Minister Ho Duc Phuc delivered a speech at the Conference.

Import-export turnover will be positive in the second half of the year

Speaking from the side of the General Department of Customs, Mr. Nguyen Van Can, Director of the General Department of Customs, said that the import-export turnover in February and two months of 2023 is different from 2022 and previous years. In February 2023, state budget revenue through import and export increased more than in 2022 because in 2022, the Lunar New Year is in February and the revenue in January 2022 is too high.

Mr. Nguyen Van Can said the absolute revenue through import and export of the first two months of the year decreased, but the capture of enterprises, especially FDI enterprises and domestic enterprises shows that multinational companies are expanding investment in production in Vietnam.

Regarding import-export turnover from now to June 2023, General Director Nguyen Van Can said that it may not increase much over the same period due to inflation in some major markets, but it will be positive in the last months of the year when enterprises expand production and business.

"Monitoring the activities of FDI enterprises such as Korean, Japanese and European enterprises shows that the situation is not very worrying, in terms of import-export revenue, import-export turnover will increase from the third quarter onwards," commented Mr. Nguyen. Van Can.

The points of the Conference.

According to a report from the General Department of Taxation, Mr. Mai Xuan Thanh, Acting Director of the General Department of Taxation, said that in the first two months of 2023, the state budget revenue managed by the tax sector increased by 16.7% compared to the same period in 2022, estimated at VND325,780 billion, equaling 23.7% of the estimate. In which, domestic revenue was estimated at VND 314,986 billion, equaling 23.7% of the estimate, up 16.8% over the same period in 2022.

The number of e-invoices received and processed by tax authorities is 3.1 billion. Simultaneously, regarding the implementation of e-invoices created from cash registers, Mr. Mai Xuan Thanh said that 2,904 businesses, business households and individuals have successfully registered, reaching 74% of the implementation plan period 1 with a number of 522,859 invoices.

The General Department of Taxation has submitted a report to the Ministry of Finance on the establishment of the Center for building an electronic invoice database under the General Department of Taxation. At the same time, actively research and propose professional requirements for analyzing electronic invoice data; review, supplement and complete the set of indicators of risk and anti-fraud criteria on e-invoices; compare the electronic invoice data with the Value Added declaration.

The conference also noted the comments of the leaders of the State Treasury; State Securities Committee; Finance Department of Banks and Financial Institutions, etc.

It is indispensable to continue working hard, focus on completing the tasks

Addressing the conference, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phuc emphasized the role of the Finance sector in the economy as the lifeblood of the body, therefore, in the current difficult period, the whole industry is required to continue making efforts, concentrating, being united and striving to complete the task.

Regarding the construction and issuance of legal documents, the Minister noted that the units under the Ministry have made efforts to advise the Government to promulgate Decree 08/2023/ND-CP amending the Decree on corporate bonds to create resonation, remove the bottlenecks of the corporate bond market and the economy, which was welcomed by the public.

The Ministry of Finance also contributed ideas to amend Decree 95 on petrol and oil, making an important contribution to advising the Government to issue Resolution 30 to remove difficulties in medical supplies; along with that is developing many legal documents such as amending Law 69; extending tax and land rent, renewing budget decentralization, etc.

Affirming that the budget revenue in the first two months of the year was quite good with VND362.3 trillion, equaling 22% of the estimate, up 10% over the same period, but the Minister noted that there are 4 low-collected taxes such as environmental protection tax, income from real estate, granting mining rights, etc.

Assigning specific tasks to each branch, Minister Ho Duc Phuc asked the Customs sector to accelerate modernization with modern machines, modern people, modern processes, etc. At the same time, the Minister assigned the Customs sector authorities must strengthen the initiative in detecting and recommending to competent authorities about the passing of oversized and overloaded vehicles in order to promptly handle and combat tax and goods fraud; strengthen the fight against smuggling and trade fraud; closely monitor the amount of import-export turnover to timely advise the Ministry and Government to make decisions.

Regarding the work of the tax sector, Minister Ho Duc Phuoc requested the General Department of Taxation to urgently and effectively implement projects, including a data center for electronic invoices, electronic invoice management tools, and real estate transfer management software.

Concentrating on managing domestic and cross-border e-commerce exchanges to prevent tax loss; strictly and surely implementing tax refunds to avoid negligence, tax loss, etc.

Regarding the stock market, the Minister said it is necessary to create a fair, transparent and objective playing field. With corporate bonds, the Minister noted that it is necessary to closely follow and urge businesses that are due to pay their bonds to carry out procedures to extend the repayment period or swap or pay debts, so as not to affect financial markets.

In terms of difficulties and limitations, the Minister emphasized that it is necessary to pay attention to the situation of fraud in the financial sector, especially corporate bonds, insurance, and capital market. The financial sector needs to forecast early to have propaganda, and orientation for people and investors.

The Minister also noted that units must focus on completing a large number of legal documents within the scope and functions of the Ministry of Finance such as Law on Prices, Law on Personal Income Tax, Law on Insurance Business; improve the capacity and skills of the officers and staff, etc.