Hanoi (VNA) – In 2022, the Ministry of Finance will continue to study, propose and promptly implement policies on budget collection and spending to support those severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a new impetus for socio-economic recovery and development.
This is also the focus of the plan to implement state budget-financial tasks in 2022 shared by Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc in an interview with VietnamPlus e-newspaper on the occasion of the Lunar New Year (Tet).
Removing bottlenecks in mechanism
In 2021, the country faced many new difficulties and challenges, especially the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, but under the drastic leadership and direction of the Government, agencies at all levels, sectors and localities and with the support, sharing and active participation of people of all strata and the business community, Vietnam reached an economic growth 2.58%, with major balances ensured and state budget collection and spending tasks achieving and exceeding the set targets.
However, the financial sector recognizes that the Vietnamese economy will continue to face difficulties from the pandemic, which sees new complicated variants. The global economy still encounters many risks such as high inflation, energy crisis, macro instability from China's economy, asset bubbles, tightened monetary policies in the US and other countries. These factors will affect Vietnam's economy, Phoc noted.
At a meeting between the Finance Ministry’s Working Group 5 and six localities on speeding up public investment in 2021 (Photo: VNA)
Therefore, economic recovery and development is a very important task that requires the coordination of many ministries and agencies to remove obstacles in terms of mechanism and policy and provide support measures for businesses and people.
On that basis, the ministry sets the goal of successfully completing the tasks assigned by the Party, the National Assembly and the Government with a focus on mobilizing and allocating resources for socio-economic recovery and development. Accordingly, it will concentrate on building and perfecting institutions and policies on finance and state budget, streamlining the organizational structure for effective and efficient operation, and accelerating administrative reform and digital government building.
Along with that, the ministry will effectively manage state budget spending in 2022 following the estimate, mobilise resources for the COVID-19 fight, economic recovery, and response to emergencies such as natural disasters and epidemics; closely manage the state budget deficit; control public debt and provisional debt obligations of the state budget, debts of local governments.
Besides, the ministry will carry out measures to ensure the sustainable development and safe operation of financial markets and financial services; implement market-based price management; promote equal competition among all economic sectors; boost restructuring, equitization and divestment of state capital in enterprises; enhance inspection and supervision, and ensure publicity and transparency in the management of state budget revenues and expenditures, public assets, land and natural resources; actively and proactively integrate into international finance and improve the efficiency of foreign relations.
The General Department of Taxation organizes a conference to launch the e-invoice system on November 21, 2021 (Photo: VNA)
Tax-related support measures continue to be taken
In the context of the complicated developments of the COVID-19, in order to have more resources for the State to implement the economic recovery programme, ensure national defence and security, social security and finance pandemic control activities, the Ministry of Finance will direct the whole sector to make every effort to successfully fulfill the state budget collection tasks in 2022 assigned by the National Assembly and the Government.
Accordingly, one of the key solutions is operating the fiscal policy proactively in combination with the monetary policy and other policies to stabilize the macro-economy and control inflation, ensuring the major balances of the economy. In addition, the ministry will continue to complete and submit to the competent authorities tax support solutions in the socio-economic recovery and development programme to help businesses and people stabilize and restore production and business, thus promoting socio-economic development and creating stable state budget revenues.
In 2022, the ministry will implement tax-related administrative reform, simplify business conditions, and promote the electronicization of tax management nationwide in all stages. In addition, it will focus on promptly removing difficulties for businesses and further improve the business environment, thereby creating favourable conditions for businesses to develop stably and quickly restore production and business activities right after the epidemic is controlled.
In 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Finance closely managed and controlled state budget revenues and expenditures; proactively developed management plans to balance the state budgets at all levels, prioritizing resources for COVID-19 prevention and control, ensuring social security, stabilizing people's lives, and supporting economic recovery.
Regarding state budget collection, the ministry proactively proposed competent authorities make adjustments to fiscal policies to remove difficulties and support businesses, households, and people. As a result, in 2021, about 119.4 trillion VND of taxes, charges, fees and land rents was exempted, reduced and extended to support businesses, business households and people to overcome difficulties caused by the pandemic.
Motivated by the fiscal policy solutions, combined with monetary and other economic policies, the effective control of the pandemic from the end of September 2021 and the implementation of Government's Resolution 128 dated October 11, 2021 promulgating the temporary regulation on "Safe and flexible adaptation to and effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic”, the total state budget revenue in 2021 was estimated at 1,523.4 trillion VND, exceeding 13.4% of the estimate./.
