Freeing up resources for growth

According to the program of the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly, the National Assembly will pass a draft law amending 7 laws in the financial sector including the Securities Law, Accounting Law, Independent Audit Law, State Budget Law, Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, Tax Management Law and National Reserve Law. Sharing with the press, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi affirmed that this is a very accurate, very correct and very timely policy, solving the "bottleneck of the bottleneck"; freeing up a lot of resources, creating many favorable conditions to contribute to the development of the socio-economy in the coming time.

With the revised State Budget Law, there are expected to be 3 major policy groups, notably the addition of a mechanism allowing the use of local development investment capital to support the central budget, supporting other localities to invest in regional and inter-regional infrastructure projects. Will these policies remove practical “bottlenecks”, Deputy Minister?

Based on the policy of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo and the Ministry of Finance also proposed to the Government to submit to the National Assembly to supplement this content in the State Budget Law in order to mobilize budget sources from all levels and localities to participate in investing in important infrastructure projects of inter-regional, inter-provincial, inter-national and even international nature.

We assess that if this mechanism is resolved, it will create comprehensive resources, promote the combined strength of both central and local governments to accelerate investment progress in key infrastructure projects of the country; contribute to the socio-economic development of each locality, region, and the whole country, not only at present but also in the future.

This helps reduce the situation of projects waiting for public investment capital from the state budget, especially in the context that in the near future we will have inter-regional projects when mobilizing the overall strength of both the central and local governments, without dividing the state budget on the basis of projects that are driving forces for regional, inter-provincial, and national development.

The revised Law on Tax Administration proposes to amend the regulations on the authority to decide on tax refunds. Accordingly, it is proposed to add the subject of tax refund decisions to the Branch Director and the Tax Department of Large Enterprises. Will this increased decentralization and delegation of authority help tax refunds be faster than before, Deputy Minister?

According to the current Law on Tax Administration, only the Director of the Tax Department of the provinces and centrally run cities has the authority to consider and decide on tax refunds. But in reality, we collect taxes and process tax records not only at the Tax Department but also at the Tax Branches. If tax refunds are implemented as currently prescribed, the process, procedures and coordination between the Tax Department and the Tax Branch in processing tax refunds may take more time. However, when decentralizing to the Tax Branches and the Director of the Tax Branches with the authority to consider and refund tax for tax records that they are assigned to manage, it will create more favorable conditions for businesses, shorten the time to consider tax refunds, and enhance the responsibility of the tax management level directly managing taxpayers. We think that is the right goal.

In addition, when implementing decentralization and delegation of authority, it is necessary to strengthen inspection and supervision of the implementation process at the Tax Departments and Tax Branches, and at the same time improve the capacity and qualifications of tax officers at the Branches to properly implement the provisions of the law, avoiding risks arising or profiteering during the tax refund process. We also propose this content in the amendment of the Law on Tax Administration.

In the context of the Vietnamese stock market striving to be upgraded, the draft amended Securities Law proposes to regulate individual investors to buy privately issued bonds. How will this change impact the corporate bond market?

For individual investors, the Draft Law amending and supplementing the Securities Law currently stipulates in the direction of respecting the investment rights of individual investors in the market. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance does not propose to amend the contents related to the investment rights of individual investors in the market, individual investors are entitled to invest in all types of individual corporate bonds. However, in order to improve the quality of goods in the market, limit risks and ensure the rights of individual investors in the investment activities of individual investors in the individual corporate bond market, and overcome the limitations of the individual corporate bond market in the past, the Draft Law supplements regulations in the direction of improving the quality of bonds.

We also propose to amend the decision process for issuing corporate bonds to the public to create more favorable conditions for qualified enterprises to be quickly reviewed and granted certificates for issuing bonds to the public to raise capital. For bonds issued to the public, all individual and institutional investors, regardless of whether they are professional or non-professional, can participate.

New policies need time for the market to adapt. Therefore, we plan to submit these regulations to the National Assembly for approval to take effect from January 1, 2026.

I believe that, with the proposals of the Ministry of Finance, the stock market, capital market, especially the corporate bond market, will develop sustainably and transparently, improve the quality of privately issued corporate bonds, promote enterprises to publicize and transparently disclose information, contribute to improving investor confidence, thereby attracting investment capital for enterprises.

Thank you very much, Deputy Minister!

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/giai-phong-nguon-luc-cho-tang-truong-157255.html