Stable national finance will expand fiscal policy space

The Ministry of Finance collecting opinions to ensure the promulgation of resolution on tax support in time

Tran Van Lam, Deputy Head of the Bac Giang Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Member of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee.

The 15th-tenure National Assembly’s sixth session is a mid-term session to review the work performance. How do you assess the administration of the Finance sector?

The macroeconomic factors of the economy show stability. Currently, we have implemented national financial plans and achieved better results than expected in both revenue collection and expenditure. Major balances are guaranteed; public debt is controlled within a safety level; national debt is much lower than the level allowed by the National Assembly. This will support economic growth in the following two years.

Notably, the State revenue has greatly exceeded over the past years. In 2022, the revenue surpassed over VND400,000 billion. Although the country and the world face many difficulties in this year, the State revenue is expected to achieve the target. The result also has the contribution of revenue collection agencies such as Taxation and Customs.

The state expenditure has followed the plan. However, the public investment expenditure still suffers from difficulties; some recurrent expenditures have not been disbursed... Therefore, public investment needs to be accelerated; especially since the value of public investment disbursement for five years 2021-2025 is very high, requiring continued attention to remove obstacles to promote public investment.

However, motivated by the current financial status, voters should not worry. The matter is how to use the investment effectively. A stable national finance may expand fiscal policy space and balance resources to support economic development. In the coming time, we will have enough resources for salary and expenditures for many years. Furthermore, the effective revenue collection has ensured sufficient resources to implement supportive policies for economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. It will not increase overspending and will lower the overspending rate compared with the level set by the National Assembly.

The Government targets that the state revenue estimate in 2024 will increase by about 5% compared to the estimate in 2023 to give priority to development investment. What do you think about this target?

The 5% increase in the State revenue estimates is quite positive. The Government forecasts economic growth in 2024 at 6-6.5%, the increase in state revenue should be equivalent to economic growth, but we need to take into account the characteristics of the State budget. The revenue from the economy accounts for a large proportion but is not absolute, including many revenues that do not depend on growth factors such as revenue from land, and crude oil... The target is based on growth forecasts for each sector of the economy.

Therefore, I think that the Government (the key authority as the Ministry of Finance) has developed a relatively positive estimate to strive to follow the economic growth target.

In your opinion, a series of fiscal policies have been issued to support businesses and implemented in the economy, how are these policies widely applied?

As I mentioned above, thanks to the financial stability, we have sufficient resources to implement policies to support and stimulate growth as well as implement large-scale public investment plans, and conduct many reformed expenditures for education, health care, and culture, ensuring national security and defense, creating overall macroeconomic stability, not only in the financial sector but also in the major balances of the economy.

Policies on the reduction of taxes, fees, and charges for some sectors are very necessary, creating a driving force for economic growth and development. Currently, the Government proposes to continue reducing Value Added Tax, the Ministry of Finance also asks to continue reducing Environmental Protection Tax on gasoline, oil, and lubricants, so it will contribute to supporting the market.

However, the policies to support businesses and the economy need to be consistent with other solutions of ministries and sectors. Currently, the private sector should have solutions to stimulate both supply and demand. Regarding demand, we have issued a number of stimulus policies. Regarding supply, there must be solutions to support production, such as preferential interest rates and more favorable access to capital. Businesses also need to be supported on cost to reduce input costs and compliance costs, increase market approach, and diversify export markets...

Thank you so much!