“Stability of public finances creates room to handle the difficulties of the economy”

	Mr. Phan Huu Thang, President of the International Investment Research Institute (ISC):Encourage responsible business ventures
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	Mr. Phan Huu Thang, President of the International Investment Research Institute (ISC): Encourage responsible business ventures

How do you evaluate the positive results in the state budget - finance work in 2022?

There are two outstanding points to evaluate the financial - state budget management of the Ministry of Finance in 2022 which are budget revenue and the coordination between fiscal policy and monetary policy.

In 2022, the requirement for the Ministry of Finance in stabilizing fiscal policy is very important, especially in the context that we have just gone through the pandemic, the need for capital to continue supporting businesses to invest and develop, especially resources to ensure recurrent expenditure, development investment spending for economic recovery and development is very big.

Budget revenue in 2022 is expected to exceed the estimate by about 20%. In the difficult context of 2022, the Finance sector made every effort to ensure that the budget revenue exceeds the set estimate. That result is very respectable, making a great contribution to public financial stability and ensuring state budget spending, especially ensuring the budget deficit and public debt within the allowable level.

The biggest achievement of the budget revenue and expenditure in 2022 was to create a foundation to have good room for 2023 in fiscal policy as well as monetary policy.

Dr. Le Duy Binh

The stable public finance pillar has helped the Government, other ministries and sectors have greater flexibility, and have better time and space to handle other difficulties of the economy. For example, the difficult issues of monetary policy when the banks are under great pressure on exchange rates, interest rates, etc. The stability of public finance helped the Government and ministries to be freer to focus on handling the more difficult economic bottlenecks that we faced this year.

This is also a way of mutual support, the smooth coordination between fiscal policy and monetary policy.

In addition to the recognition, there are still concerns about the results of budget revenue in the context that businesses are still facing many difficulties. Could you please tell me your opinion on this matter?

We need to be clear about the results of the budget revenue in 2022. First of all, the budget revenue from the business sector did not increase too much compared to the previous year. Budget revenue in 2022 increased due to more revenue from land and other sources of income. Enterprises might face many difficulties, but the budget revenue here was not entirely from enterprises but also from other sources of revenue. Secondly, not all enterprises had difficulties, the budget revenue showed that a part of Vietnamese enterprises still operated relatively well.

For instance, this year's import-export revenue increased quite strongly, which showed that the real value of the economy created a large source of revenue. Thus, to a certain extent, budget revenue reflected some parts of enterprises having difficulties, but it did not mean that the whole economy and all enterprises were in trouble. Some fields and industries had very good resistance to the difficulties of the economy in general.

In addition, the Finance sector is still trying to implement solutions to support businesses well, not to mention, it also takes advantage of different revenue sources, implements many solutions to prevent budget revenue loss, and improves the efficiency of revenue mobilization. This spirit is not only implemented at the central level but also conveyed to many budget levels in the locality.

In the past year, we had the opportunity to work with localities at the district level, through which, one thing that we felt is the spirit of efforts of localities to ensure that there was no loss in budget revenue, ensured reasonable, fair and transparent revenue. That effort contributed to the increase in budget revenue.

How do you evaluate the role of the Ministry of Finance in administering fiscal policy in 2022?

The advisory role of the Ministry of Finance in implementing fiscal policies to support the economy was evident in 2020, and 2021. After coming into life, by 2022, the policies discussed by the Ministry of Finance were well implemented.

The policies of expanding, postponing, reducing taxes, fees, and reducing land rent to enterprises in many different ways helped many enterprises gradually get rid of difficulties, restore production and business, and return to the market normally. The clearest evidence of the recovery of Vietnamese enterprises was shown in the number of enterprises returning to operation, the number of enterprises continuing to maintain production and business activities as well as the number of goods they supplied to the market, commodity import-export index, industrial and agricultural production index, etc. This is thanks to the great contribution of the State's supportive policies, including the fiscal policy that was carried out regularly from 2020-2021.

In 2022, on the basis of that result, the Finance sector continued to expand and prolong the reduction and delay in paying taxes, fees and charges for businesses.

These policies were highly appreciated by the business community, especially in the context that domestic enterprises have not completely overcome difficulties in terms of liquidity and money sources. Hopefully, the Finance sector will continue to take such timely and flexible support measures.

In policy implementation, there was a very interesting point that the policy of tax reduction, extension and postponement to support businesses was implemented in the fastest and most effective way. Not only in terms of direct benefits, this is also a great spiritual encouragement for businesses in the current context.

What advice do you have for the Ministry of Finance in implementing the state budget - finance work in the coming year?

The Finance sector should continue to maintain and promote the strengths in financial and budget management which were achieved in the past year as well as in previous years. In addition, tax system reform and administrative procedure reform must continue to be a focus.

Although the Finance sector has made great efforts, the support for taxpayers needs to be further promoted. Besides, it is necessary to have measures to support businesses, especially some enterprises that are currently facing difficulties.

Simultaneously, the Finance sector needs to consider solutions to increase disposable income for people. This will soon form more middle class in Vietnam, helping people have a higher average income. Additionally, tax reform for business households and individuals is also an issue that the Ministry of Finance should prioritize.