Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc. (Photo: VNA) Initially, theministry will focus on effectively implementing the policy to reduce thevalue added tax (VAT) by 2% as applied in 2023 on a number of goods and servicegroups subject for 10% VAT that was approved by the 15th National Assembly at its 6th session, the minister told the Vietnam News Agency.
He said that the ministry will submit to the Government a proposal to issue adecree detailing the 2% VAT reduction policy, thus promptly bring the policy intolife. The cost for this policy is estimated at 25 trillion VND (1.02 billionUSD).
At the same time, the ministry will propose the NA Standing Committee tocontinue to apply the policy to reduce the environmental protection tax rateson gasoline, oil, and lubricants as applied in 2023, said the minister, addingthat this policy may cause a drop of about 42.5 trillion VND in the State budget.
The MoF also plans to issue a circular on fees and charges to encourage the useof online public services with a reduction from 10% to 50%, expecting toprovide support to the people and businesses with about 100 billion VND per year,he said.
Besides, the MoF will continue to speed up all-round reformand modernisation, while coordinating with relevant agencies to review exportand import tax rates to support domestic production and business activities, andcreating a favourable and equal business and investment environment, ensuringthe sustainability of the economy, said Phoc.
The minister underlined that in 2024, the financial sector’stasks are heavy, including State budget collection of 1.7 quadrillion VND, Statebudget expenditure of 2.1 quadrillion VND and State budget deficit of 399.4trillion VND, equivalent to about 3.6% of the country’s GDP. This requires thesector to ensure the proper deployment of fiscal policies to promote economicgrowth, ensure macro-economic stability, rein in inflation and protecting thenational financial safety at the same time. Therefore, the level of policy relaxationneeds to be carefully calculated and considered to achieve the above goals, inwhich, macroeconomic stability and inflation control are still considered toppriorities, said Phoc.
The ministry will strive to give accurate forecasts on the world and domesticsituation on fiscal policy. It will also look at legal policies regarding Statebudget collection and spending, ensuring a stable financial sector, and strictly handle violations, hesaid.
The minister stressed that in the coming time, the ministrywill concentrate on implementing finance-budget tasks during the upcoming LunarNew Year, making sure that production and business activities are implemented smoothlybefore, during and after the holidays./.
VNA
