prepare essential goods and services to meet people's needs; have policies to support people in terms of electricity, water, and house rent prices, etc.
Besides, an equally important solution is to do a good job of communication to solve the psychological problems of society.
The less the impact on people's psychology, the better. Then the above price control solutions will be effective, prices will be stable, ensuring that the annual increase in basic salary is truly meaningful and achieves the desired goal.
Article and photos: HONG THANH (Vinh Long City)
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