Hanoi (VNA) - To provide resources ♛to implement fiscal policies supporting the socio-economic recovery and developm♊ent programme, the National Assembly has approved increasing State budget overspending in 2022-2023 by 1-1.2% of GDP per year on average (to a maximum of 240 trillion VND or 10.35 billion USD).

The closing session of the first extraordinary session of the 15th National Assembly. (Photo: VNA) With 424 out of 426 votes in favour, the National Assembly approved Resolution No. 43/2022/QH15 on fiscal and monetary policies supporting the socio-economic recovery and development programme on January 11 in Hanoi. The resolution aims to revitalise and develop production and business activities, promote growth momentum, and strive for an annual GDP growth rate of 6.5-7% in the 2021-2025 period. Public debts are set to be below the warning levels allowed by the NA in Resolution No. 23/2021/QH15, while the unemployment rate in urban areas is below 4%. The Resolution stresses the need to maintain macroeconomic stability and ensure major balances in the medium and long term. The Resolution emphasises reducing costs, supporting capital flow, ensuring proactivity and creating favourable conditions for businesses, economic organisations and people; effectively preventing and controlling COVID-19; ensuring social security and the lives of the people, especially the workers, the poor, the vulnerable, and those severely affected by the pandemic; and maintaining national defence, security, social order and safety. In 2022, value-added tax (VAT) on goods and services subject to a 10% rate will be reduced by 2% to 8%, except for telecommunication services, information technology, financial activities, banking, securities, insurance, real estate business, metal, coal and chemical production, and goods and services subject to a special tax. The Resolution allows donations and sponsors made by enterprises and organizations for COVID-19 prevention and control activities in Vietnam to be included in deductible expenses when calculating taxable corporate income for the taxation period of 2022. Spending on development investment from the State budget will be increased to a maximum of 176 trillion VND, focusing on 2022 and 2023. Specifically, up to 14 trillion VND will be invested to build, upgrade and modernize the grassroots-level health system, preventive medicine, and regional disease control centres; improve disease prevention and control capacity of central-level hospitals in association with training and improve the quality of human resources in the health sector; and produce COVID-19 vaccines and treatment drugs at home. The National Assembly gave the nod to provide the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies with a maximum of 5 trillion VND to fund social security, labour and employment support activities. Another 3,150 billion VND will be spent on building, renovating, upgrading and modernising vocational training sites and social support establishments. About 6.6 trillion VND from increasing central budget revenue and reducing budget spending in 2021 will be allocated for housing rental support for employees who have labour relations, are living in boarding houses or working in industrial and export processing zones and key economic regions. The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies will have the government's guarantee limit for bonds issued domestically raised to a maximum of 38.4 trillion VND to provide loans in support of job creation, students, non-public preschool and primary education institutions, individuals looking to buy, rent-purchase social houses, build or repair houses according to the policy on social housing; implementation of the national target programme on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the period of 2021-2030. The 15th National Assembly convened the last sitting of its first extraordinary session in the afternoon of January 11 to pass the draft Law on amendments and supplements to several articles of the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Public-Private Partnership, the Investment Law, the Bidding Law, the Electricity Law, the Enterprise Law, the Law on Special Consumption Tax, and the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments. Legislators also voted on an investment policy for the Eastern North-South Expressway project for 2021-2025; a draft Resolution on piloting several specialised mechanisms for the development of Can Tho city; and the Resolution of the first extraordinary session./.