Finance ministry website

According to the General Statistics Office, in March the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 3.4-3.5% from the same period last year. In the first quarter prices are expected to rise by 4.2-4.3% year-on-year, with the prices of construction materials jumping by 7.2% and foodstuffs by 4.5%. According to the ministry, the pressure will continue in April and the second quarter in the face of the global uncertainty since domestic prices of many essential goods depend heavily on international prices. At a meeting with the Steering Committee on Price Management chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai on March 24, the ministry put forth three scenarios for inflation this year ranging from 3.9% to 4.8%. But it favored the one that envisages prices to rise at the current rate of 0.52% a month in the remaining nine months of this year. Khai said ministries and other agencies should take feasible measures to keep inflation below 4.5%. The head of the General Statistics … [Read more...] about Inflation likely to be 3.9-4.8% this year: finance ministry

The ministry made this proposal in a draft law on special consumption tax that is being reviewed by other government agencies. Taxing online games was last discussed by the National Assembly in 2014 but not approved since many feared it could lower the competitiveness of domestic companies against foreign players. But the situation seems to have changed. In 2020 Vietnam had five of the 10 biggest video game publishers in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, according to ranking platform Data.ai. Out of every 25 games downloaded globally, one was made by a Vietnamese company, which put Vietnamese producers in seventh place in game downloads. In 2021 revenues from online games in Vietnam were worth $665 million, according to the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information. It said many Vietnamese companies are based in Singapore, which makes it difficult to collect taxes. … [Read more...] about Finance Ministry wants online game companies taxed

A road under construction (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has been assigned to coordinate with related ministries to devise and propose policies and measures for attracting international financial funds and capital sources to public - private partnership ( PPP ) projects in Vietnam. This is among the tasks set by Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha with regard to PPP investment activities, according to the Government Office. In particular, the MPI was asked to work with other ministries to review the enforcement of the 2020 law on PPP investment, as well as obstacles to the implementation of the Government’s Decree 35/2021/ND-CP, dated March 29, 2021, that guides the law enforcement. They were ordered to propose revisions, supplements, and international capital attraction measures to the PM in the second quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, Deputy PM Ha assigned the Finance Ministry to coordinate with others to review problems … [Read more...] about Ministries to devise measures for attracting int’l capital to PPP projects

At a Thursday meeting on the impacts of sweetened drinks on health, Tran Thi Trang, deputy head of the legislation department under the Ministry of Health, said the ministry is proposing to apply excise tax based on the amount of sugar contained within 100 ml of the drinks. The proposal was made as the Ministry of Finance was building a draft law on excise tax for sweetened drinks. Trang said there should be sugar thresholds to determine the amount of taxes to be applied, with a higher level of sugar resulting in more taxes. Drinks with a sugar level below a certain threshold would not need to be imposed such a tax, she suggested. However, the health ministry has yet to provide exact sugar level thresholds for this policy. The ministry said certain food products with low levels of sugar, such as milk and dairy products, would not be applied excise tax. In accordance with WHO definitions, sweetened drinks are those that contain added sugar, such as sweetened soda water, … [Read more...] about Health ministry proposes excise tax on sweetened drinks

Last year 440,000 cars were manufactured in Vietnam and 176,590 were imported. But imports from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries, mainly Thailand and Indonesia, doubling the period before 2018. According to data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, last year the two countries accounted for 144,703 cars, or 83% of imports, that cost US$2.5 billion. Foreign carmakers with factories in Vietnam import 80-90% of their cars sold in the market. Imports of cars and car parts are expected to skyrocket in the next 10 years when the import tax is gradually reduced to 0% under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. "In the context of integration, if the Government and ministries do not quickly have appropriate policies and solutions to encourage and support the development of the domestic auto industry, Vietnam will become a market for foreign firms, and … [Read more...] about Vietnam at risk of becoming captive market for imported cars: industry ministry

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang has signed a dispatch on the cancellation of World Bank (WB) loans due to the unusability, and the re-allocation and use of the cancelled International Development Association (IDA) loans in the 2022 - 2023 fiscal year. The dispatch noted the WB’s IDA loans, with preferential borrowing conditions and interest rates, for programmes and projects of ministries, agencies, and localities form an important source of public investment that helps promote economic growth. However, some IDA loan agreements have had to be cancelled as projects encounter difficulties or are unable to disburse all the capital. It cited the WB as saying that the IDA capital committed for Vietnam that is no longer needed and will be cancelled in the 2022 - 2023 fiscal year is about 296 million USD, some 85.14 million USD of which has had cancellation procedures implemented. Another 59.81 million USD has been sent … [Read more...] about Deputy PM urges hastened procedures for cancelled IDA loans

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Commercial banks that underwrite and sell corporate bonds have to buy them back if investors so demand, the central bank has said. It followed a meeting with voters (members of the public) the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) held in Ho Chi Minh City amid the ongoing bond market troubles. Besides asking for underwriting banks to take responsibility for redeeming bonds, the voters also urged the SBV to tighten inspection of credit institutions to ensure they comply with regulations while investing in bonds. The SBV recently raided 11 banks and fined a number of them for violating regulations related to bond purchases. Under current regulations, banks must have an internal credit rating system and can only buy bonds if their bad debts ratio is below 3%. For bonds sold in the domestic market, when issuers cannot pay in full and on time the bond principal and interest, they must negotiate with bondholders for extending the term … [Read more...] about Banks underwriting bonds should buy back bonds: Central bank

Enterprises in the beverage industry need stable policies in terms of taxes and fees to return to pre-pandemic growth. — Photo plo.vn Enterprises urge careful consideration to be given to the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to impose a special consumption tax on sugary drinks to ensure harmonisation of benefits between the State, consumers and producers. Nguyen Quoc Viet, deputy director of the Viet Nam Institute for Economic and Policy Research, said production and business remain difficult. To ensure macro-economic stability, it is necessary to maintain policies which energise enterprises and promote domestic consumption. Policy changes, if any, should be studied carefully to ensure benefits harmonisation. Viet said that it was not a good time to change taxes as it might further burden enterprises and consumers, especially when efforts are being made to recover growth. He added that the adjustments might cause instability in the institutional and legal environment and have … [Read more...] about Careful consideration of special consumption tax on sugary drinks urged

Indonesian Finance Ministry Isa Rachmatarwata (Photo: antaranews.com) Jakarta (VNA) - The Indonesian Finance Ministry is mulling adding around 8 trillion IDR (531 million USD), to this year’s budget plan for Indonesia ’s new capital megaproject Nusantara. Speaking at a recent press briefing, director-general for budgeting at the Finance Ministry Isa Rachmatarwata said the extra money is because President Joko Widodo has asked the ministry to prepare the land for the investors. Earlier, the government has allotted 23 trillion IDR in the original 2023 budget plan for the Nusantara project. According to Isa, the Public Housing Ministry has asked for an extra 7 trillion IDR  or 8 trillion IDR for the budget plan. However, there is still a possibility that the Finance Ministry might add even more money to cover other needs for the city’s construction. In early March, President Joko Widodo approved a new regulation that offers incentives to businesses investing in … [Read more...] about Indonesia considers another 500 million USD for new capital megaproject

An industrial park in the northern province of Ha Nam (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - A number of changes has been proposed to Vietnam's preferential tax policies by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). According to the ministry, measures should be taken to reduce costs for businesses and to improve the investment environment instead of tax benefits. The ministry's proposed changes include a comprehensive review of businesses to put them in different categories based on industries and locations. The ministry said in recent decades, Vietnam has become one of the most attractive destinations for business investments from most global industries. Current tax policies, according to the ministry, have played an important role in it. " Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the country has been steadily increasing, despite global economic downturns," said the ministry. However, the ministry said it's time Vietnam conducted a review of its current tax policies to … [Read more...] about MoF proposes changes to preferential tax policies