Finance minister vows continued substantive reforms

Hanoi (VNA) – Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung promised to push forward with substantive reforms at a session on August 26 with a working group assigned by the Prime Minister.

The working group, led by Minister - Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung, examined the implementation of tasks and instructions given to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) by the Government and the PM.

Mai Tien Dung said PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc recognised strong reforms carried out by the finance ministry. The finance minister also showed the high resolve to accelerate customs and taxation reforms.

The PM, however, said there are still problems with the organisation of task implementation as businesses continue to complain about the performance of staff members, especially at lower levels.

Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung said his ministry considers law and institution building as the leading task. It has continually paid attention to administrative procedure reforms and modernising management methods.

During the 2011-2016 tenure, the MoF built 16 laws and four resolutions for the National Assembly (NA), three resolutions for the NA Standing Committee, 99 decrees, 108 Prime Minister’s decisions, and 1,099 circulars.

The minister admitted that the ministry has not fulfilled five out of the 170 tasks assigned by the PM. He accepted responsibility for the sluggishness and promised stronger efforts, particularly in building a draft decree on preventing transfer pricing.

Meanwhile, Minister-Chairman Mai Tien Dung also admitted shortcomings in the Government Office’s performance. He said the Government Office will actively work with the MoF to remove bottlenecks in the coordination among the office and ministries.-VNA