Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Source: VNA) Last year, total State budget revenueshit 1,094 trillion VND (47.56 billion USD), up 7.8 percent from the estimate.Up to 58 out of 63 localities met budget collection targets despite difficultiescaused by natural disasters across the country and fluctuations in the regionaland world financial market.
The outstanding public debts wereequivalent to 64.73 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and thegovernment debts - 53.62 percent of the GDP, which were within the permissiblelevels.
PM Phuc hailed the financialsector as one of the pioneers in implementing administrative reform andimproving business and investment environment in line with the Government’sResolution 19.
At the same time, the PMexpressed his concern over the high level of public debts and increasingregular expenditures which have put a strain on the State budget, warning thatunless the trend is stopped, the national finance will inevitably collapse.
Legal regulations on taxation,finance and customs remain overlapping and asynchronous, posing difficulties tomanufacturing and trade as well as financial and budget management, he said.
According to the PM, it will bedifficult tasks to achieve the goals of 6.7 percent economic growth, overspendingbelow 3.5 percent of GDP and 4 percent inflation. The Finance Ministry needs towell manage fiscal tools to stabilise the macro-economy while making breakthroughreforms in budget management to reduce overspending and ensure solvency, hesaid.
The PM directed the sector to closelymonitor tax declarations as well as cases of trade fraud and transfer pricingto prevent tax evasion while continuing to exempt and cut agricultural taxes, reviewexisting preferential taxes.
At the same time, the ministrymust crack down on wastefulness and scale down expenditures for conferences andprocurement of expensive assets, he said, adding that personal responsibilityfor causing budget losses must be clarified and violations must be strictly punished,thereby strengthening public trust in the Party and State.
The leader hailed the ministry’s pilotmodel of offering fixed expenditure for transport for government agencies,saying that the sector needs to strive to reduce the number of government-platevehicles which should be auctioned to bring more revenues to the State budget.
However, he pointed out that thebiggest public asset is public offices and land which have not been managedwell and used effectively, thus becoming a hotbed of corruption and vestedinterest, blocking economic growth. He urged research for appropriate methods toeffectively manage and tap this extremely important resource.
The PM also requested that theministry must speed up equitisation and divest from non-core areas in line withapproved plans.-VNA
VNA
