Vietnamese Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung made the suggestion during a meeting with David Malpass, Under-Secretary for International Affairs at the US Department of the Treasury, on the sidelines of the APEC 2017 Finance Ministers’ Meeting (FMM) in the central province of Quang Nam on October 20.
While briefing the US official on Vietnam’s economic situation, Dung said Vietnam has made concerted efforts to rise from a low-income economy to a middle-income nation in the region.
Two sides at the meeting. Photo: VNA
The country achieved a 6.41 percent economic growth rate in the first nine months of the year and the figure is forecast to reach 6.7 percent for the whole year, while the inflation rate is kept below at 5 percent, he said.
However, Dung noted that the Vietnamese economy has been still facing challenges like unsustainable growth, poor quality of public investment and budget collection failing to meet spending needs.
Regarding future orientations, Vietnam will improve financial legal regulations, fine-tune tax laws such as corporate tax, special consumption tax and individual income tax while promote restructuring and ensure state budget balance, he said.
Enhancing public debt restructuring and management, and ensuring the synchronism of financial and insurance markets, and accounting and auditing services will be other tasks, Dung said, adding that Vietnam will also step up the equitisation and increase supervision of state-owned enterprises.
At the meeting, Dung and Malpass discussed cooperative relations between the two countries, including cooperation in the fields of tax, insurance, securities, capital market, accounting and auditing.
Malpass said that the US Department of the Treasury will further boost cooperation with Vietnamese Ministry of Finance for mutual benefit and development.
Talking with Vietnam News Agency reporters after the meeting, Malpass said: “Relationship of the US and Southeast Asia is always one of the top priority discussions. Trade imbalance between the US and Vietnam can be improved and we discussed the trade relationship that does not damage US enterprises and workers. We also welcome Vietnamese enterprises in the US and we are looking forward to promoting trade in the future.”
Source: VNA