Minister stresses flexible combination of fiscal, monetary policies

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

As the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted to linger and affect the State budget revenue as well as spending on the pandemic combat, it is necessary to flexibly combine fiscal and monetary policies to keep macro-economic stability, said Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, Phoc said the Ministry of Finance (MoF) suggested the Government propose the National Assembly allocate 10 trillion VND (over 439 million USD) in the health sector’s frequent expenditure from the 2022 central budget for COVID-19 prevention and control.

It also recommended 20.5 trillion VND from the central budge reserve (about 2.5 percent of the total central budget spending) and 1.7 trillion VND from the national reserve be earmarked for the COVD-19 fight, settlement of disaster consequences, epidemic prevention and control, along with other important tasks.

The MoF will base on the pandemic situation to use those resources from the central budget and combine them with legal financial sources of localities to meet demand in reality, the minister said.

He noted to achieve the twin targets of combating the pandemic and developing the economy, closely combining fiscal and monetary policies is all the more important so as to guarantee resources for the COVID-19 fight and social security, and cut down input costs for production and business activities.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc (Photo: VNA)

Regarding fiscal policies, relevant agencies have exempted, reduced, or extended repayment deadlines of tax, fee, land rent, and others in order to help enterprises, households, and inpiduals doing business minimise expenses and sustain activities.

Many monetary and credit solutions have also been carried out such as reducing lending interest rates and providing concessional loans to help businesses pay salary to workers, channeling credit into priority fields, and strictly controlling credit for high-risk sectors.

In addition, some fiscal policies have been implemented to give cash assistance to workers and provide indirect aid for employers, Phoc went on.

Apart from the restructuring of the State budget and public debt, appropriate monetary and foreign exchange rate policies have helped develop the Government bond market, thus mobilising considerable resources for the State budget, according to the official./.