Apr 24, 2012

Vietnam - Higher budget deficit suggested to save local companies


As local enterprises are grappling with difficulties, they should be given tax reduction and exemption, meaning the country should accept a higher budget deficit this year due to falling revenue for the State coffer and higher spending, heard a seminar in HCM City over the weekend.

Tran Hoang Ngan, member of the National Assembly (NA) Economic Committee, told the “Economic Overview 2012” seminar that he would propose the NA to allow for an overstretch of the budget deficit target of 4.8%.

The deficit last year was 4.9% of the gross domestic product (GDP), and the target set for this year is 4.8%. However, Ngan said he would ask the NA in its sitting in May to raise the limit.

“The urgent thing to do now is to cut or reschedule taxes for enterprises. If this measure is to be accepted, we have to accept falling revenue for the State Budget and thus a higher deficit. But spending must also be closely supervised to avoid adverse impacts on the economy,” he said.

He said the Government would discuss further on corporate tax incentives and draw up a specific tax policy in May.

The economy had experienced a staggering development period from 2000 to 2010, with the annual average GDP growth rate recorded at about 7.26%.

Until the rate marked its slowdown in 2011, the nation had always seen its credit growth rate shooting up to over 30% yearly versus the moderate 10% of other regional countries. This means the Government had injected an enormous capital volume into the economy.

To remedy the situation, the Government in Resolution 11/NQ-CP in 2011 insisted on cutting the economic growth momentum along with the tightening credits in a cautious way. Besides working as a right therapy for the economy, the new measures have brought about unexpected side-effect as well, Ngan pointed out.

For instance, the nation in the first quarter earned a trade surplus of US$220 million while having suffered trade deficits hovering around US$2-3 billion quarterly in previous years. The rare phenomenon is believed to have partly resulted from the fact that many companies had gone bankrupt for failing to survive tough times, Ngan cited.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast Vietnam will gain an economic growth rate of some 5.6% despite its planned target of around 6-6.5%. To secure local employment rate, the country must grow at over 5%, so it is trying to reach a 5.5-6% growth rate, Ngan clarified.

The nation’s public debts make up roughly 53% of GDP but the Government affirmed that there was nothing to worry about if the figure had yet to exceed 65%, Ngan added.

Saigon Times



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