Recently, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc has given an interview to the press regarding the determination to successfully accomplish the financial-budgetary task of the state in 2024 on the occasion of the Lunar New Year of the Giraffe.
Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc
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The finance sector aggressively deploys tasks from the beginning of the year
Minister Phoc shared that 2024 is a year of acceleration, breakthroughs, and has special significance in successfully implementing the 5-year socio-economic development plan for 2021-2025, and the government has set out an action motto. Minister Ho Duc Phoc revealed: The Ministry of Finance has requested organizations, agencies, and units across the sector to focus on resolutely, synchronously, and effectively implementing financial-budgetary tasks and solutions to achieve the financial budget task for 2024.
The Party’s Central Committee of the Ministry of Finance requires units to maintain the macroeconomic foundation, control inflation, ensure major balances, promote sustainable growth and development in economic and social fields. At the same time, continue to improve the financial-budgetary system, policies and laws on state budget revenue, enhance revenue management, and strive to achieve the highest budget estimate to ensure resources for implementing economic and social development goals.
In addition, tightly manage the State Budget (NSNN), strengthen cost savings, enhance efficiency in managing, allocating, and using NSNN, tighten financial discipline; continue to promote NSNN restructuring in connection to economic restructuring goals, sustainable development… The leaders of the Ministry of Finance also require ensuring the stable and safe operation of the financial market and financial services; strictly handle violations, promote fair competition among economic components. At the same time, enhance the effectiveness of the political system, continue to innovate, reorganize the organizational apparatus, streamline the organizational structure, innovate the financial mechanism of public career units; resolutely, substantial, and effectively restructure state-owned enterprises in connection to business management innovation.
In addition, promote digital transformation; continue to improve the actual investment environment, administrative procedure reform, enhance national competitiveness, increase transparency, improve financial discipline, and the state budget execution; strengthen inspection, examination, supervision, transparency in revenue management, state budget expenditure, state assets, land, resources…
“Units in the Ministry of Finance based on their functions and tasks must build programs, action plans with effective implementation, in which clearly identify goals, tasks, implementation progress, and assign leading units; regularly inspect and urge implementation. We require resolute, effective implementation from the first days and months of the year”, Minister Ho Duc Phoc said.
More synchronized coordination for sustainable market development
Minister Ho Duc Phoc believes that financial markets have recently faced many impacts from both objective and subjective factors, from the macroeconomic situation domestically and internationally. These impacts have caused fluctuations in the stock market, separate corporate bond markets, as well as difficulties and challenges in the insurance market.
However, under the resolute direction and administration of the Government, the coordination of ministries, agencies, relevant bodies, timely and appropriate solutions of management agencies, efforts of businesses, concurrence of investors, people… financial markets continue to be consolidated, resolved, timely addressing difficulties and obstacles to develop increasingly healthy, transparent, and sustainable. The leaders of the Ministry of Finance have many solutions for inspecting, controlling, inspecting, improving the legal system, promoting transparency, rigorously, inclusively, typical of the market, enhancing financial discipline in the market…
The head of the Ministry of Finance emphasized: To develop the corporate bond market correctly with potential and the role as an important channel for the economy, there must be the “joint effort” of all entities participating in the market. For state management agencies, ministries need to implement synchronized macro policy administrative solutions; control inflation; resolve difficulties, stabilize the real estate market; study policies to promote credit ratings…
The Ministry of Finance will also coordinate with ministries to comprehensively review, study, and submit authorized reports to amend legal documents related to the issuance of corporate bonds in the Securities Law, Enterprise Law…
In the long term, the Ministry of Finance will continue to develop the system of institutional investors, investment funds (including corporate bond investment funds), strengthen resources, human resources to manage, supervise, and timely detect and handle violators of securities markets, corporate bond markets. Specifically, businesses with outstanding bond debts must be responsible for fully repaying bond obligations to investors to ensure trust in the market.
Enterprises must also proactively make financial information transparent, information on the use of capital from the bond issuance… However, in my opinion, investors need to differentiate corporate bonds are not bank deposits and evaluate the corresponding risk level with the profit when investing in bonds, take responsibility for their investment decisions.
In order to minimize negative impacts on businesses as well as the investment environment of Vietnam, the Government is entrusting the Ministry of Planning and Investment to preside over, coordinate with ministries, and localities to build suitable solutions in line with the actual situation.
This year, the Ministry of Finance has also directed the State Securities Commission (SSC) and relevant units to prioritize the implementation of various important tasks and solutions. In which, the SSC needs to continue to improve the legal system, promptly review legal documents to complete the legal system, ensuring the market operates stably, smoothly, safely, healthily, and sustainably. Build unified plans, solutions to effectively implement the Stock Market Development Strategy until 2030 when approved by the Prime Minister; continue to restructure the stock market based on 4 pillars including: market organization; commodity basis; investor base; and securities business organizations.
“It is necessary to strengthen management, inspection, supervision work, including clearly stating the maxim support, in accordance with the law for genuine organizations, investors but also strictly handle violations in a transparent manner, typical to increase deterrence, strengthen discipline, market discipline…” the Ministry of Finance leader noted.
The Finance Ministry’s leaders believe that unknown factors for financial markets still exist this year. However, with the foundation that has been built, the solutions that have been implemented, and the proactive involvement from the first days, first months of the management agencies at all levels, financial markets will continue to make more positive progress in terms of quality and healthiness, sustainability.
Looking back at 2023, economic diplomacy continued to be strengthened based on the profound guidelines of the Party Congress XIII about “building economic diplomacy to serve development, with people, localities, and businesses as its center”. The Government has also evaluated that economic diplomacy has made new developments comprehensively, substantive, and more effective.
International activities, especially high-level diplomacy in the past year have helped expand and deepen economic cooperation with many partners, contributing to ensuring macroeconomic stability, major balances, promoting economic growth, boosting import and export, attracting new resources, including foreign direct investment (FDI), indirect investment (FII), non-refundable aid (ODA), science and technology…
In that trend, the finance sector has always attached importance to this work, especially in 2023, the Ministry of Finance has also had many practical activities to take advantage of the opportunity of a “brilliant successful” year of the country’s economic diplomacy.
In the past time, we have had many successes through targets for national public debt, Government debt decreased from 43.1% in 2021 to only 37% in 2023. Besides, programs to promote indirect investment in foreign countries have been implemented since 2014.
These programs have importantly contributed to promoting the potential of our economy in general and the Vietnamese stock market in particular to the international investment community, attracting long-term financial resources, low-interest rates to serve economic development.
In 2024, based on the experience and positive results achieved in previous years, the Ministry of Finance will continue to build programs to promote indirect investment in foreign countries to promote and attract stronger participation of foreign capital in the Vietnamese stock market; at the same time, strengthen connectivity, construction, consolidation of cooperation with management agencies of the stock market, financial institutions, large investment institutions worldwide.
In the immediate future, in March, the Ministry of Finance is expected to organize an Investment Promotion Program in South Korea and Japan to continue to attract indirect investment into Vietnam.
