In the afternoon of April 20, the National Assembly discussed in the hall about the socio-economic situation (SE).
At the hall, delegate Tran Van Lam (delegation of Bac Ninh province) said that in the past time, the Government has regularly emphasized and implemented many solutions to strengthen savings in budget revenue and expenditure management; especially promoting revenue increase, while cutting recurrent expenditures to switch to investment expenditures.
This view and goal are correct and necessary. However, the core issue to be raised is in the context of limited resources, how to achieve the highest and most optimal efficiency for socio-economic development" - delegate Tran Van Lam stated clearly.
According to this delegate, regarding budget revenue, increasing revenue, even exceeding the estimate, in the context of previous revenue shortfalls is a positive sign, contributing to creating more resources for spending. However, budget revenue also needs to be placed in the overall sustainable development goal.
If the increase in revenue eliminates the motivation for production and business, narrows the economic sector, or arises social problems, affecting long-term growth potential, then the effectiveness of that increase in revenue needs to be re-examined thoroughly.
Practice over the past time shows that the National Assembly's decision to exempt and reduce taxes and fees, and use collection tools reasonably has made an important contribution to helping the economy stabilize and overcome difficult periods due to epidemics and international fluctuations.
Therefore, the issue raised is not only to increase revenue, but how to increase revenue, in which fields, in which areas, to both ensure budget resources and nurture revenue sources, promoting long-term development.
Regarding budget expenditures, according to delegate Tran Van Lam, the policy of cutting recurrent expenditures to increase investment expenditures, to a reasonable extent, can bring positive effects. However, looking at the overall picture, careful consideration is needed.
Accordingly, regular expenditures are mainly expenditures for people, for essential fields such as health, education, culture, society, science and technology.
These are areas that directly determine the quality of human resources, labor productivity and innovation capacity of the economy - that is, factors that create quality growth and in-depth growth.
Meanwhile, public investment spending usually primarily affects the scale of the economy, creating growth in quantity and breadth.
Therefore, if only focusing on increasing investment spending without paying due attention to regular spending for foundational areas, it may reduce the driving force for sustainable development in the long term," said the delegate from the Bac Ninh delegation.
Along with that, according to delegate Tran Van Lam, saving recurrent expenditures is necessary but it is necessary to clarify what is saving.
Mechanical cuts, according to administrative orders, for example cutting 5% or 10%, may not accurately reflect the nature of thrift. Where to cut, which item, which stage, needs to be carefully calculated.
Regarding investment spending, this delegate requested that savings are not about cutting capital scale, but about improving the efficiency of capital use. The paradox is that in many cases, the more investment is increased, the greater the risk of waste.
If regular spending is saved but resources are focused on ineffective projects, slow implementation, or failure to promote function after investment, then that is even greater waste" - delegate Tran Van Lam emphasized.
Therefore, according to this person, it is necessary to focus on solutions to improve investment efficiency.
