The direction is part of the various measures that Phuc in his directive released Monday wanted the country’s finance and national budget systems to carry out to help achieve the proposed socio-economic goals this year.
The NA in January this year passed a resolution to target collection of VND1,015 trillion (nearly $45 billion) to the state budget in 2016, up 3 percent from $43.7 billion last year. The legislators also allowed spending from the state budget this year to reach VND1,273 trillion, about VND258 trillion higher than the expected collection.
“The Ministry of Finance keeps close tabs on the economic situation and crude oil prices, and implement measures to ensure the balance of the state budget,” the Prime Minister said. He asked the ministry not to change policies which may affect the collection of state budget. The Finance Ministry was also ordered to assess the implications of the signed free trade agreements to the state budget collection and propose ways to relieve possible affects.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Photo by VnExpress |
The ministry was told to direct its tax and customs officials to strengthen efforts to collect taxes and tax debts, combat smuggling, trade frauds and tax evasion. The customs officials were also asked to closely check the certificates of origin for imported goods which enjoy low duty under the free trade agreements.
The Prime Minister also directed the Ministry of Finance to propose measures to enhance the management of the public capital and public assets and seek ways to use them effectively for the country’s development. In addition, Phuc asked the ministry to boost the share sales in state-owned enterprises and collect sufficient dividends from the government’s shares in the companies managed by other ministries, government agencies and local governments.
On May 19, the Ministry of Finance asked the State Bank of Vietnam to tell representatives of state ownership in two leading commercial banks, VietinBank and Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), to pay the government’s 2015 dividends in cash to the state budget. VietinBank shareholders have approved a plan not to pay a 2015 dividend while BIDV shareholders have agreed to get a share dividend of 8.5 percent for 2015. The government currently has 64.46 percent stake in VietinBank and 95.28 percent in BIDV. According to an estimate from the Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corp., if VietinBank pays a share dividend of 8 percent and BIDV 8.5 percent, the state budget this year will be added by VND4.6 trillion ($203 million) from the government’s ownership in these banks.
The provincial and municipal governments in the country were asked to try to increase the collection value to the state budget this year in their respective locations by minimum 14 percent-16 percent compared with last year, according to the directive.
The companies which the government has full ownership were directed to contribute all their remaining profit, after allocating part of the profit to their legal funds, to the state budget. They are not allowed to retain the profit to add to their charter capital this year.