Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung has promised to do away with unnecessary tax filing procedures, starting from mid-September, in order to assist firms during the rest of this year.

According to the World Bank, domestic enterprises waited for 537 hours to have their tax filings done in 2012, Dung revealed, adding that the ministry is working to reduce the processing time to 336 hours.

The minister also vowed to cut one third of formalities in paying social insurance covered by firms, with the processing time expected to be shortened to nearly a half.

To ease bureaucratic delays, the ministry also plans to make changes in personnel training and rotation, he said.

About the milk price stabilisation programme, Dung said the Price Management Department has set ceiling and bottom prices of 503 milk products for children aged below 6 years, both for wholesale and retail purchase.

Over the past time, his ministry has worked closely with the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to better manage the milk market.

The ceiling price of milk products for children less than 6 years old has been applied from June 1.-VNA