Nghe An province's budget revenue in the first 7 months of the year was higher than the national average.

(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of September 20th, the People's Committee of Nghe An province held a working session with the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee's monitoring delegation to oversee the implementation of the state budget, public investment, and ODA capital management.

Attending the working session were members of the Provincial Party Standing Committee: Le Xuan Dai - Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Cao Thi Hien - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; and leaders of several relevant departments and agencies.

The supervisory delegation included Mr. Nguyen Huu Quang, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, as the head of the delegation, along with other leaders and officials from the committee.

A general overview of the working session.

At the meeting, reporting on the medium-term public investment plan for 2016-2020, Mr. Nguyen Huu Mao, Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of Nghe An province, stated that during this period, resources should be focused on three breakthrough areas: infrastructure development, human resource development, and administrative reform. Priority should be given to infrastructure investment in key areas and projects that create breakthroughs for development, such as industrial parks and economic zones.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Quang spoke at the meeting.

According to Mr. Mao, during the period 2011-2015, despite many domestic and international fluctuations, economic difficulties, and complex weather and disease outbreaks, Nghe An still achieved a number of socio-economic development successes. The average GDP growth rate during this period reached nearly 8%. Total social investment capital mobilized reached over 180,000 billion VND, of which private capital accounted for over 106 billion VND, and budget capital over 11,000 billion VND…

The results of investment in socio-economic development have significantly changed the province's socio-economic infrastructure, especially in transportation, irrigation, and urban development. According to the Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, in the period 2011-2015, Nghe An province was allocated over 20 billion VND from the State budget. The annual allocation of capital closely followed the principles and criteria of the Central Government, especially the Prime Minister's Directive on strengthening the management of investment capital from the State budget and Government bonds.

Despite the achievements, the implementation of the State Budget-funded capital construction investment plan still faces several difficulties, such as confusion in understanding and applying relevant legal documents related to investment activities; investment needs of programs exceeding available capital; limited investment attraction, especially in the early years of attracting foreign investment; planning, particularly construction planning, not meeting requirements; and difficulties in handling outstanding construction debts. Most notably, the biggest difficulty is the often slow and disorganized land clearance process.

Comrade Le Xuan Dai delivered a speech at the working session.

Working with the inspection team, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hai - Director of the Department of Finance - also reported on the implementation of the State Budget in 2016 and the preparation of the 2017 budget. 2016 was the first year Nghe An implemented the 5-year socio-economic development plan for 2016-2020. According to Mr. Hai, the 2016 plan was assigned to the grassroots level for implementation from the beginning of the year. The entire province successfully conducted the election of National Assembly and People's Council representatives at all levels for the 2016-2021 term. Budget revenue in the first seven months of 2016 reached nearly 5,800 billion VND, achieving nearly 63% of the annual target.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Le Xuan Dai shared the difficulties the locality is facing in revenue collection as well as in balancing the budget. The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee expressed confidence that Nghe An will achieve the revenue collection targets set at the beginning of the year.

Tax officials from the Vinh City Tax Department inspect businesses in the area. (Photo: Archival image)

Speaking after hearing the report, the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee highly appreciated the achievements of Nghe An in many areas, especially the fact that Nghe An's budget revenue in the first seven months of the year was higher than the national average. "Such budget revenue results are very positive, especially domestic revenue," Mr. Nguyen Huu Quang said, adding that the supervisory delegation also highly appreciated Nghe An's budget expenditure. After inspection, the delegation concluded that Nghe An's spending was carried out very seriously.

However, alongside the positive aspects, the supervisory delegation also pointed out several shortcomings, such as lower domestic revenue collection from state-owned enterprises compared to foreign and private enterprises. This is considered a long-standing limitation, and the delegation hopes that Nghe An will improve this situation. “Nevertheless, we believe the results achieved are still not commensurate with the potential. The supervisory delegation hopes that in the future, Nghe An's revenue collection capacity will be higher than previously proposed,” emphasized the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee.

Director of the Department of Finance Nguyen Xuan Hai reported on budget revenue collection in the area.

During the working session, many members of the monitoring delegation also shared valuable experiences and offered suggestions to the leaders of Nghe An province to promote the province's development.

Comrade Le Xuan Dai thanked the monitoring team for their suggestions and, on behalf of the leaders of Nghe An province, promised to fully incorporate them and strive to implement them quickly in the coming time.

Tien Hung