Measures to increase State budget collection vary: official

Multiple solutions could increase State budget collection to make up for the central budget deficit of over 31 trillion VND (1.39 billion USD), said Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai at the monthly press conference of the Government in Hanoi on October 29.

She explained that the shortfall mainly stemmed from the plunging prices of crude oil. The Ministry of Finance would direct tax and customs agencies to recover special consumption tax debts, which could reach 34 trillion VND (1.53 billion USD).

Curbing ministries’ and localities’ expenses could help, she said.

From the outset of this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued a directive asking ministries and localities to reduce their expenditures by 10 percent, she noted.

In the light of the global economic downturn, State budget collection has seen improvements, with domestic collections accounting for 74 percent of the budget collection proportion.

Revenue collection from State-run agencies, foreign investors and domestic manufacturers is increasing, while that of crude oil and import-export is declining, Mai added.

The State budget collection for 2015 is estimated at over 911 trillion VND (nearly 41 billion USD), surpassing the previous year by 16.4 trillion VND (73 million USD).

According to Chairman of the Government Office Nguyen Van Nen, State budget collection should increase by 103 trillion VND (4.6 billion USD) next year to over 1 quadrillion VND (46 billion USD).-VNA