Vietnam fiscal deficit lower than projected

By Quynh Trang January 9, 2021 | 06:15 pm PT

An employee counts Vietnamese banknotes at a bank in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy.

The fiscal deficit last year was 4 percent of GDP as against the government’s expectation of 5.59 percent amid falling revenues due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Revenues fell 2 percent short of the target to VND1,500 trillion ($64.9 billion), while the expenditure was VND1,780 trillion, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said at a meeting on Friday.

Nguyen Duc Kien, head of the prime minister’s advisory team, noted that the deficit of most countries would rise in 2020 due to the pandemic, and Vietnam, although falling short of this target, was "a bright spot" in the global context.

The Ministry of Finance last year issued government bonds and did not borrow from multilateral organizations such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

In 2016-20 the average government overspending was 3.6 percent of GDP, well below the target of 3.9 percent.