On January 11, according to Lao Dong reporters' investigation, Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee just announced decision No. 2801 on publicizing the local budget estimate for 2026.
Accordingly, total budget expenditure is expected to exceed revenue by more than 31 billion VND, reflecting the large development investment needs, especially in the fields of education, health and infrastructure in this highland locality.
According to the estimate approved by the Lao Cai Provincial People's Council, the total local budget revenue in 2026 of Lao Cai may reach 38,964.267 billion VND, while total expenditure will reach 38,995.467 billion VND, leading to a deficit of about 31.2 billion VND.
Notably, supplementary revenue from the central budget accounts for a large proportion, with nearly 19,500 billion VND, equivalent to about 50% of total revenue. In which, balanced supplements are more than 12,789 billion VND and targeted supplements are over 6,707 billion VND. Local budget revenue enjoyed according to decentralization reached nearly 18,995 billion VND.
Regarding the expenditure structure, the total balanced expenditure of the local budget is 38,477.094 billion VND.
In which, regular expenditures accounted for the largest proportion with more than 26,269 billion VND, ensuring the operation of the apparatus and essential social services.
Development investment expenditure reached 10,500,000.6 billion VND, mainly focused on infrastructure investment projects, mostly from land use fee revenue.
The budget also allocates expenditures for provisions (866.563 billion VND), salary adjustments (675.045 billion VND), interest debt repayment (43.2 billion VND) and implementation of target programs (518.373 billion VND).
At the provincial level, total budget revenue reached 34,578.688 billion VND, total expenditure was 34,609.888 billion VND, also a deficit of 31.2 billion VND.
A noteworthy content is that the provincial budget allocated more than 12,109 billion VND to supplement the commune and ward budgets, showing strong support for the grassroots level.
For the commune and ward budget, total revenue reached 16,495.543 billion VND, of which supplementary sources from the provincial level accounted for the majority. This resource is mainly used for regular expenditures (13,845.299 billion VND) and development investment expenditures (2,341 billion VND).
By sector, education and training continues to be a top priority with more than 3,677 billion VND in regular expenditures and 292 billion VND in development investment expenditures.
In the fields of health, population and family, nearly 1,933 billion VND was allocated for regular expenses.
In particular, development investment expenditures for economic activities amounted to nearly 3,976 billion VND, focusing on building infrastructure to serve socio-economic development.
In addition, the budget also ensures funding for state management, Party organizations, mass organizations, and national defense and security as prescribed.
According to the Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee, the public disclosure of the 2026 budget estimate is carried out in detail to each department, sector, unit and each commune and ward.
Attached appendices allow people to specifically monitor revenue sources, spending levels and budget supplements in their localities.
The 2026 budget estimate shows the determination of Lao Cai province in both ensuring regular expenditures and focusing resources on development investment, accepting overspending and borrowing to promote growth, and at the same time strengthening public disclosure and transparency in public finance management.
