On August 2, 2019 in Hanoi, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), under the authorization of the President of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and the World Bank (WB) signed a financing agreement for a grant for the “Revenue Administration Reform Support Project” worth US$4.2 million provided by the Japanese Government through the Policy and Human Resource Development Program, which is administered by the World Bank.
Attending the ceremony, on the SBV’s side, there were SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong, representatives from the SBV International Cooperation Department, the Communication Department and the SBV Office; on the donor’s side, there were Mr. Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam; Mr. Takafumi Nakanishi, representative from the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam. The ceremony was also attended by representatives from the President’s Office, the Office of the Government, the relevant ministries and agencies, together with foreign and national media.
Over the past time, the Government of Vietnam has made enormous efforts to promote e-Government, heading towards a digital Government and a digital society and economy, aiming at improving the business and investment environment as well as the national competitiveness. One of the key priorities of the Government is to maintain and strengthen the implementation of the programs and measures of simplifying tax policies and administrative procedures in order to improve the management efficiency for obtaining the objectives of the Tax Reform Strategy for the 2011-2020 period, as well as for the implementation of the Government’s resolutions.
Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the signing ceremony
Speaking at the event, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong emphasized that this project would create a premise to continue to implement the tax reform and modernization projects in the coming time, in order to improve the efficiency of tax administration in Vietnam, contributing to the transformation of the tax system in accordance with the common practices of modern tax systems in the world, promoting the process of international economic integration.
The project aims to improve the effectiveness of tax administration through the implementation of a comprehensive risk management system and redesign the business processes and information technology in Vietnam. It will also support the modernization of the tax policy framework by assessing the impacts of tax policy changes.
Mr. Ousmane Dione, the WB Country Director for Vietnam, speaks at the ceremony
Mr. Ousmane Dione, the WB Country Director for Vietnam said: “The WB’s commitment to this project is a signal of our broader commitment to work with Vietnam in strengthening the fiscal performance and implementing pro-growth fiscal reforms. By focusing on the tax system, the project will help improve the mobilization of domestic resources, which is an important pillar for fiscal consolidation.”
The composition of Vietnam’s tax revenues is changing toward increased reliance on domestic sources. This brings about both opportunities and challenges, and calls for enhanced efforts to strengthen the tax policy formulation and modernize the tax administration. There is a need to strengthen the performance of the key elements in tax administration, especially those with high impacts on tax compliance, operational efficiency and transparency. The tax policy framework should aim at broadening the base and rebalancing the tax mix to exert coherent impacts on sustainable revenue mobilization and reduction of tax-induced burdens on growth and equality.
An important component of this project is the development of a roadmap to modernize the IT system for tax administration and lay the foundation for IT infrastructure, then the General Department of Taxation can apply modern IT solutions to business processes.
Another component focuses on improving the capacity of the policy makers to analyze and formulate tax policies. The project will analyze the impacts of proposed changes on the core tax instruments, in line with Vietnam’s Tax Reform Strategy and the international best practices. It also supports the preparation of the legislative framework to introduce a property tax.
Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and Mr. Ousmane Dione take a photo with the attendants
On behalf of the Government of Vietnam, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong thanked the WB and the Government of Japan for their support to Vietnam over the past time. She expressed her hope to receive further support and cooperation from the Government of Japan in the coming time. The SBV Deputy Governor also thanked the relevant ministries and agencies for having proactively participated in the preparation of and provided support to the Project.
Le Hang