HCMC posts 3-pct rise in 2021 budget revenue

According to the Statistics Office of HCMC, the increase in the city’s budget revenue mainly comes from the real estate, banking, and securities businesses.

The government’s policy of extending the tax payment period in April has resulted in an increase in the city’s total budget revenue in the first six months and the whole year of 2021, Tran Phuoc Tuong, deputy head of the office, said Wednesday.

For this year, the government has tasked HCMC with earning VN365 trillion in budget revenues, which means it has to earn around VND1.5 trillion each day, counting working days only.

Last year, under the Covid-19 impact, the city earned VND371 trillion after making almost VND410 trillion in 2019.

Explaining why the city recorded negative economic growth, at minus 6.78 percent, the lowest rate ever, but over-achieving budget collection, Tuong said the total budget revenue comprises direct and indirect revenues.

“For 2021, the city has earned more from securities activities and personal income tax, which are indirect revenues. Those revenues are not included in the city’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) but the budget collection,” he said.

HCMC was the epicenter of Vietnam’s latest Covid-19 wave.

The city was put under various levels of social distancing measures for four months between May and September.

In October, the Ministry of Finance announced that it is preparing a draft plan that would allow HCMC to retain 21 percent of its own budget collection each year instead of the 18 percent it has been allowed since 2017.

For years, the southern metropolis has been the locality contributing the most to the nation’s budget collection, accounting for 25-27 percent of the state’s annual budget collection.