On May 26, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law on the State Budget (amended).
Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang spoke to explain and clarify a number of issues raised by National Assembly deputies.
According to the Minister, raising from 4% to 5% means reserveing an additional 1% so that when there are sudden needs, this source can be allocated to carry out the allocation, because if it is not increased, there will be times when there are problems.
In recent years, 100% of the resources allocated to the reserve have been spent, there is no waste, no leave, in the recent past, there have been cases of implementation problems.
The Minister said that as recently, the Politburo directed to increase spending by 1% on science, technology, innovation and digital transformation development, that is, an additional VND 25,000 billion.
The Ministry of Finance is the agency advising the Government to find a source to allocate enough VND 25,000 billion, while waiting for localities, ministries and branches to propose to allocate estimates, we must put them in the reserve.
The government plans to put it into the reserve, but if it is put into the reserve, there will be no room left, only a maximum of no more than VND9,000 billion, and there will be 16,000 billion VND left.
Minister Nguyen Van Thang emphasized that there have been many unexpected cases recently and there will continue to be unexpected cases in the near future, it is impossible not to increase this reserve level.
"Therefore, the Government proposes to increase by 1%, not that we put money into it to waste, we are lacking money," Minister Nguyen Van Thang emphasized.
In the previous discussion, delegate Tran Thi Hong Thanh (Ninh Binh Delegation) said that the draft law stipulates a reserve allocation level of 2% to 5%, while the current law stipulates a 2% to 4%.
The delegate said that, on the positive side, increasing reserves will help increase the ability to respond to unexpected situations, help proactively handle emergency situations, stabilize the budget and a large reserve will create confidence for investors and international organizations.
However, it is also necessary to carefully consider the potential negative aspects of increasing the budget reserve ratio, which will reduce resources for development investment. Increasing the reserve ratio means reducing the spending ratio for other activities, including investment in socio-economic development.
