Continuing to review to adjust excise tax and VAT on gasoline

	More solutions needed to support enterprises when costs are high
	Why did excise tax on petroleum not adjust?
	Over 1,000 customs offences handled in May

Photo: Nguyen Thanh

The Government Office issued Notice 209 on the conclusions of Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai, Head of the Steering Committee for Price Management, at the meeting on price management in the first month of 2022 and the orientation of price management in the last six months of 2022.

Develop appropriate and flexible policies and plans

Price management in the first half of the year is under a lot of pressure in inflation control, but motivated by the drastic direction of the Government, the Prime Minister, the Head of the Steering Committee for Price Management and the active implementation of ministries, central and local agencies, and appropriate solutions were developed and inflation was under the control according to the set target.

However, in the last six months of 2022, the world has continued to face complicated and unpredictable economic and geo-political situation, including the impact of adjustments to monetary policies from loosening to tightening of many countries, which will affect the domestic exchange rate and potential risks from the pandemic, natural disasters, storms and floods, etc. This may cause difficulties for production and business activities and the supply chain of goods and services, putting great pressure on the price level.

Therefore, the price management from now to the end of the year must be strengthened. Ministries, central and local agencies must focus on controlling the situation, studying, evaluating, and offering suitable solutions in accordance with the conditions and allowable rooms

Following the guiding documents from the beginning of the year on price management in 2022, the Steering Committee for Price Management, ministries, central and local agencies should actively update the situation and implement solutions offered by the Government, the Prime Minister, the Steering Committee flexibly, quickly and effectively, contributing to keeping the average CPI within the target set by the National Assembly.

Ministries and agencies in charge of essential goods and services must regularly monitor and promptly take solutions to ensure the balance of domestic supply and demand, avoid shortages or hoarding of goods and services, speculation and unreasonable price increase and encourage local consumption of some items to reduce transportation costs.

The State Bank of Vietnam should proactively provide flexible monetary policies in coordination with fiscal policies, and other macroeconomic policies, to control inflation and develop an appropriate policy for foreign exchange market management to stabilize the currency value, ensure the domestic legal foreign currency demand; offer reasonable policies on interest rate and credit management; and inspect and strictly handle acts of hoarding and manipulating the foreign currency market.

The Ministry of Finance, as the standing body of the Steering Committee for Price Management, closely monitors the general situation and propose appropriate, flexible and timely policies and plans, especially for goods and services which have a great impact on the price level and continues to review adjustments to the excise tax and VAT on gasoline, carefully evaluating the impact on the state budget to prepare responding plans.

The People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall, according to their local state management functions, develop solutions to manage and stabilize the market, and examine the price-forming factors when there are unusual fluctuations. They shall also closely monitor the price movement of construction materials for timely notification; strengthen the inspection against cross-border petrol and oil smuggling when the domestic petrol price is lower than that of other countries in the region; and strictly handle violations of the law in order to stabilize prices, and the market’s supply and demand.

The Ministry of Information and Communications will work with ministries, central and local agencies to continue focusing on information, communication, transparency of price information to control expected inflation; and prevent false information causing confusion to consumers and market instability.

Electricity price should not be increased

For specific goods, ministries shall coordinate with the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities according to their competence, implement price stabilization measures as prescribed; focus on removing difficulties for production and business in order to fully prepare the supply of goods and services to meet consumer demand, and facilitate the circulation and distribution of goods and services. In case of large fluctuations, the ministries, based on the provisions of the Law on Prices, shall propose appropriate price stabilization measures.

For goods and services priced by the State, ministries shall continue the approved plan, for goods and services of which prices are expected to be adjusted in the near future, it is necessary to carefully consider plans and assess the impact on the price level and inflation control target to have a specific management plan and submit it to the competent authorities.

For electricity products, in the immediate future, it should not increase the electricity price, but under the pressure of increasing prices of input materials, it is necessary to save costs and solve problems related to the cost of keeping electricity prices stable.

The ministries should; continue to monitor the situation; take the initiative in the management to ensure that the domestic petroleum supply on the basis of assessing the ability of domestic supply and imported source; closely monitor world price movements, in order to have an appropriate plan for managing domestic gasoline prices; and research to build a policy to support fishermen affected by gasoline prices.

Regarding transportation charges and construction materials, the Ministry of Transport shall continue to monitor and understand the situation, strengthen inspection and supervision on the declaration and listing of prices and the selling of tickets at the listed price for transport operators; review price increase that must be consistent with the movement and structure of petrol and oil costs in transportation costs.

The Ministry of Construction will coordinate with ministries, sectors and localities to strengthen inspection of mines of construction land, stone and sand to strictly handle acts of profiteering, speculation, hoarding, and unreasonable price increases to ensure the construction progress of national key projects.

Extending deadline for VAT payment, corporate income tax and personal income tax 2022 VCN - Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai signed Decree No. 34/2022/ND-CP dated May 28, 2022 on ...