Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: Will consider and balance to calculate salary increase sooner

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Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh spoke to explain and clarify a number of issues raised by National Assembly deputies. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his emotion at the responsible and intellectual contributions of the National Assembly deputies over the past two days. The deputies contributed many sincere and frank opinions, expressing their encouragement to the political system, including the Government, the people, the business system, etc., to make efforts to develop the country.
According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, over the past 5 years, right in the assessment at the beginning of the year and the beginning of the term, difficulties and challenges were identified intertwined with opportunities and advantages, but difficulties and challenges were still greater. Vietnam is a developing country with a transitional economy , a modest economic scale, and high openness. However, the past 5 years have proven that the managed economy is resilient enough to withstand external "shocks". We have stabilized the macro-economy, controlled inflation, promoted growth, and ensured major balances of the economy. The labor market has responded to the transformation, public debt has decreased, and the budget deficit is lower than the National Assembly's assignment and lower than previous terms. People's lives have improved, the happiness index has increased 39 places compared to the beginning of the term, and national defense and security potential has been strengthened...
Sharing that this term must resolve many backlogs, the Prime Minister said the most important thing is that 12 long-term loss-making projects have been basically resolved, many projects have become effective and profitable again; 4 weak banks and SCB bank have also been resolved during the term. The Prime Minister also stated: With nearly 3,000 backlog projects that need to be resolved, the Government has classified them; of which more than 2,000 projects are under the authority of the Government, ministries, branches and localities; the remaining 500 - 600 projects must be reported to competent authorities, including the National Assembly.
According to the Prime Minister, public investment has contributed to promoting growth. The National Assembly and the Government have recently resolved many difficulties and institutional problems. In particular, General Secretary To Lam has given instructions to promote public investment disbursement.
Will balance to increase salary sooner
At the meeting in the past 2 days, a National Assembly delegate proposed to adjust the basic salary from January 1, 2026; saying that this will contribute to ensuring the lives of salary earners and attract talented people to work in State agencies. The Prime Minister said that according to the plan, the salary increase will be implemented in July 2026, but will consider, balance, and ask for opinions from competent authorities, including the National Assembly, to calculate the salary increase earlier.
In this term, the National Assembly also supports having a suitable expenditure estimate, focusing first on three things. These are human expenditure, regular expenditure, and operational expenditure. We must ensure human expenditure, expenditure for the operation of the apparatus; we must ensure national defense potential to maintain independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, political stability, and social order and safety. "We must ensure social security. We must not sacrifice fairness, social progress, or social security to pursue mere growth," said the Prime Minister.
Regarding the direction and tasks for 2026, the target of 8% growth or more, double-digit growth in the next period, the Prime Minister stated that this is a big challenge but we are confident that we have enough basis and solutions to realize this goal. Emphasizing "in difficulty comes wisdom", "turning nothing into something, turning difficult into easy, turning the impossible into possible", Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that in reality we have proven this. Sharing about new growth drivers, the Prime Minister stated his views on development based on three very important factors: people, nature and cultural and historical traditions.
Emphasizing human resources, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that recently the Politburo has issued resolutions on education, health care, population work... The second factor is nature. Traditional resources are limited, but in the open sea, underground, and outer space, there are still great opportunities.
Agreeing with many delegates who have mentioned that to exploit this natural resource, "we must master science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation", the Prime Minister said and emphasized the goal of Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW dated December 22, 2024 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation, and national digital transformation to mobilize resources and strength from the people and from businesses to develop science and technology. Good macroeconomic policies are a driving force for growth, towards a green economy, a digital economy, and a creative economy. All are implemented on the viewpoint of "a creative state, pioneering businesses, public and private sector working together, a rich and strong country, and happy people" - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed.