Proposal to keep debt group for borrowers facing difficulties

Proposal for customers with difficult production and business operations to keep their debt group unchanged

Customers facing difficulties in production and business will have their debt repayment terms restructured by banks and their debt group will remain the same until the end of this year.

This is the proposal of the State Bank in the Draft Circular regulating credit institutions and foreign bank branches to restructure debt repayment terms and maintain debt groups to support customers facing difficulties in production and business activities.

To restructure the debt repayment period, the loan must fully satisfy the following conditions: the loan arose before the effective date of this Circular and from lending and financial leasing activities serving production and business activities; the debt arises the obligation to repay principal or interest during the period from the effective date of this Circular to December 31, 2023.

State Bank proposes 0% interest rate for special incidents (Illustration photo: VnEconomy)

State Bank wants to tighten backyard lending

Authorized by the Prime Minister, the Governor of the State Bank has just signed a Submission to the National Assembly on the draft Law on Credit Institutions (amended). In it, the State Bank proposed many measures to prevent cross-ownership, tighten lending to backyard businesses and handle incidents of mass withdrawals at credit institutions.

For special loans for credit institutions to resolve and handle incidents of customers withdrawing money en masse, the draft stipulates a loan interest rate of 0%/year, with the same term as other special loans.

The Government agrees in principle to reduce value added tax from 10% to 8%.

On April 17, the Government Office sent a document to the Minister of Finance conveying Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai's opinion on tax, fee and charge exemption and reduction plans for 2023.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai agreed in principle that the Ministry of Finance report to the Government to submit to the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration and permission to develop and promulgate a National Assembly Resolution on value-added tax reduction.

Rectifying the appraisal and issuance of insurance contracts

On the afternoon of April 17, the Department of Insurance Management and Supervision (Ministry of Finance) had a working session with representatives of insurance companies on the management of the quality of insurance agency activities and the quality of customer care.

The insurance management agency requires to rectify the appraisal and issuance of insurance contracts; the appraisal and issuance of insurance contracts must be consistent with the financial capacity and level of insurance risk acceptance of customers.

There needs to be an early solution to adapt to the global minimum tax.

Vietnam will soon have solutions to adapt to the global minimum tax to limit the impact on investment capital flows. This is the main content of the workshop "Global minimum tax rules: Experience of countries in applying, expected impacts and recommendations for Vietnam" organized by the Ministry of Finance on the morning of April 18.

The global minimum tax will be applied from 2024. Experts assess that this tax will reduce the competitiveness of the investment environment in Vietnam. Because businesses will have to pay additional tax differences to the home country, making tax incentives no longer effective. However, Vietnam cannot stand outside the international flow.

Need to overcome shortcomings in renewable electricity prices

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has issued a framework for electricity generation prices for transitional solar and wind power projects, but has not yet received consensus from businesses. Therefore, by March 31, only about 23% of projects have submitted documents to negotiate power purchase contracts with Vietnam Electricity Group. Many businesses believe that in the 10 components of the documents for negotiating power purchase contracts and electricity prices, there are many regulations that are making it difficult for businesses.

Proposal to remove special consumption tax on gasoline

The Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has just given comments to the Ministry of Finance on the proposal to develop the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended).

Based on the opinions of businesses and associations, VCCI believes that gasoline is subject to two taxes with the same nature of restricting consumption: special consumption tax and environmental protection tax. However, gasoline is not a luxury item, so the special consumption tax on gasoline is also aimed at protecting the environment. Therefore, it is recommended that the drafting agency study the removal of special consumption tax on gasoline. If necessary, adjust the environmental protection tax to match the objectives of this tax.

China pays high prices to buy Vietnamese tea

According to statistics from the General Department of Customs, in the first 3 months of 2023, our country exported 21,300 tons of tea of ​​all kinds, earning 35.2 million USD, down 7.1% in volume and 4.1% in value compared to the same period in 2022. The average export price of tea reached 1,651.4 USD/ton, up 3.2% over the same period last year.

Notably, although not yet the largest customer, China is paying sky-high prices to buy Vietnamese tea. In the first quarter of 2023, the average export price of tea to China jumped to 2,930.4 USD/ton, up 108.5% over the same period last year.