The State Audit of Vietnam on Feb. 9 made public its audit plan for this year, with a focus on issues related to land use management, mining and social security.

Under the plan, auditing State budget spending will be the top priority, followed by projects funded by official development assistance (ODA). The audit will also cover management and use of capital allocated from the budget to State-owned enterprises and financial and banking organisations.

"The focus dovetails with the requirements of the National Assembly and the Government for restructuring the economy," said National Assembly Economic Committee Vice Chairman Mai Xuan Hung.

Hung pointed out that land use-related violations and indiscriminate mining have weakened the economy and need to be audited as a basis for measures to improve the situation prior to upcoming amendments to the Land Law.

This year, the State Audit plans to carry out 155 audits, an increase of 2.6 percent over last year, with 11 new special areas, including poverty reduction programmes and electricity subsidies to the poor.

The State Audit has also targeted to raise the quality of auditing and to provide the Government an exact and comprehensive picture of the economy, said Deputy State Auditor General Le Minh Khai.

Last year, the State Audit conducted 151 audits, saving the State over 4.8 trillion VND (228.6 million USD).

The audit findings of last year, with a focus on electricity rates and use of the petrol price stabilisation fund, are expected to be published at the middle of this year after approved by the National Assembly, Khai said. /.