Vietnamese government says “interest groups” do not dictate budget policy

By Toan Dao   July 3, 2016 | 03:30 am PT
Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has said the government does not allow “interest groups” to manipulate policies in national budget collection and spending, the government portal reported on Saturday.

Hue made the statement while addressing a conference held by the Ministry of Finance, where he said the country was facing a budget deficit.

Vietnam ran a budget deficit of VND85.7 trillion ($3.79 billion) in the first half of this year, the deputy prime minister said. Budget revenue in the first six months reached VND476.8 trillion, equal to 47 percent of the target for this year, while budget spending over the period stood at VND562.5 trillion, accounting for 44.2 percent of the target for 2016.

“We need to strengthen discipline and ethics in public services so that government departments and agencies can coordinate to manage the national budget. Policies for budget collection and spending must not be manipulated by ‘interest groups’,” Hue said.

vietnamese-government-says-interest-groups-do-not-dictate-budget-policy

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue at the meeting on July 2. Photo by VGP/Thanh Chung

The deputy prime minister called on the Ministry of Finance and other government agencies to effectively deal with tax fraud, closely look into tax exemptions, reductions and refunds, and not to allow “interest groups” to interfere in tax policies.

This is the second time in just 10 days that the government has warned about “interest groups”. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, while chairing a meeting on policy making on June 23, said the government will not allow "interest groups" to manipulate policies, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

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