Regarding the execution of financial and budgetary tasks in 2020 and the plan to implement financial and budgetary tasks in 2021
I. ASSESSMENT OF THE MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF FINANCIAL AND BUDGETARY TASKS IN 2020
1. The work of formulating and improving financial mechanisms and policies
In 2020, the Ministry of Finance focused on building and improving institutions and policies in the financial and budgetary sector, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of state management, tightening discipline and adherence to financial principles; completed 100% of the plan to formulate the assigned laws and ordinances, of which 06 resolutions have been submitted to the Government to be further submitted to the National Assembly for adoption (05 Resolutions were adopted and a draft Resolution was still under consideration); submitted 43 Decrees to the Government for promulgation. Besides, the Ministry of Finance submitted 10 Decisions to the Prime Minister for issuance (08 Decisions were issued and 2 draft Decisions were still under consideration); at the same time, the Ministry of Finance issued under its authority 122 Circulars on financial and budgetary management, focusing on mechanisms and policies on taxation, reduction of fees and charges to support production and businesses, strict and efficient management State budget spending, developing the financial market, accounting and insurance services, cash management of the State Treasury.
The Ministry of Finance also regularly reviewed and codified the list of legal documents; updated information on newly issued documents, fully and promptly posted on the Ministry's website and National Database; intensified the propagation and dissemination of new legal documents and policies; provided support and tax consultancy services to businesses and people.
In general, the development of legal documents was strictly implemented, meeting the requirements of progress and quality, including unplanned projects and tasks, thereby not only contributing to improving the legal framework in the financial and budgetary fields, but also actively supporting the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, promptly removing difficulties for production and businesses, helping businesses and people to cope with the pandemic.
Along with the promulgation and improvement of legal institutions as mentioned above; In the implementation, the communication and information dissemination regarding new legal documents and policies have been strengthened; the Ministry of Finance regularly organized dialogues, provided support and tax consultancy services for businesses and people.
Generally, in the period of 2016-2020, the Ministry of Finance submitted 06 Laws to the Government to be further submitted to the National Assembly for adoption; submitted 23 Resolutions of the National Assembly on financial solutions and policies to the Government to be further submitted to the National Assembly for adoption; submitted 10 Resolutions to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee for adoption; submitted 159 Decrees to the Government for promulgation; submitted 42 Decisions to the Prime Minister for promulgation and promulgated under its authority 799 Circulars ...
2. The implementation of the state budget plan and the management and administration of state budget revenues and expenditures
Performing tasks assigned by the Government in Resolutions No. 01/NQ-CP, No. 02/NQ-CP and in the Prime Minister's direction on the implementation of the 2020 plans for socio-economic development plan and for the state budget, the Ministry of Finance urgently developed an action plan and drastically directed the implementation right from the first day and the first month of 2020.
In the process of organization and implementation, before the complicated development of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Finance proactively proposed fiscal solutions to overcome difficulties for production and business, ensuring social security; the Ministry of Finance also coordinated with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in building economic growth scenarios, on the basis of which the Ministry of Finance formulated a corresponding state-budget-administration plan. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance issued documents guiding localities to strengthen the management of the implementation of financial and budgetary tasks, with synchronous and positive solutions, while actively mobilizing resources to overcome consequences of natural disasters, especially storms, floods and the Covid-19 pandemic. This helped to stabilize people's lives and ensure budget balance at all locality levels.
2.1. State budget revenues and the management and administration of state budget revenues:
In order to help businesses and people to overcome difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Finance submitted solutions to the Government to be submitted to competent authorities for timely issuance. The solutions centered on tax exemption, reduction, and extension of payment deadlines for taxes and other state-budget-related charges. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance coordinated with ministries and sectors in reviewing the exemption and reduction of fees and charges in order to remove difficulties for those affected by the pandemic.
In addition to the enforcement of tax laws and the implementation of State budget revenue tasks in 2020, from the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Finance has directed tax and customs authorities to expeditiously implement measures of budget collection to remove difficulties for production and businesses, along with strengthening inspection and supervision, minimizing the abuse of policies. As of 31 December 2020, about VND 123.6 trillion in taxes, land rent, fees and charges had been exempted or had their payment deadlines extended.
Tax and customs authorities also benefited from the leadership and direction of the local party committees and authorities, closely coordinated with the functional forces to well manage state budget revenues in the area; stepped up the fight against revenue losses, transfer pricing, trade frauds and tax evasion; strengthened tax inspection and examination; drastically handled and recovered tax arrears, reduced the ratio of tax arrears to budget revenues.
The above synchronous and drastic fiscal measures, combined with monetary policies and other economic policies, basically maintained macroeconomic stability, sustained economic growth momentum at a level higher than the world’s and the region’s, the growth in each quarter was higher than the previous quarter. Thereby, the state budget revenue was also higher than the assessment reported to the National Assembly at the 10th session (October and November 2020), with the total state budget revenue estimated at VND 1,507.1 trillion, equaling 98% of the plan (down VND 31.9 trillion), an increase of nearly VND 184 trillion compared to the report to the National Assembly, the rate of mobilization into the state budget was about 23.9% of GDP, mobilization from taxes and fees was about 19.1%; in which: domestic revenues were approximately 100% of the plan; revenues from crude oil reached 98.3% of the plan (down 602 billion); revenue from import and export activities reached 93.8% of the plan, budget-balancing revenues from import and export activities (after VAT refund was deducted) reached 86.2% of the plan (down VND 28.6 trillion). According to decentralized management, central budget revenues were about 90%, down about VND 89 trillion compared to the plan; Local state budget revenues reached 108.6%, exceeding the plan by VND 56.8 trillion.
For the whole period of 2016-2020, the total state budget revenue reached VND 6.89 quadrillion, exceeding the set plan (100.4%), a very positive level in the difficult conditions of State budget revenues in 2020 as the economic growth was much lower than expected. The state budget revenue structure was more sustainable, the proportion of domestic revenue in the total state budget revenue increased from 68% on average in the period of 2011-2015 to 85.5% in 2020 (the plan was 84-85%), the proportion of crude oil revenue and the balancing revenue from import and export activities decreased from 30% on average in the period of 2011-2015 to about 14.2% in 2020.
2.2. State budget expenditures and the management and administration of state budget expenditures:
Right from the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Finance issued documents to provide guidelines to ministries, sectors and localities to organize the implementation of the 2020 state budget expenditure plan, in which there were strict requirements regarding the time, amount and implementation of budget allocation, ensuring suitability, economy and efficiency of the use of budget funds. In administration, the Ministry of Finance strengthened financial and budgetary inspection, control of state budget expenditure, thereby detecting, correcting and promptly handling mistakes.
Faced with the complicated situation of the pandemic and increasing difficulties in balancing the state budget, the Ministry of Finance actively submitted measures to the authorities for approval, such as: saving 70% of conference expenses, foreign and domestic business trip expenses and saving another 10% of the remaining recurrent expenditure of 2020; not adjusting the base salary/pension for cadres, civil servants, public employees, armed forces and pensioners from 1 July 2020 in order to share the burden with the State and workers; requiring localities to actively administer local budgets and in case of revenue deficit, to actively use budget provisions and financial reserve funds, to increase revenue, to save spending and to cut down on the spending prescribed by the State Budget Law. The total amount of funds that were saved by the central budget was VND 49 trillion, equivalent to 4.6% of the plan assigned by the National Assembly.
Thanks to the proactive management, up to now, it can be affirmed that the State budget expenditure in 2020 fulfilled the set target, with the total budget expenditure estimated at about VND 1,781.4 trillion, which promptly and fully met expenditure requirements of socio-economic development, national defense, security, state management and payment of due debts. The state budget spent over VND 18 trillion on pandemic prevention and control and on helping the people to overcome the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic according to the Government's resolutions No. 42/NQ-CP on measures to support people who face difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic and No. 37/NQ-CP of the Government on a number of specific regimes for the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic. The central budget used about VND 12.4 trillion of provision to support localities in overcoming consequences of storms, floods and restoring production after natural disasters and the pandemic; supplied nearly 37 thousand tons of national reserve rice to provide support and relieve hunger for the people, to assist in overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and transitory periods between harvests at the beginning of the year. The localities also actively used about VND 8.2 trillion of local budget reserves and local resources to spend on pandemic prevention, disaster recovery, production and essential infrastructure restoration and support for people's lives, ensuring social security in the localities.
The bright spot in the implementation of budget spending in 2020 was the progress of disbursement of development investment capital that was more progressive compared to the previous year, thanks to the drastic direction of the Government, the Prime Minister and the efforts of ministries, sectors and localities. It is estimated that as of 31 December 2020, spending on investment and development reached 82.8% of the plan (for the same period of the previous year, it reached 62.9% of the plan); the Ministry of Finance strived to reach 92-93% of the plan at the end of the accounting book closing time in 2020 (31 January 2021). In addition, the capital disbursement in 2019 which was transferred to 2020 reached about 75% of the plan. However, there were still about VND 26 trillion of foreign loans for development investment that could not be realized, therefore the plan was canceled.
Within the assigned functions and tasks, the Ministry of Finance actively reviewed and revised the mechanism to control the payment of investment capital from pre-control to post-control, shortening the control time from 7 days to a maximum of 4 days, simplifying procedures, promoting capital disbursement; the Ministry of Finance organized regular online meetings with ministries and localities to identify difficulties, problems, causes and to propose solutions to promote disbursement of ODA loans and foreign concessional loans; at the same time, the Ministry of Finance periodically reported to the Prime Minister on the disbursement situation and recommended solutions to promote disbursement of public investment capital in 2020.
Generally for the 5-year period of 2016-2020, total state budget expenditure was estimated at about VND 7.66 quadrillion; the average share of state budget expenditure was about 28% of GDP (the figure of the period of 2011-2015 was 29.5% of GDP). The expenditure structure continued to change positively, the proportion of development investment spending in 2020 reached over 29% (the target was 25-26%), recurrent expenditure was about 63.1% of the total state budget expenditure (the target was below 64%).
2.3. Regarding the balance of the state budget and capital mobilization:
With the above results of budget revenues and expenditures, the state budget deficit in 2020 was estimated at about VND 248.5 trillion, less than 4% of the estimated GDP (the plan was 3.44% of GDP), an increase of about VND 14 trillion compared to the plan, equal to about 10.5% of the adjustment level allowed by the National Assembly (maximum increase of VND 133.5 trillion, equivalent to 2.15% of GDP). Generally for the 5-year period of 2016-2020, the average state budget deficit was about 3.6% of GDP, ensuring the target of not exceeding 3.9% of GDP according to the Resolution No. 25/2016/QH14 dated 9 November 2016 of the National Assembly.
In 2020, the Ministry of Finance proactively administered the issuance of Government bonds to offset overspending and accommodate principal repayment in accordance with the state budget's capacity, mainly to mobilize medium and long-term capital (no issuance of bonds with a 5-year maturity) and to not borrow from international financial institutions (WB, ADB....), contributing to strengthening the national credit rating. Government bond issuance term in 2020 was over 3.5 times longer than that of 2011, from 3.9 years to an average of 13.94 years, bringing the average term of government bond portfolio by the end of 2020 up by 8.42 years, nearly 5 times longer than that of the end of 2011 (1.84 years); The average deposit interest rate also dropped sharply, from 12.01% in 2011 to about 2.86% in 2020.
In addition, following the provisions of the Law on Public Debt Management, following the set objectives, the Ministry of Finance submitted a proposal to the Government and the Prime Minister regarding the permission to organize the restructuring of the debt portfolio, to convert short-term government bonds to long-term bonds, thereby extending the remaining term and reducing pressure on debt repayment, cutting debt peaks for the state budget.
Debt repayment was implemented fully and on time in accordance with commitments. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance effectively used sustainable debt management solutions, medium-term debt management programs, annual loan and debt repayment plans, strictly managed government guarantees and borrowing for on-lending; strengthened supervision, controlled overspending and borrowing of the local budgets, thereby contributing to reducing public debt. By the end of 2020, public debt was about 55.8% of GDP, Government debt was about 49.6% of GDP, all of which were within the permitted limit.
3. Results of implementing a number of key tasks
3.1. Regarding administrative reform, organizational restructuring:
a) Regarding promoting administrative reform:
Implementing the tasks assigned by the Government and the Prime Minister on administrative reform, in 2020, the Ministry of Finance executed 180/180 administrative reform tasks as planned (100%); summarized and reported on the results of implementing the Government's Resolution No. 30c/NQ-CP of 8 November 2011; reviewed and abolished 39 administrative procedures and amended, supplemented and replaced 60 administrative procedures in the fields of tax, customs, treasury, public assets, accounting and auditing; at the same time, the Ministry of Finance publicized and fully updated on the National Public Service Portal, the Ministry's Online Portal according to regulations. In addition, the Ministry of Finance issued a list of 303 periodical reporting regimes and amended 57 reporting regimes, meeting the requirements of the Government's Decree No. 09/2019 / ND-CP dated 24 January 2019. The Ministry of Finance continued to review, reduce and simplify business conditions within the scope of management functions of the Ministry of Finance, in order to facilitate and remove difficulties for enterprises.
The Ministry of Finance's administrative reform efforts in recent years, especially in the fields of tax and customs, have been highly appreciated by the business community, as well as domestic and foreign investors. According to the report of the Administration Reform Steering Committee of the Government at the online conference on 19 May 2020, at which the 2019 PAR index 2019 and the 2019 service satisfaction index (SIPAS 2019) were announced, the Ministry of Finance continued to hold the 2nd position out of 17 ministries, ministerial-level agencies, with 94.77/100 points, an increase of 4.58 points compared to 2018.
b) Regarding building e-government:
Accelerate the implementation of the tasks of building e-Government to serve people and businesses according to the Government's Resolution No. 36a/NQ-CP of 2015, in 2020, the Ministry of Finance continued to expand the application of information technology and digitalization in the fields of finance, tax and customs, to help people, businesses and organizations to conveniently implement administrative procedures, save time and costs. Up to now, the whole industry has achieved the following results:
- Operated and connected the document management software (eDocTC) to send documents electronically to 96 agencies and units and receive documents electronically from 356 agencies and units through the National Inter-Document Axis, to ensure smoothness and consistency of operation. The Ministry of Finance provided online public services for 977/977 of its administrative procedures (100%), accounting for 55% of the total number of online public services of the Government, of which 106 online services were at level 1 (10.9%), 288 services were at level 2 (29.5%), 192 services were at level 3 (19.6%) and 391 services were at level 4 (40%); completed the connection and integration of 294/585 online public services at levels 3 and 4 on the National Public Service Portal, reaching a rate of over 50% (exceeding the target of 30% set by the Resolutions No. 01/NQ-CP dated 1 January 2020 and No. 17/NQ-CP dated 7 March 2019 of the Government on developing e-Government).
- For the tax field, the electronic tax declaration system was deployed to 100% of Tax Departments in 63 provinces and centrally-run municipalities, with 99.91% of enterprises participating; 98.9% of enterprises registered to participate in electronic tax payment services; electronic tax refund was 97.54%; the Ministry of Finance deployed electronic invoices with agency codes in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang; deployed electronic tax declaration service for property lease (including house rental), car and motorbike registration fee; deployed electronic tax payment services for individuals.
- For the customs sector, performing the role of the Standing Agency of the National Steering Committee on the ASEAN Single Window, the National Single Window and Trade Facilitation (Steering Committee 1899) The Ministry of Finance coordinated with ministries and sectors to actively implement new administrative procedures, expand the scope and number of participating enterprises for the procedures implemented on the ASEAN and National Single Windows, meeting the master plan’s objectives and progress for the 2016-2020 period.
Up to now, electronic customs procedures have been carried out at all customs units through the VNACSS/VCIS system; the Ministry of Finance also deployed electronic payment gateways at all Customs Departments, with 98.6% of budget revenues being collected electronically; deployed automatic customs management system for ports, warehouses and yards at 33/35 Customs Departments; deployed the National Single Window by airway, ..., connected 13/14 ministries, sectors. There were 207 administrative procedures being implemented through the National Single Window and over 43.7 thousand participating enterprises. Electronic certificates of origin (C/O) form D were exchanged with 9 ASEAN countries through the ASEAN Single Window. In addition, the Ministry of Finance jointly completed the technical test of connection and exchange and the testing of export customs declarations with the Eurasian Economic Union; prepared for the technical requirements of the information exchange regarding ASEAN customs declarations and phytosanitary certificates...
- For the field of treasury management, 100% of budget-using units registered to participate in providing online public services for 9/11 administrative procedures (of which there were 7 level-4 services; 1 Level-3 services and 1 level-2 services); at the same time, completed the integration of 07 online public services for (corresponding to 7 administrative procedures) to the National Public Service Portal (exceeding the plan assigned in 2020 by 01 service).
c) Regarding building a lean, effective and efficient apparatus:
Continue to thoroughly grasp Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW and Resolution No. 19-NQ/TW of the 6th Central Conference (Session XII) on organizational arrangement, downsizing, and renewing the non-business sector. public. In 2020, the Ministry of Finance reduced 276 focal points, of which: General Department rearranged, consolidated, reduced 85 tax departments, 185 tax groups/teams; The State Treasury merged 06 district State Treasuries into the provincial State Treasury (expected to continue merging 07 district State Treasuries in the first quarter of 2021); The General Department of Viet Nam Customs continued to review the organizational system, payrolls and operations of the Post-Customs Clearance Inspection Sub-Departments under the Post-Customs Clearance Inspection Department and reorganization of the Customs Inspection Sub-Departments under the Customs Inspection Department. At the same time, the General Department of State Reserves reduced 01 non-business unit directly under its management. The Ministry of Finance approved the plan of rearranging and streamlining the apparatus at the Departments and Divisions of the Department of Planning and Finance; mandated the dissolution of the National Data Center on public assets under the Department of Public Asset Management.
Thanks to the direction from top to bottom and the full preparation for the conditions regarding institutions, organizations, people, working facilities, etc, the process of re-arranging the apparatus and reducing focal points went smoothly, the political tasks, professional activities were also implemented smoothly.
Accumulatively from June 2017 up to now, the apparatus has been reviewed and re-organized, has reduced 4,328 administrative focal points downsized the payroll of administrative civil servants by 8.7%; reduced 09 public non-business units (from 36 to 27 units).
3.2. Price management, financial market management, and restructuring of state-owned enterprises:
a) Strengthening price management:
In 2020, before complicated developments of natural disasters including the pandemic, floods, droughts, saltwater intrusion which affected prices and consumer psychology of the people, there were times when the prices of some essential commodities such as staple foods, other foods, goods serving Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control and goods serving as inputs of production and business activities were pushed up, the Ministry of Finance actively coordinated with ministries, sectors and localities in implementing measures to enhance price stabilization, especially regarding goods priced by the State; the Ministry of Finance stepped up inspection of the observance of the law on prices in price declaration and consultation activities, handled violations in price management and administration.
Ministries, sectors and localities also actively and closely monitored commodity supply and demand developments; closely supervised the price registration and price declaration of enterprises in order to well control the price level, controlled sudden and unreasonable price increases; strengthened inspection and supervision, strictly handled violations according to the provisions of law. As a result, after a sharp increase in the first quarter, from April onwards, the CPI gradually decreased and is now controlled at 3.23%, within the scope allowed by the National Assembly (below 4%).
During the 2016-2020 period, the consumer price index was stable at less than 4% within the inflation target set by the National Assembly. Compared to the previous year, the average CPI in 2016 increased by 2.66%; CPI in 2017 increased by 3.53%; CPI in 2018 increased by 3.54%; CPI in 2019 increased by 2.79%; CPI in 2020 increased by 3.23%.
b) Financial market management:
- For the stock market: In 2020, the State Securities Commission focused on building and improving the system of documents guiding the implementation of the Law on Securities in 2019 for implementation from the beginning of 2021; at the same time, studied and submitted decrees to the Government for promulgation which were about amending and supplementing the issuance of corporate bonds and about standards and requirements for practicing auditors, auditing organizations to audit units with public interests; formulated a strategic project to develop the Vietnam Stock Market until 2030 and formulated policies to improve the legal framework for market development. The Ministry of Finance also submitted a Decision to the Prime Minister for promulgation which were on establishing the Viet Nam Stock Exchange according to the roadmap and model approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 32/QD-TTg dated 7 January 2019.
With the recovery of the domestic macro-economy and production-business support policies, the Vietnamese stock market continued to develop and become more professional, and the market size kept increasing. By the end of 31 December 2020, the VN-Index reached over 1,103 points, up 14.9% compared to 2019; Market size reached about 87.7% of GDP, an increase of 20.8% compared to the end of 2019. Generally for the 2016-2020 period, the size of stock market capitalization on the stock market grew positively, each year’s figure was higher than the previous year’s, the market capitalization in 2020 doubled compared to that of 2016 (43.3% of GDP).
- For the insurance market: The Ministry of Finance submitted a draft Decree to the Government which replaces regulations on compulsory civil liability insurance for motor vehicle owners; continued to study and develop a draft Law on Insurance Business (amended); completed a draft Decree on micro-insurance implementation of socio-political organizations; drafted the Decisions of the Prime Minister on the list of public assets subject to insurance for the risks of storms, floods and on prolonging the implementation of policies to support agricultural insurance under Decision No. 22/2019/QD-TTg; developed a pilot scheme on customs clearance guarantee insurance.
Despite the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the insurance market in 2020 maintained a positive growth with the total value of insurance assets estimated at VND 552.4 trillion, an increase of 21.5% compared the same period in 2019; re-investment into the economy was estimated at VND 460.5 trillion, up 22.3%; total equity was VND 113.5 trillion, up 27%; total insurance premium revenues reached VND 184.7 trillion, up 15.2%; payment of insurance benefits reached VND 48.2 trillion.
In the 2016-2020 period, the total assets of the whole market grew at an average rate of 19%/year, estimated at over VND 526 trillion by 2020; the total amount of money re-invested into the economy increased by an average of 19.4%/year, which was estimated at VND 416 trillion in 2020; the total revenue of the insurance industry increased by 19.3%/year on average, estimated at over VND 226 trillion by 2020; Total equity of insurance businesses increased by an average of 13.1%/year, estimated at over VND 100 trillion by 2020; compensation and payment of insurance benefits were estimated at VND 282 trillion.
c) Regarding the restructuring of state-owned enterprises:
Continuing to improve mechanisms and policies on the equitization and divestment of state-owned enterprises, the Ministry of Finance submitted to the Government to issue Resolution No. 161/NQ-CP dated 29 October 2020 on promoting innovation, improving the operational efficiency of state-owned enterprises and Decree No. 121/2020 / ND-CP dated 9 October 2020 amending and supplementing Clause 2, Article 12 of Decree No. 91/2015/ND-CP dated 13 October 2015 on investment of state capital in enterprises and management and use of capital and assets in enterprises, in which the banking sector is added to the field invested by the State, additional capital is used as a legal basis for increasing capital of banks.
In the period of 2016-2020, there were 178 enterprises whose equitization plans were approved by competent authorities, with 37/128 enterprises on the list of equitization as planned in Document No. 991/TTg-DMDN dated 10 July 2017 and the Prime Minister's Decision No. 26/2019/QD-TTg dated 15 August 2019 (reaching 28.9%); the number of remaining enterprises having to undertake equitization as planned was 91 enterprises (equivalent to 71.1%). State capital divestment at 105 enterprises according to the list in Decision No. 1232/QD-TTg dated 17 August 2017 and Decision No. 908/QD-TTg dated 29 June 2020, with a divestment value of VND 6.5 trillion (reaching 11% of the plan), earned VND 13.6 trillion; State divestment in enterprises not listed in Decision No. 1232/QD-TTg with a divestment value of VND 3.8 trillion (par value), earned VND 110.4 trillion (including VND 109.96 trillion from divestment at Sabeco). In addition, State Corporations and General Companies divested nearly VND 17 trillion and earned about VND 53 trillion.
3.3. Management and use of public assets; financial and budgetary inspection and examination and prevention of smuggling and trade fraud:
a) Management and use of public assets:
Implementing the assigned tasks, up to now, the Ministry of Finance has completed the development of documents detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on the Use and Management of State Assets, of which 17 Decrees, 01 Decision and 01 Directive of the Prime Minister were submitted and 09 circulars were issued by the Ministry of Finance. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance developed and submitted to the Government a draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 167/2017/ND-CP dated 31 December 2017 of the Government regulating the reorganization and adjudication of public asset management; the draft decree regulating the management, use and exploitation of water supply infrastructure assets. In addition, the Ministry of Finance coordinated with ministries, sectors and localities to improve a system of standards and norms for the use of specialized public assets (standards, norms for the use of specialized cars, specialized offices, ...); re-organized, rearranged and handled houses and land managed by agencies, organizations, units and enterprises; strengthened the management and use of public assets in public non-business units and for business, lease, joint venture and association purposes; guided and handled complaints on infrastructure asset policies (road, railways, airways, and maritime transportation) ...
In general, the management and procurement of public assets in ministries, sectors and localities by 2020 continued to change, ensuring strict and economical compliance with the spirit of the Law on The Use and Management of State Assets and other guiding documents.
b) Regarding the financial and budgetary inspection and examination and the prevention of smuggling and trade frauds:
In 2020, the units under the Ministry of Finance implemented over 85,000 specialized inspections and examinations; conducted inspected 737,000 tax declaration dossiers; implemented anti-smuggling investigation, arrested and handled nearly 15,000 cases of violation in the field of customs. Thereby, the Ministry of Finance proposed a financial settlement of over VND 76 trillion, in which, proposed the state budget collection and payment was nearly VND 22 trillion (VND 13.1 trillion collected); reduced losses, reduced deductions and handling other financial matters amounted to nearly VND 50 trillion, specifically:
- The Inspection Agencies under the Ministry of Finance implemented 35 inspections, inspections, financial proposals of 1.16 trillion, proposed revenue and payment of 182.7 billion, reduction of estimate, reduction of payment deducting 56 billion from funding, other financial settlement of 879 billion.
- Tax offices have carried out 79.6 thousand inspections and examinations of 737.6 thousand tax declaration dossiers; thereby proposing financial settlements of over VND 69 trillion, proposing revenue collection and payment of VND 19.1 trillion (VND 11.1 trillion collected and paid-in), proposing administrative sanctioning of VND 5.5 trillion, reducing losses and deductions by VND 47.8 trillion.
- The Customs authorities implemented 2.2 thousand inspections (of which there were 1.9 thousand post-customs-clearance inspection), proposing a revenue collection of VND 1.6 trillion into the state budget (VND 1.5 trillion was collected).
During the year, the Ministry of Finance well performed the role of the standing agency of the National Steering Committee No. 389, actively coordinated with ministries, sectors and localities to implement many measures to combat smuggling and trade fraud and fake goods; grasped the situation of the area, successfully implemented many projects, arrested and handled many cases of smuggling, illegal cross-border transport of goods, contribute to ensuring political security, social order and safety, helped to protect domestic commodity production, the environment, people's health, prevented state budget revenue losses. During the year, the Ministry of Finance took the lead in arresting nearly 15 thousand cases of violations in the field of customs, which helped collected VND 486 billion of state budget revenue; Customs authorities issued decisions to prosecute 47 criminal cases and referred to other agencies for prosecution of 144 cases.
- Viet Nam State Treasury, General Department of State Reserves, State Securities Commission, Insurance Supervisory Authority also actively implemented specialized inspection according to the proposed plan, discovered, rectified, handled violations in time.
At the same time, the Ministry of Finance proposed amending, supplementing and completing mechanisms, policies, and rectifying the management of investment capital for construction as well as bidding procedures ..., contributed to enhancing compliance of the agencies, units, individuals and businesses, prevented corruption, practiced thrift, combat wastefulness, strengthened financial principle adherence and discipline.
For the whole period of 2016-2020, the Finance sector carried out 460.7 thousand inspections and examinations; conducted inspection of 3.5 million tax declaration dossiers; arrested 75.3 thousand cases of violations through investigations against smuggling; proposed financial settlements of VND 249.8 trillion (in which: state budget revenue collection and payment was VND 89.1 trillion; reduction of losses/deductions and other financial settlements were VND 139.1 trillion; fines for violations were VND 21.5 trillion); collected VND 73.7 trillion for the state budget.
3.4. Regarding international cooperation and external finance:
The Ministry of Finance continued implementing the commitments to cutting special preferential import taxes within the framework of 15 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs); actively participated in negotiation of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Vietnam - Israel Free Trade Agreement (VIFTA), Vietnam – EFTA Trade Agreement (VN- EFTA), UK - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.
The Ministry of Finance actively participated in financial cooperation activities within the framework of ASEAN, ASEAN + 3, APEC, G20, and OECD. Taking the role of ASEAN Chairmanship, the Ministry of Finance proactively proposed to adjust the topics of the seminars, speeches, and delayed the organization of a number of conferences due to the complicated situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, but still ensuring the content of the Chapter. agenda and implementation of initiatives in the financial cooperation process 2020. At the same time, actively participate in international forums organized by the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Network Asia Public Expenditure Management (PEMNA), ..., to update the assessment and recommendations of international financial institutions on macroeconomic situation.
Besides, it has proactively coordinated with relevant ministries and sectors to implement solutions to better attract domestic investment, foreign direct investment to support production and business development.
II. THE FINANCIAL PLAN AND TASKS FOR THE YEAR OF 2021
1. At the tenth session (October and November 2020), the National Assembly approved the Socio-Economic Development Plan, with an economic growth target of 6% and inflation targeted under 4%.
Based on the socio-economic development plan and state budget plan approved by the National Assembly, closely following the theme: "Solidarity, Discipline, Innovation, Action and Development Aspirations" and 8 major themes for direction and administration of the year 2021 of the Government, the Ministry of Finance defined the goals and tasks of financial and budgetary affairs in 2021 as follows:
To mobilize, allocate and efficiently use the State's resources for macro-stability, to promote economic recovery, to ensure social security, national security and defense according to the direction of the XIII National Party Congress; to implement the State budget restructuring in association with the restructuring of the apparatus, to streamline payrolls, and to renew the public non-business sector; to continue to tighten financial and budgetary principle adherence and discipline, to be economical in State budget spending.
2. In order to successfully complete the financial and budgetary tasks in 2021, the Ministry of Finance will coordinate with ministries, sectors and localities to focus on implementing the following main contents:
First, to manage the fiscal policy proactively, closely, effectively, synchronously and flexibly coordinate with the monetary policy and other macro policies, in order to remove difficulties for the economy, and support increased recovery. growth on the basis of maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, ensuring major balances of the economy:
- Continuing to promote the restructuring of the state budget; studying, amending and supplementing tax policies and laws in order to restructure revenue sources; reviewing, formulating and implementing tax, fee and charge policy solutions suitable to the actual situation to remove difficulties and support businesses, the people, the unemployed and people who lost incomes due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic; restoring production and businesses.
- Striving to increase state budget revenue by 3% compared with the plan decided by the National Assembly, the rate of mobilization to the state budget will be about 15.5% of GDP. Strengthening management, combating revenue losses, transfer pricing, trade fraud, tax evasion; stepping up tax inspection and examination; drastically handling tax arrears, reducing tax arrears to below 5% of total state budget revenue; strictly controlling tax refund.
- Closely, economically and effectively organizing and administering state budget spending in 2021 according to the plan. Ministries, central and local agencies will actively review and arrange spending tasks; thoroughly saving non-essential expenses, especially regular expenses, minimizing expenses for domestic and foreign conferences and business trips. Drastically implementing measures to promote disbursement right from the beginning of the year, associating responsibilities of heads of agencies and units with disbursement results; resolutely transferring capital of ministries, sectors, localities and projects with low disbursement rates to ministries, sectors, localities and projects with better capabilities. Strengthening inspection, examination and ensuring publicity and transparency in the use of the state budget and public assets; tightening discipline,
- In 2021, not adjusting the base salary or the poverty line. Continuing to implement current regulations on policies to create resources for wage reform, especially in localities that have committed to meeting the need for wage reforms and to social security policies until the end of 2020; in case the 2021 budget plan lacks resources, it will be supplemented by the central budget to implement the salary policy and social security policies according to the prescribed regime.
- Local authorities will actively use contingencies, reserves and legal resources to handle spending tasks on preventing and overcoming consequences of natural disasters and the pandemic, as well as important, urgent and unexpected spending tasks which may arise, in accordance with regulations.
- Strictly controlling the state budget deficit in 2021 under 4% of GDP, striving to increase revenue, save expenditures, to reduce the state budget deficit. Strengthening coordination in issuing Government bonds, regulating the state budget and balancing foreign currencies, promptly meeting budget expenditure tasks according to the plan.
- Strictly controlling, striving to the end of 2021, public debt balance will not exceed 46.1% of GDP, government debt will not exceed 41.9% of GDP. Ministries, sectors and localities will strengthen coordination in inspecting and closely supervising borrowing, using loans and repaying debts, especially with regard to new loan agreements, foreign loans, and Government-guaranteed loans. Continuing to implement solutions to restructure public debt portfolios towards safety and sustainability.
- Ministries, sectors and localities will continue to review, reorganize and renew the operating mechanism of the off-budget state financial fund in accordance with the Law on State Budget and other relevant laws, strengthening management, ensuring publicity and transparency.
Second, to improve discipline and efficiency in building and enhancing the legal system; to build a streamlined, efficient and effective state management apparatus and to increase the quality of the contingent of cadres, civil servants and public employees; to promote administrative reform, to modernize, to reduce administrative procedures, business requirements, to build e-government to serve people and businesses.
Third, to strengthen financial and budgetary principle adherence and discipline in public service implementation; to strengthen inspection, examination, supervision and to increase publicity and transparency in the management of state budget revenues and expenditures, public assets, land and natural resources; to prevent smuggling and commercial fraud; to strictly manage pricing, to implement market control, inflation control, to ensure macroeconomic stability.
Fourth, to promote synchronous development of all types of financial markets, securities and insurance markets.
Fifth, to speed up the implementation of restructuring, equitization, divestment of state capital in enterprises, to strengthen financial management, to improve the operational efficiency of state-owned enterprises.
Sixth, to proactively be integrated into the international financial system, to improve the efficiency of external finance activities.
Seventh, to administer the budget during the Lunar New Year of the Ox in 2021 and to continue the implementation of the remaining tasks of 2020.
Above is a synthesis of the basic information regarding the implementation of financial and budgetary tasks in 2020 and the plan to implement the financial and budgetary tasks in 2021. The Ministry of Finance requests the press agencies to cooperate in communication and information dissemination./.
Recipients: - Central Propaganda Committee; - Ministry of Information and Communications; - Department of General Affairs, (to report) Government Office; - Ministry leaders; - News agencies; - Vietnam Government Portal (VGP); (to cooperate) - E-portal of Ministry of Finance; - Archived: Clerical staff, Office. | AUTHORIZED BY THE MINISTER CHIEF OF MINISTERIAL OFFICE (Signed) Tran Quan |