Minister Ho Duc Phoc: Advising on solutions to maintain macroeconomic stability is a very important task

	Mobilizing resources for socio-economic recovery and development in 2022
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Minister Ho Duc Phoc speaks at the meeting

State collects VND323.8 trillion and spends VND228.2 trillion

State budget revenue in the first two months of 2022 rose 10.8% year-on-year to VND323.8 trillion, or 22.9% of the target, reported the Ministry of Finance.

In terms of State budget management, by the end of February 2022, the whole tax system carried out 3,774 inspections, examined 25,767 tax declaration dossiers at tax offices; and proposed handling VND3,484.65 billion through inspections and examinations.

Of which, the total additional tax amount collected through inspections and examinations was VND848.58 billion; the deduction was VND129.75 billion; and the reduced loss was VND2,506.32 billion. The total tax payment to the state budget was VND505.54 billion.

By the end of February 2022, Customs has carried out 11 inspections (10 specialized inspections and one internal inspection). The total amount of tax arrears proposed was VND7.107 billion, of which the arrears tax was VND6.756 billion and the administrative fine was VND351 million. Almost VND10,959 billion was remitted to the State budget.

Along with that, the Customs sector conducted 103 inspections at customs declarants’ headquarters and 65 at the customs offices. The total amount of tax assessment and administrative penalties was VND 30,913 billion, and VND 49,052 billion was paid to the State budget.

At the same time, the customs sector assumed the prime responsibility for and coordinated with other authorities to handle 896 cases of violation with infringing goods worth more than VND661 billion and paid to the State budget VND16,815 billion.

The Ministry of Finance also said that the state budget expenditure tasks in the first two months of the year were implemented according to the estimate, meeting the needs of socio-economic development, national defense, security, state management, payment of due debts, Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control, timely payment of social security benefits, and creating favorable conditions for people to celebrate the traditional Lunar New Year.

Creating momentum for budget collection

At the meeting, Director General of the General Department of Customs Nguyen Van Can said the State budget revenue from import and export in February recorded VND28 trillion – a low revenue due to the Tet holiday; import-export turnover reached only US$48 billion. However, the budget revenue in the first two months from import and export still reached more than VND69 trillion.

Regarding the combat against smuggling and trade fraud, in the first two months of 2022, the Customs took nine cases to court and proposed prosecution for 18 cases, focusing on cases of smuggling and trade fraud of drugs and medicines, electronics, petroleum through the form of temporary import for re-export.

At the meeting, the head of customs authority also proposed to the leaders of the Ministry of Finance on a number of issues related to hiring IT services of Customs; and solutions to remove cargo congestion at the Chinese border.

Mr. Cao Anh Tuan, Director of the General Department of Taxation, said that the budget revenue in the first two months of 2022 reached more than VND279 trillion or 23% of the estimate. Domestic revenue recorded growth with 11 of 19 revenues reaching over 20% of the estimate.

In March, the tax office will strive to achieve positive results in budget revenue to create momentum for budget collection in the following months.

Mr. Tuan also said that although the budget revenue in the first two months saw good results, there were also some problems affecting budget revenue, such as the pandemic, escalating tension between Russia and Ukraine; budget revenue from crude oil rose, because Vietnam is still an oil importer, this has remarkably affected prices and supply chains of enterprises; and the implementation of support packages for economic recovery.

The meeting also recorded comments from representatives of the General Department of Reserve, the State Securities Commission; State Treasury, Price Management Department and Tax Policy Department.

Promote economic growth, especially accelerate disbursement of public investment

Speaking at the meeting, Standing Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha mentioned the implementation of solutions in the post-pandemic recovery and socio-economic development program. It is necessary to specify the contents of the program because this is related to the arrangement of resources as well as the capability of capital mobilization for 2022 and 2023.

The Deputy Minister requested relevant units to coordinate with ministries and agencies to carry out this program. In which, in addition to the extension of tax payment and tax reduction, investment and interest rate support should be a focus. He said there is a need for a list and specific instructions for implementation.

Furthermore, regarding macroeconomics and inflation, according to Deputy Minister Tran Xuan Ha, the world petroleum prices have increased, domestic supply and demand have also been affected , resulting in increasing domestic retail prices, which is a factor affecting the inflation.

“Besides, from the beginning of the year until now, commercial banks issued large volume of credits, making the money supply increase. At the same time, after the Lunar New Year, some items increased in price. Therefore, the macroeconomic stability, price control, especially petroleum price control is an important task," said the Deputy Minister.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Ta Anh Tuan said that in 2022, the Ministry of has many schemes on policy making, that requires units to focus on the implementation according to the plan.

The complicated developments of the pandemic and the implementation of the economic recovery program will affect the major balances in prices, budget management and capital mobilization, so the Deputy Minister suggested that the units in the finance sector should pay attention to these issues.

He also said that the Prime Minister directed that if the investment capital in 2022 is not fully allocated by the end of March, it will be reviewed and adjusted, so he requested the Investment Department to urge local authorities, ministries and agencies to complete the capital allocation of the 2022 plan.

Moreover, the Investment Department was required to work with units involved in the demand stimulus project, pay attention to the list of projects, especially urgent and important projects.

At the same time, it is proposed that the Investment Department should to calculate and review the total investment in 2022, because this is a very large resource. The Deputy Minister also requested the Investment Department to report on the disbursement and payment situation, regularly update data accurately on the mass media as well as send it to the ministries, agencies and localities.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said that the world situation is very tense, especially after the war broke out in Ukraine, affecting world economy such as oil and commodities, this has had an impact on domestic inflation.

The Minister said the Ministry of Finance shall be responsible for advising the Government on solutions to maintain the macro-economy; this is an extremely important task to prevent inflation, control budget deficit, public debt and keep large balances, especially budget revenue and expenditure.

The Minister also said, the tasks assigned by the Government to the Ministry of Finance such as perfecting the law, preparing resources have all been completed as scheduled with great efforts, high professionalism.

In the near future, it is necessary to promote economic development and growth, especially speeding up the disbursement of public investment. The public investment disbursement must be strictly managed.

"Resource for economic recovery are very large, nearly VND350 trillion, so it should be closely managed," said the Minister.

Financial Strategy: Ensuring macroeconomic stability and national financial security

At the Conference, the Minister also gave specific instructions on the management of State budget, customs clearance of goods, application of electronic invoices; price management ; anti-revenue loss in real estate tax collection; securities; banking and finance; and debt management.