On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the traditional day of the Finance industry (August 28, 1945 - August 28, 2020), Customs Newspaper spoke to Mr. Dinh Tien Dung, Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Finance on the important results the finance sector has achieved in recent years as well as the directions for the coming period.

Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the tradition day of the Finance sector, could you tell us the main results the Finance sector has achieved, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of the country, especially outstanding achievements in the last five years?

Minister DinhTien Dung:

In the 2016-2020 period, the entire Finance sector has focused on implementing the Resolution of the XII Party Congress, Resolution No. 07-NQ/TW dated November 18, 2016 of the Politburo on guidelines and solutions to restructuring the state budget, public debt management to ensure a safe and sustainable national finance, along with resolutions of the National Assembly and the Government to concretize the Party's policies in socio-economic development and state budget. With high determination and great effort in the past five years, the entire Finance sector has achieved the following main results:

Firstly, it has focused on perfecting the financial - state budget institutional system, ensuring synchronization, consistent with the level of economic development and international experience, contribute to promoting the development of production and business activities, improving the competitiveness of the economy and promoting international economic integration; at the same time, strengthen discipline, financial discipline and state budget.

Over the past five years, the Ministry of Finance has submitted to the National Assembly, the Government and the Prime Minister for approval six Laws, seven Resolutions of the National Assembly, seven Resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, 138 Decrees of the Government and 36 Decisions of the Prime Minister related to the areas assigned (tax, state budget, corporate finance, public property, price management, securities) and issued under its authority 740 circulars, decisions and directives of the Minister of Finance to guide the implementation.

Secondly, the restructuring of the state budget and public debt has basically completed the goals set out in the resolutions of the Party and the National Assembly, making an important contribution to macroeconomic stability and ensuring balances of major economic growth, realizing socio-economic development goals, enhancing the country's status in regional and international cooperation.

The scale of state budget revenue has been improved, while the state budget revenue structure is more sustainable. The size of budget revenue in the five years from 2016 to 2020 increased about 1.6 times compared to the 2011-2015period; domestic revenue accounts for an increasing proportion of the total state budget revenue. By 2020, it is estimated to reach 83-84%, reaching the set target. In addition, there were 16 localities to balance their revenues and expenditures and regulate the central government, an increase of three provinces compared to the 2011-2015period.

State budget expenditure is strictly managed, with priority given to the implementation of major guidelines and orientations of the Party and State. In the process of restructuring the state budget expenditure, prioritizing resources for development investment from the estimation stage. As a result, in the context of a decrease in the size of state budget expenditure compared to GDP (due to a decrease in state budget deficit), the proportion of estimated development investment expenditures has been increased from 25.7% in 2017 to 26.9%. By 2020, reduce the proportion of recurrent expenditure estimates while annually implementing an increase in salaries, pensions, and benefits for people with meritorious services to an average of 7% and ensure an increase in spending on national defense and security and ensure social security. There have been many innovations in the management of budget expenditures, implementation of medium-term financial plans; promote contracting, bidding, and ordering; strengthening decentralization, empowering autonomy; implementing a specific financial mechanism for big cities; tightening fiscal - budgetary discipline.

Until the Covid-19 pandemic, state budget deficit was strictly controlled, on the principle of gradual reduction; average four years 2016-2019 is 3.5% of GDP. Thereby, the public debt ratio has been sharply reduced from 63.7% of GDP at the end of 2016 to 54.7% of GDP at the end of 2019. The structure of public debt has been improved through positive measures, such as: old debt with short terms, high interest rates to longer term debt, lower interest rates; focus on issuing new Government bonds with terms of 5 years, 10 years and longer, gradually reducing issuing interest rate, thereby improving the space and increasing the sustainability of the state budget.

The average term of government bonds has increased from 3.9 years (2011) to 6.96 years (2015) and by 2019 it is 13.44 years; the average remaining term of Government bond portfolio at the end of 2011 is 1.84 years, to 2019 is 7.42 years; the average Government bond issuance interest rate has decreased from 12% in 2011 to 6% in 2015 and 4.51% in 2019.

Third, the management of market prices has basically changed; perfecting the price management institution, shifting some public non-business services to the State-managed market price mechanism, step by step calculating the correctness, adequacy,publicity and transparency of the factors that make up the price of essential public services and goods, promote socialization, encourage all economic sectors to invest in development of socio-economic infrastructure, public non-business services; developing different types of markets; at the same time, gradually allocating and using resources according to price signals.

In annual management, it has closely coordinated with the ministries, agencies to manage and regulate the prices of essential commodities (coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to adjust the domestic gasoline prices close to the developments of world prices; coordinate with the Ministry of Health and localities in determining the roadmap for price adjustment of medical services with health insurance and no health insurance; organize inspection teams on observance of the law on prices and price stabilization on the occasion of holidays; applying measures to regulate supply and demand, stabilize the market), thereby contributing to the achievement of inflation control and macro stability. The consumer price index (CPI) in the years between 2016-2019 fell sharply compared to the average level of the 2011-2015 period (7.65%), within the set target (below 4%).

Fourthly, the capital market develops in width and depth, becoming an important long-term capital mobilization channel of businesses and the economy. All three components of the capital market (stock market, bond market, derivative stock market) have grown and developed compared to the previous period, towards a balanced development with the bank credit market. By the end of 2019, the size of the stock market capitalization reached 79.2% of GDP, the bond market reached 40.14% of GDP, exceeding the target set by 2020. In the context of strong global stock market fluctuations due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, Vietnam's stock market is relatively stable and recovered as soon as the domestic epidemic is under control, proving the confidence of investors in the long-term development prospects of the Vietnamese economy.

The insurance market also grew well, in the 2016-2020 period, the size of assets increased by an average of 19%, the money invested back into the economy increased by 19.4%/year on average, and paid insurance benefits on time, playing an important "midwife" role inthe economy.

Fifth, the management of public assets is important. In particular, the 2017 Law on Public Asset Management and Use and guiding documents have created a relatively complete legal basis for the strict and economical management and use of public assets; use and efficiently exploit financial resources from public assets; to prevent loss, waste and corruption in the management and use of public assets.

Sixth, the administrative reform focused on implementation. The Ministry of Finance closely follows the goals and requirements of administrative procedure reform, improving the business environment and enhancing national competitiveness in accordance with the Government's resolutions and the Prime Minister's directives and achieving impressive results.

The aforementioned fiscal policy reforms have been recognized by members of the National Assembly, voters, experts and people nationwide in many forums. However, besides the mechanisms and policy, what brought the "pioneering imprint" of the Finance sector reflected in the strong administrative reform, especially in the fields of tax and customs. Could you share something about this imprint?

Minister DinhTien Dung:

In reform and modernization, the Ministry of Finance has always been one of the leading ministries and branches in institutional reforms and administrative procedures in the right spirit: integrity, creation and act; towards increasingly comprehensive satisfaction of agencies and units, especially businesses and people. It is worth mentioning here that the Finance industry is not only a pioneer but also continuously maintains the top position in leading units over the years.

From 2016 to now (to July 31, 2020), there have been reviews and reductions of 304 administrative procedures, amending, simplifying and standardizing 1,159 administrative procedures. Up to now, the total number of administrative procedures under the management of the Ministry of Finance remains 959 (of which there are 304 administrative procedures in taxation and 226 in customs) in the securities sector, there are 184 administrative procedures, the State Treasury has 11 administrative procedures, the reserve field still has seven administrative procedures and other financial fields have 227 administrative procedures. At the same time, the application of information technology has been promoted.

In the field of Customs, since 2014, implementing the VNACCS/VCIS System to automate the declaration and clearance of goods, by 2017, the General Department of Customs will continue to implement the Customs Management and Supervision System (VASSCM). This is a modern management system that is deployed nationwide at seaports and airports where import and export activities are involved. This system helps to shorten the time for delivery procedures from five to seven times compared to before.

In addition, the General Department of Customs continues to promote electronic tax payment by signing a collection coordination agreement and implementing an electronic tax payment program and 24/7 customs clearance with commercial banks.

From November 2019, the General Department of Customs has officially implemented the electronic tax payment program for enterprises to ask for collection on the basis of upgrading and expanding electronic tax payment and customs clearance 24/7; facilitate enterprises to regularly carry out import and export procedures with a large number of tax declarations, fully active in no time and cost to pay taxes. Tax payment, debt payment and goods clearance are completely automatic without the intervention of enterprises and customs officers. This helps businesses shorten processing time compared to electronic tax payment and 24/7 clearance. Until now, the tax amount paid electronically has accounted for over 97% of the total state budget revenue in the import and export sector.

In particular, the construction and official operation of the National Single Window and the ASEAN Single Window is a big step in supporting and facilitating businesses. From 2014 to the end of July 2020, 198 administrative procedures of 13 ministries and branches were officially implemented on the National Single Window with approximately 3.2 million records frommore than 39,900 enterprises. As for the implementation of the ASEAN Single Window, up to now, Vietnam has officially connected to exchange electronic D-form origin certification information in all nine ASEAN countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines.

In the tax field, tax authorities at all levels have strongly deployed the system of electronic tax declaration and tax payment. From the end of 2018, the electronic tax declaration system has been implemented in all provinces and cities and 100% of affiliated tax offices. Up to now, 99.93% of enterprises are operating using electronic tax declaration services, and about 99% of enterprises have registered for electronic tax payment services through commercial banks. In particular, also this year, the tax authorities at all levels implemented electronic tax refund services with 93.61% of enterprises getting electronic tax refunds; 97.3% of total electronic tax refund records. Two electronic tax return and electronic tax payment systems are provided for businesses to be integrated into a single system to better support taxpayers.

Regarding administrative procedures, from the beginning of 2016 to the middle of 2020, the Ministry of Finance has abolished, as well as amended and supplemented hundreds of administrative procedures in the fields of tax, customs, securities, public property, banking and insurance to facilitate and remove difficulties for businesses. The Ministry of Finance has also completed linking documents sending and receiving documents with ministries, central and local agencies; implementing 951 administrative procedures online at the Ministry of Finance, of which providing online public services at level 3 and 4 of the Finance sector is 560 services (reaching arate of 58.9%).

It can be seen that the results in the application of information technology, modernization of the financial industry, and the change in management methods have initially contributed to the effectiveness and efficiency of state management of the Finance sector, making sure to meet assigned political mission requirements.

These efforts have been recognized through the MoF's position in the top three in administrative reform since it started implementing the PAR Index scoring from 2012 to now; for seven consecutive years, it ranks first among ministries and sectors on the ICT Index for readiness for development and application of information technology.

As a result, the costs of complying with tax administrative procedures and customs have been reduced to the three best groups out of eight groups of administrative procedures; 22 steps improvement in tax index in the ranking of Business Environment Report in 2019 (from 131st to 109th out of 190).

Not only in administrative reform, the arrangement and building of a streamlined, effective and efficient apparatus are also a very active mode of "reform" of the Finance sector. How are the results of this work now, Sir?

Minister DinhTien Dung:

The Finance sector has actively implemented Resolution No. 18-NQ/ TW and Resolution No. 19-NQ/ TW of the 6th Central Conference (Session XII) to continue to innovate, streamline organizational structure, operate effectively, streamline staffing and renew the public non-business sector.

Accordingly, since2018, the whole branch has reviewed, rearranged the apparatus, cut 2,985 administrative procedures, reduced 2,044 civil servants holding leadership positions from the group/team level upwards; reduced nine public non-business units.

Thanks to the direction, grasping from the top, the thoughtful preparation in terms of institutions, organizations, people, techniques, facilities, working conditions, so the process of organizing the apparatus and cutting procedureswent smoothly, the political tasks were carried out smoothly, without causing congestion or obstruction.

Besides, the most important thing in the work of cadres is the strengthening of administrative discipline for civil servants and public employees; Enhancing the control of the power and responsibility of the head of the unit in staff management and duty execution because the Finance sector manages multi-disciplinary, multi-field management, including many branches and fields of contact people and businesses directly.

To concretize this, the Finance sector has strengthened thehandling toeffectively prevent harassment, causing trouble to people and businesses in solving work; promptly reviewing, amending and supplementing regulations on the responsibility regime and discipline of public servants and public employees in performing their tasks; taking measures to immediately rectify the harassment, negative situations, improper attitude and behavioral culture of cadres, civil servants and public employees under their management; proactively strengthen internal inspection and supervision.

2020 is the last year to implement the 5-year socio-economic plan 2016-2020. However, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy faced many challenges. What solutions does the Finance sector have to solve problems for businesses and provide financial support for businesses and people, Sir?

Minister DinhTien Dung:

In order to support businesses and people in coping with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Finance has actively developed, proposed and submitted to competent authorities for promulgation and synchronous implementation many solutions, including extension package for tax payment, land rent worth about VND61,000 billion; solutions and proposals on tax, fee and fee exemption and reduction are worth more than VND50,000 billion.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance has actively coordinated with ministries and ministerial-level agencies to review and issue according to its competence or submit to the Government or the Prime Minister for promulgation documents on tax exemption or reduction, fees and charges in many fields (expected reduction of VND1,000 billion per year).

In addition, in the management and in the face of the complicated pandemicsituation, the Ministry of Finance has actively coordinated with a number of relevant ministries and agencies to issue a number of specific regimes for those directly involved in disease prevention and control and concentrated quarantine ofpeople; coordinate to develop supportive policies for businesses and people greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic; to build mechanisms to ensure funding and arrange and allocate central budget sources for implementation. Up to now, the state budget has spent about VND15.3 trillion on pandemic prevention and control and to support people facing difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, of which VND4.1 trillion has been spent on prevention of pandemic; VND11.3 trillion spent to support about 11 million people affected by the Covid-19 pandemicaccording to the Government's resolutions.

In the context of many challenges, could you tell us what solutions has the Finance sector set up to continue to fulfill the financial and state budget tasks in the future?

Minister DinhTien Dung:

Promoting the 75-year tradition of construction and development of the Finance sector, to continue building a safe, sustainable, and more resilient national finance sector to fast, strong and unpredictable changes in the regional political, economic, financial situation, the Finance sector will continue to focus on implementing the following key solutions:

Firstly, to continue to be proactive in directing, building and perfecting institutions, mechanisms, policies, finance - state budget as well as in the management and administration of annual financial-state budget tasks.

Second, closely monitor the Covid-19 pandemic, continue to research and propose solutions to timely report to competent authorities and implement issued solutions to assist in reducing difficulties for businesses and citizens; continue to implement solutions to encourage the development of production and business, improve the investment environment, enhance national competitiveness and ensure social security.

Third, manage the fiscal policy closely, harmoniously combine with monetary policy and other policies; forecast and calculate the impact of the pandemic and other factors on the economy and state budget revenues and expenditures as well as on the implementation of the tasks of the Sector so that they can proactively advise and propose timely solutions to minimize adverse impacts on the economic, social and financial - state budget situation.

Fourth, continue to promote international cooperation, increase the effective attraction of domestic and foreign investment capital sources, including both direct and indirect capital sources.

Fifth, continue to effectively implement measures to restructure the state budget, manage public debt, ensure a safe and sustainable national financial system; promote mid-term financial and state budget management.

Sixth, promote solutions for synchronous development, balance financial markets, perfect institutions and legal frameworks on finance and operations of SOEs; enhance the reform of the financial mechanism of public non-business units and public service prices. Manage and use resources from public property, land resources effectively.

Seventh, building mechanisms and policies, creating a new driving force for the private sector to participate in the provision of public services and participate in developing socio-economic infrastructure.

Eighth, continue to reform administrative procedures on the basis of three basic pillars, which are to reform professional processes, strengthen risk management and promote the application of information technology, develop e-finance aiming to build digital finance.

Finally, continue to reform the organizational apparatus towards streamlining, efficiency, improving the quality of human resources, promoting training, research, evaluation, planning and public service execution in Finance.

On the occasion of 75 years of the traditional day of the Finance sector (August 28, 1945 - August 28, 2020), what message will you send to all officials, civil servants, public employees and employees of the Finance sector?

Minister DinhTien Dung:

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Financial Sector's traditional day, on behalf of the Party's Civil Affairs Committee and the Ministry of Finance leaders, I respectfully send the best wishes to the generations of Finance officials, civil servants, public employees and workers.

During 75 years of construction, growth and development, generations of officials, civil servants, public employees and employees of the Finance sector have constantly strived, united, to overcome difficulties and challenges, complete the assigned tasks to embellish the tradition and glorious history of the industry.

The tasks in 2020 as well as the coming period of the Finance sector still face many difficulties and challenges. I believe that under the direction of the Party and State, the close coordination of ministries, branches and localities and with the determination of all cadres, civil servants, the Finance sector will successfully carry out the main assignedtasks, contributing to the whole country in completing the 5-year socio-economic development plan for the 2016-2020 period and the Resolution of the XII Congress of the Party.

Thank you very much, Minister!