Guidance on the method of establishing average electricity prices; Guidance on managing environmental restoration deposits in mineral exploitation; Amending regulations on buying and selling foreign currencies between official foreign exchange reserves and the state budget are prominent policies related to the economic sector that will officially take effect from September 2024.
Instructions on the method of establishing average electricity selling price
Workers of Power Transmission Company 1 check equipment of Xuan Mai 220 kV substation. Photo: Huy Hung/VNA
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has issued Circular No. 09/2024/TT-BCT dated July 30, 2024 regulating the calculation of average electricity prices. Circular 09/2024/TT-BCT guides Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) to calculate average electricity prices according to the provisions of Article 4 of Decision No. 05/2024/QD-TTg dated March 26, 2024 of the Prime Minister regulating the mechanism for adjusting average retail electricity prices. The Circular consists of 3 chapters and 15 articles, applicable to EVN and its member units, related organizations and individuals. In particular, the Circular provides detailed instructions on the method of establishing annual and intra-year average electricity prices as well as the calculation formula to obtain the final electricity price results. Accordingly, the average annual and annual electricity price is calculated based on the costs of electricity generation, costs of auxiliary services for the power system, costs of purchasing electricity transmission services, electricity distribution - retail, electricity system dispatch and electricity market transaction management, and industry operation - management costs in the annual/annual average electricity price. To have a basis for calculation, the Circular also provides specific instructions on the method of establishing the total costs of the following stages: Electricity generation; transmission; auxiliary services for the power system; electricity distribution - retail services; electricity system dispatch and electricity market transaction management services; industry operation - management costs and standard profits... The Electricity Regulatory Authority is responsible for presiding over and coordinating with relevant agencies to report to the Minister of Industry and Trade on the inspection, review and supervision of the average electricity price plan developed and adjusted by Vietnam Electricity Group according to the provisions of Decision No. 05/2024/QD-TTg. Vietnam Electricity Group is responsible for implementing the provisions of Decision No. 05/2024/QD-TTg and the provisions of this Circular. The Circular officially takes effect from September 14, 2024. Guidance on management of environmental restoration deposits in mineral exploitation The Ministry of Finance has just issued Circular No. 57/2024/TT-BTC dated August 1, 2024 guiding the management and use of environmental restoration and rehabilitation deposits in mineral exploitation activities and waste burial activities at the Environmental Protection Fund. According to the Circular, the depositor is an organization or individual engaged in mineral exploitation and waste burial activities in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection and relevant guiding documents. The deposit recipient is the Environmental Protection Fund. The deposit is the amount of money that the depositor deposits into the deposit recipient to ensure the responsibility for implementing environmental improvement and restoration projects and handling risks and environmental pollution risks arising from mineral exploitation and waste burial activities in accordance with the provisions of law and this Circular. The deposit recipient must deposit all the deposit into a separate deposit account opened at a commercial bank. The deposit account is an account independent of other accounts at the commercial bank of the deposit recipient and tracks in detail the deposit and interest arising from the deposit of each project, organization, and individual making the deposit. Money from the deposit account may only be disbursed when it satisfies the conditions specified in Article 37, Article 76 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP, documents replacing or amending and supplementing Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP (if any) and internal regulations on the management and use of deposit money of the deposit recipient. Deposit money and interest arising from the deposit money shall be deposited by the deposit recipient at commercial banks. The deposit interest rate that the deposit recipient must pay to the depositor. The deposit interest rate payable to the depositor for mineral exploitation activities shall comply with the provisions of Point d, Clause 5, Article 37 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP and legal documents replacing or amending and supplementing (if any). The interest rate on the deposit payable to the depositor for waste burial activities shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of Point e, Clause 2, Article 76 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP and legal documents replacing or amending and supplementing (if any). Every 6 months (before July 31 of the reporting year and March 31 of the year following the reporting year), the deposit recipient must send a Notice of deposit balance and deposit interest payable to the depositor at June 30 and December 31 of the reporting year according to Appendix 3 of this Circular and publicly on the website or at the Head Office of the deposit recipient. For the annual report, the deposit recipient must attach an audited Financial Statement. The management and use of the deposit must be explained in detail in terms of increase and decrease in the annual Financial Statement of the deposit recipient. The deposit recipient must audit the annual financial statements in accordance with the provisions of law. The audit, inspection and examination of the management and use of the deposit money of the deposit recipient shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of law. This Circular takes effect from September 14, 2024.
Amending regulations on foreign currency purchase and sale between official foreign exchange reserves and the state budget The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) issued Circular 43/2024/TT-NHNN dated August 9, 2024 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 01/2014/TT-NHNN dated December 10, 2014 guiding the organization and implementation of state foreign exchange reserve management activities. Circular 43/2024/TT-NHNN amends and supplements Article 9 of Circular 01/2014/TT-NHNN on the purchase and sale of foreign currencies between official foreign exchange reserves and the state budget as follows: 1- Purchase of foreign currencies from the state budget: Based on the annual foreign exchange sale plan of the state budget and the written request for foreign currency sale of the Ministry of Finance and/or the directives of the Prime Minister, the State Foreign Exchange Reserve Management Department shall purchase foreign currencies to supplement the state foreign exchange reserves from the state budget at the prescribed exchange rate. 2- Sale of foreign currencies to the state budget: Based on the written request for foreign currency purchase of the Ministry of Finance to meet the foreign currency demand of the state budget, the State Foreign Exchange Reserve Management Department shall coordinate with the Monetary Policy Department to develop a plan to balance the sale of foreign currencies to the state budget and submit it to the Governor of the State Bank for approval and notify the Ministry of Finance. Based on the foreign currency balance plan approved by the Governor of the State Bank, the State Foreign Exchange Reserve Management Department shall sell foreign currency to the State budget at the prescribed exchange rate. 3- Foreign currency buying and selling rates of the State Bank: In case of buying and selling US dollars, the foreign currency buying and selling rates shall be equal to the spot buying and selling rates in the intervention plan; if at the time of implementation there is no intervention plan or the intervention plan does not contain any content on the spot exchange rate, the foreign currency buying and selling rates shall be equal to the central exchange rate announced by the State Bank applicable to the date of transaction (*). In case of buying and selling foreign currencies other than the US dollar, the buying and selling rates of foreign currencies are applied based on the cross-rate of the exchange rate determined at point (*) above and the average exchange rate of the buying and selling prices between the foreign currencies being bought and sold and the US dollar listed on the international foreign exchange market through the Refinitiv or Bloomberg information network system before 10:00 a.m. on the transaction day. This Circular takes effect from September 23, 2024.
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