Sustainable growth in budget revenue

Statistics from the Ministry of Finance show that in the first half of 2024, budget revenue reached more than 1 quadrillion VND, equal to 61% of the estimate and up 17.7% over the same period in 2023. This is an encouraging result, especially in the current difficult situation. Revenue from crude oil, a major source contributing to the budget, decreased by 5.1%.

The growth in budget revenue does not come from "pressure" on businesses and people, but from strengthening inspection, examination, and strict handling of violations and fraud in tax declaration and refund, expanding the collection base such as collection from e-commerce platforms, collection of taxes on online sales activities, etc.

Reforming administrative procedures and digital transformation in tax revenue/expenditure management also helps the Ministry of Finance minimize errors, reduce the workload for tax officials, and make it easier for people and businesses to declare and pay taxes.

Never before has the eTax Mobile tax declaration application become so popular. Launched in 2021, eTax is constantly being improved and becoming more and more user-friendly, whether individuals or business households. The application connects smoothly with VNeID - an electronic identification application for each citizen.

Currently, eTax has updated citizens’ tax rights and obligations from 2017 to present, with detailed information on the amount of tax refunded or payable and the wages/taxable income of each person at each enterprise. To “finalize” this information on each user account, the General Department of Taxation had to process a huge amount of data, something that previously state agencies could not complete in a day or two.

Support businesses and people

The Ministry of Finance is also the pioneer in proposing solutions to support businesses and people in recent times, ensuring sustainable economic and social growth.

Nearly 185,000 billion VND is the amount that the Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Government to submit to competent authorities to issue and issue under its authority policies to reduce and extend taxes, fees, charges and land rents for businesses and people.

For example, with the advice and proposal of the Ministry of Finance, the VAT rate has been officially reduced by 2 percentage points to 8%. The Ministry of Finance also advised the Government on extending the deadline for paying VAT, corporate income tax, personal income tax and land rent in 2024. The estimated scale of the extended tax is up to 84,000 billion VND...

Not only supporting businesses and people in paying taxes and fees, the Ministry of Finance is also the agency advising the Government on making decisions on price management, controlling inflation, and helping people ensure their lives.

In the context of rising world oil prices, the Ministry of Finance has advised the Government to submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee to issue Resolution No. 42/2023/UBTVQH15 dated December 18, 2023 to reduce environmental protection tax on gasoline, oil, and grease in 2024.

Enhance Vietnam's reputation in the international arena

With the efforts of the Government in general and the financial sector in particular, Vietnam's economic situation has had outstanding achievements, recognized internationally. Recently, S&P Global Ratings (USA) has rated Vietnam's national credit rating at BB+ in the long term and B in the short term with a stable long-term outlook.

S&P Global Ratings forecasts Vietnam’s economic growth to reach 5.8% in 2024, after slowing to 5% in 2023. Vietnam remains an attractive destination for foreign investment, especially in the manufacturing sector, as companies continue to diversify their operations in the region. The semiconductor industry’s growth cycle is likely to drive Vietnam’s growth in 2024 as semiconductor exports increase.

The Ministry of Finance has proactively coordinated to provide information and reports to S&P and the two largest rating agencies in the world, Fitch Ratings and Moody's, to update the socio-economic, financial and state budget situation. The agency's initiative will help organizations assess Vietnam's national credit rating in 2024 in a comprehensive and objective manner.

The actual national credit rating is very important for every business, especially when businesses participate in the international financial market.

Purchasing activity increased while finished goods inventories fell to near-record levels, suggesting a solid recovery in manufacturing.