The National Assembly’s Standing Committee has approved an amount of 1.7 trillion VND (78.3 million USD) to be used as counter capital for projects funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA).

The decision was made at the committee’s 38th session in Hanoi on May 11, with the amount to be funded by cuts in spending on several items in the Government’s proposal on the allocation of excess budget collection and savings from regular budget spending in 2014.

Photo: VNA

The counter capital will be used mainly for land clearance to ensure the speed of key ODA-funded projects and several irrigation systems to cope with severe droughts in the south central region.

During the session, deputies also discussed the Government’s report on thrift practice and wastefulness prevention in 2014 which said State agencies saved more than 15 trillion VND in spending while the evaluation of nearly 46,800 investment projects nationwide cut unnecessary spending by nearly 2.3 trillion VND.

The Ministry of Finance also cut the time for tax filing procedures by 290 hours through applying online tax and customs services.

However, the NA committee noted that shortcomings remain in the management and use of the State budget, particularly in capital construction investment.

Concurring with measures set by the Government to further push for thrift practice in 2015, deputies urged the Government, ministries, sectors and localities to be more active in communication campaigns to raise public awareness of the Law on thrift practice and wastefulness prevention.

Participants also debated and gave their opinions on the State budget balance in 2013.

Source: VNA