Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - A finance ministry official on December 24asked the customs sector to exert every effort to surpass the target of 315 trillionVND (13.6 billion USD) in State budget collection in 2021.
Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai told a teleconference reviewingthe sector’s performance in 2020 and launching tasks for next year that customsagencies need to have good management, boost post-customs clearance inspectionsand examinations to prevent losses, and step up tax arrears recovery in linewith legal regulations.
They also need to press ahead with administrative reforms, customsmodernisation, and trade facilitation to cut down the time and cost for customsclearance, as requested by the Government, she said, and must perform better incombating smuggling and trade fraud.
In particular, Mai added, the sector has to take stronger action regardinghigh-risk commodities like gasoline, minerals, goods subject to high tariffs,polluting products, imported alcohol and cigarettes, and goods temporarilyimported for re-export.
The customs sector has faced an array of challenges in efforts to reachthe targets set for this year. Measures to contain COVID-19 around the world, suchas border shutdowns, the suspension of commercial flights, quarantining, andlockdowns, have negatively affected trade and disrupted global supply chains,posing considerable challenges to many countries, including Vietnam.
Facing that fact, the General Department of Vietnam Customs hasreportedly introduced solutions to further facilitate trade and prevent lossesin budget collection.
General Director of the authority Nguyen Van Can said that as ofDecember 15, his agency had handled procedures for exports and imports totalling 515.27billion USD, up 4.5 percent year-on-year. This includes 267.22 billion USD in exportsand 248.04 billion USD in imports, up 6.1 percent and 2.7 percent,respectively.
Despite the difficulties and challenges, the sector had collected over304.33 trillion VND for the State budget as of December 21, and the full-yearfigure is estimated at 315 trillion VND, or 93.2 percent of the target./.
VNA
