President urges finance ministry to use surplus revenue wisely

The President has instructed the Ministry of Finance to spend any extra money on debt payments and civil servant support.
President Thongloun Sisoulith issued the instruction when addressing a meeting to review financial work carried out in 2023 and the plan of work for 2024, held at the International Cooperation and Training Centre in Vientiane.

President Thongloun Sisoulith. --Photo Vientiane Mai newspaper

The meeting was attended by ministers, deputy ministers, governors and other senior government officials from across the country, according to the Vientiane Mai newspaper.
The President stressed the need to use the budget sparingly and to make the available funds stretch as far as possible by using any excess revenue to help tackle the country’s two main problems, namely debt repayment and the poor living conditions experienced by state officials.
“The government should use half of the excess money collected from local authorities and other entities by allocating 25 percent to debt relief and 25 percent to improving the living conditions of state officials in difficult situations,” he said.
In addition, the President advised the finance ministry to pay more attention to important issues such as modernisation and law enforcement, preventing budget leaks, collecting more revenue to reflect the country’s economic growth, ensuring austerity with respect to all forms of expenditure, the payment of debts in line with set strategies and mid-term plans, and the building up of foreign currency reserves.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the amount of revenue collected under the state budget plan for 2023 exceeded the amount endorsed by the National Assembly, with total income of 38,530 billion kip, equal to 100.21 percent of the target for 2023. Of this, domestically-sourced revenue amounted to 37.241 billion kip, accounting for 106.71 percent of the target for 2023.
The government is trying collect as much revenue as possible in order to fill its coffers so that its financial problems can be resolved.
Finance officials are now using electronic methods of revenue collection so that the process is transparent and less money is lost through informal and inefficient tax collection methods.
Businesses are now required to carry out their financial transactions through the banking system and electronic systems are being used for the payment of customs duty and other taxes.
However, although the government earned more than it spent in the first half of 2023, its high level of public debt meant that less was spent on education and health, which declined from 4.9 percent of GDP in 2013 to an estimated 2.3 percent in 2023.
The government’s planned budget for 2024 is 50.107 billion kip, an increase of 30.32 percent compared to 2023 and equivalent to 17.06 percent of GDP. It includes funds sourced from domestic revenue, customs duty, taxes, property, and state enterprises.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update December 21, 2023)