Vietnam Deputy PM Urges to Ensure Capital for Cement, Shipbuilding Industries
Deputy Prime Minister Honag Trung Hai has urged a series of measures to address capital shortage for cement and shipbuilding industries while he chaired a meeting in Hanoi July 22, state media reported.
Deputy PM Hai demanded commercial banks and cement project investors to quickly negotiate loan rates in order to ensure sufficient capital for the industry&rsquos key projects, the Nhan Dan (The People) newspaper said.
He noted with existing and would-be cement plants, the supply may surpass the demand in 2009-2010 so the cement industry must cut investment in some projects prior to the current capital difficulties.
The Deputy PM also instructed the Vinashin Business Group to list export projects and key projects for banks to consider and provide enough capital for the implementation of the projects.
He said despite tightening credit growth to curb inflation, cement &ndash an input material for the construction and shipbuilding &ndash export must be prioritized for investment in order to ensure the country&rsquos economic growth.
In the first half this year, Vietnam&rsquos cement demand increased by 11 per cent on-year and consumption was 7.8 million tons, representing 101 per cent of the yearly target. The industry put into operation five new cement plants in the period.
Meanwhile, the shipbuilding&rsquos industrial production value reached VND18.145 trillion, up 86.59 per cent on-year. It also exported cargo vessels of 53,000DWT and 34,000 DWT, timber vessels of 8,700 DWT, oil tankers of 13,000DWT and 700-TEU containers. (Local sources)
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