Hanoi (VNA) – About 745.4 trillion VND (32 billionUSD) was collected for the State budget in the first half of 2019, equivalentto 52.8 percent of the year’s target and up 13.2 percent year on year,according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

At a meeting to review the six-month financialand budgetary work in Hanoi on July 12, the ministry reported that thecollection for the central budget hit a five-year high when it reached 51.5percent of this year’s plan.

Meanwhile, the local budget revenue reached 54.3percent of the yearly target with 50 of the 63 provincial-level localitiesfulfilling over 50 percent of their plans.

The MoF has worked closely with the State Bankof Vietnam in governing the State budget, issuing Government bonds, andstepping up the cashless budget collection and spending, thereby helping tocontrol inflation and ensure macro-economic stability, the ministry said.

Addressing the event, Deputy Prime MinisterVuong Dinh Hue pointed out that several difficulties that may hamper the Statebudget collection in the last half of this year have appeared.

He noted budget collection from State-ownedenterprises, FDI businesses and private firms may decline compared to the lastsix months. The revenue in some big provinces and cities was low such as Ho ChiMinh City, which has fulfilled just over 48 percent of its budget collectiontarget for this year.

Meanwhile, transfer pricing and untruthful taxdeclaration are still rampant. The disbursement of public investment capital,especially official development assistance (ODA) capital, remains sluggish asthe six-month disbursed capital was equivalent to only 32.4 percent of thetargeted figure, lower than that in the same period of 2018.

Hue blamed these problems partly on the Ministryof Planning and Investment, localities, as well as the MoF, asking them toaccelerate the disbursement of public investment capital, particularly ODAcapital, and promote the progress and quality of equitising and divesting Statecapital from State-owned enterprises.

The Deputy PM requested the MoF to enhancefinancial-budgetary discipline, address wastefulness in budget spending, andincrease inspections and examinations.

The ministry and the General Department ofVietnam Customs need to augment efforts to fight the circumvention of traderemedies and origin frauds, he said, asking them to boost controlling theimport of foreign products into Vietnam to fake origin to re-export them to othercountries.

The MoF also needs to coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investmentto select FDI projects that apply good technology and meet security-defence andenvironmental requirements, Deputy PM Hue added. -VNA