Finance sector proactive and pioneering in fiscal policies management for economic growth

	The whole finance sector needs to continue making efforts and focusing on completing tasks
	Finance sector continues to improve the efficiency of anti-corruption
	Finance sector conducts inspections and propose administrative fine of more than VND 40,000 billion in first 6 months

The conference at the Ministry of Finance

Revenue reached VND 875.8 trillion or 54% of the estimate

On the morning of July 13, the Ministry of Finance held a conference to review the state budget - financial work in the first six months of the year and implement tasks for the last six months of 2023. Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai attended and directed the conference.

Attending the conference on the side of the Ministry of Finance was Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc, representatives of leaders of units under the Ministry of Finance. The conference was held online with 62 local video broadcasting points.

According to the Ministry of Finance, in the first six months of 2023, the state budget-financial task was implemented in the context that the economy was trying to overcome the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and faced many new difficulties and challenges arising from the international environment as well as the internal economy.

Domestically, the production and business activities of some enterprises were still difficult, the market narrowed, orders decreased, inventories of the processing and manufacturing industry increased, and it was difficult to access credit sources and capital costs increased.

Deputy Minister of Finance Cao Anh Tuan delivers the opening speech of the Conference

As a result, in the half of the year, the finance earned VND 875.8 trillion or 54% of the estimate, down 7.8% year-on-year (central budget revenue reached 57.1% of the estimate, and local budget reached 50.6% of the estimate).

Of which, domestic revenue decreased 4.7% year-on-year and accounted for 53.9% of the estimate; revenue from crude oil reached 72.9% of the estimate, down 15% year-on-year; revenue from import-export activities reached 52.9% of the estimate, down 20.6% year-on-year.

In the first half of the year, the State spent VND804.6 trillion VND, equaling 38.8% of the estimate. In which, development investment expenditure was estimated at 29.7% of the estimate decided by the National Assembly (disbursement rate reached 28.63% of the plan, reaching 30.49% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister), 43.4%(VND65.2 trillion) higher than it in the same period in 2022; interest payment reached 49.5% of the estimate; recurrent expenditure is at 45.8% of the estimate.

The balance between the central budget and local budgets is ensured. As of June 30, 2023, VND179.9 trillion of government bonds with an average term of 12.23 years and an average interest rate of 3.7%/year were issued.

It is expected that the policies will support people and businesses VND 200 trillion

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai attends and directs the Conference.

In the first six months of the year, the Ministry of Finance submitted to the Government for promulgation Decree No. 12/2023/ND-CP extending the deadline for paying VAT, CIT, PIT, and land rent in 2023; Decree No. 36/2023/ND-CP extending the deadline for paying excise tax for domestically produced cars; Decree No. 41/2023/ND-CP reducing the registration fee by 50% for domestically produced automobiles; Decree No. 44/2023/ND-CP reducing VAT by 2%.

It is expected that the policy packages for tax exemption, reduction, and extension of payment deadline for taxes, fees, charges, and land rents have been and will be issued in 2023 with a support amount of about VND 200 trillion (exemption and reduction of VND 79 trillion; the deferred amount of VND121 trillion). In the first six months, the exempted, reduced, and deferred amounts are estimated at VND70.3 trillion.

Restructuring public debt toward safety and sustainability

In the first half of 2023, the Finance sector has also strengthened management and strict control of public debt and continued to restructure public debt towards safety and sustainability.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance strictly controlled public debt safety indicators, ensuring a safe, sustainable national finance and macroeconomic stability; implemented solutions to continue restructuring public debt; issued long-term government bonds; implemented the restructuring of the Government debt portfolio in line with market conditions and compliance with the provisions of the 2017 Law on Public Debt Management and guiding documents; and making full and timely payment of debts as committed.

The Finance sector has also effectively implemented the national credit rating. In the context of the world’s complicated movements, all three credit rating agencies S&P, Moody's, and Fitch continue to positively assess Vietnam's national credit rating (respectively at BB - development stable outlook; BA2 - stable outlook; BB - positive outlook). These are positive signals, affirming the appreciation of international organizations for the resilience of the economy, the timely promulgation, and effective, flexible, creative implementation of policies of the Government.

Along with that, in the first six months of the year, the Ministry of Finance continued to closely coordinate with ministries, central and local agencies to closely monitor market price movements to promptly advise the Government and the Price Steering Committee to develop solutions to ensure inflation control and macroeconomic stability in the first months of the year and create room for price management and inflation control in the rest of the year. Price management in the first six months of the year closely followed the proposed price management scenario; domestic market prices were stable, the average CPI in the six months rose by 3.29% year-on-year, and core inflation grew by 4.74%.

Regarding the state management of the securities and insurance markets, in the first six months of the year, the stock market's movements tended to recover. By the end of June 30, 2023, VN-Index reached 1,120.18 points, up 11.2% compared to the end of 2022.

Total insurance premium revenue in the first six months is estimated at about VND117 trillion, down 1.6% year-on-year; total assets reached rose 12.2% to VND 868.7 trillion; investment back into the economy reached VND725.1 trillion, up 14.76%; insurance benefit payment is estimated at VND 35.7 trillion, up 25.1%.

Striving to achieve and exceed the estimate

Assessing the limitations and difficulties, the Ministry of Finance said that the state budget revenue in the first six months of the year decreased compared to the same period. Some revenues and taxes (land use levy, environmental protection tax, income from import and export activities) and state budget revenue in some localities have been low, affecting the implementation of expenditures according to estimates and budget balance in some localities.

It is forecast that the budget collection will still have many difficulties and challenges. From now until the end of the year, the Ministry of Finance will focus on implementing fiscal policy solutions to support the economy and remove difficulties for businesses and people, and strive to achieve the set economic growth target in 2023.

At the same time, the Ministry of Finance will drastically perform the tasks of collection and spending, strictly control overspending according to the estimate decided by the National Assembly; strive to achieve and exceed the estimate decided by the National Assembly, offset the decrease in revenue due to the implementation of policies on tax exemption, reduction, extension of payment deadline of taxes and fees to support the economy.

The Finance sector will also make efforts and determination to overcome all difficulties and challenges to successfully complete the financial tasks - State budget in 2023 at the highest level, actively contributing to completing the tasks of the socio-economic development plan in 2023, creating a solid foundation to complete the goals of the five-year socio-economic development plan for the 2021-2025 period.