On November 5, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the implementation of the state budget in 2024; state budget estimates, and central budget allocation plan for 2025.

Clarifying the expected balance of the Social Insurance Fund of about 1,242 trillion VND

Delegate Ha Sy Dong, Permanent Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, said that we currently have to borrow a lot for development investment, it is expected that next year we will need to borrow about 815,000 billion VND, but the issue of fiscal and monetary policies and some issues have not been thoroughly considered. Among them is the issue related to state financial funds focusing on the Vietnam Social Security institution.

Currently, the total balance at the beginning of 2024 of the state financial funds outside the budget managed by the central government is about 1.42 million billion VND, mainly the balance of 3 funds: Social Insurance Fund, Unemployment Insurance Fund and Health Insurance Fund managed by Vietnam Social Security, accounting for nearly 91% of the total balance of the funds.

hasidong.jpg
Delegate Ha Sy Dong, Permanent Vice Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee. Photo: QH

It is estimated that by the end of this year, the balance of funds will reach about 1,477 trillion VND, an increase of about 56,000 billion VND compared to the beginning of the year, of which the balance of the 3 funds managed by Vietnam Social Security accounts for almost all, over 91% of the total balance of funds, equivalent to about 1,300 trillion VND.

For Vietnam Social Security alone, total revenue in 2024 is estimated at about 410,000 billion VND, including the transferred state budget, total expenditure is about 352,000 billion VND, the difference between revenue and expenditure is about 58,000 billion VND.

The year-end fund balance is expected to be about VND 1,242 trillion, an increase of nearly 5% compared to the end of 2023, mainly used to invest in government bonds.

According to Mr. Dong, the problem is that the structure and quality of capital use of this 1,242 trillion VND capital source has not been clarified in the Government's report.

Delegates cited experts' opinions that the majority of the capital structure of the Social Insurance is the asset item of the Vietnamese Government's bonds, estimated at about 1.2 million billion VND by the end of this year.

“This asset item accounts for about 92% of the total capital of the Social Insurance, while there are obviously liquidity risks and market risks that have never been identified, measured and announced by the responsible agencies or the Social Insurance itself,” the delegate warned.

Mr. Dong said that one of the consequences of the capital investment method of the Social Insurance in the past and present is the distortion of the government bond market.

Delegates from Quang Tri province proposed that the National Assembly and the Government soon review regulations and remove these bottlenecks in the best way possible.

The budget fund deposited in the bank is a temporary deposit.

Explaining later, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said that the social insurance balance of 1.242 trillion VND is the balance on the books, used to pay monthly salaries to retirees and to comply with regulations, not in deposit accounts.

This balance has been invested 80% in government bonds, the remaining 20% ​​is deposited in commercial banks, mainly five state-owned commercial banks, not in other banks for fear of risk.

HoDucPhoc1.jpg
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc. Photo: QH

The Deputy Prime Minister also informed that last year the National Assembly assigned the Government to mobilize 400,000 billion VND in government bonds, and so far 268,000 billion VND has been mobilized, with more than 100,000 billion VND still to be mobilized. This mobilization is to offset the budget deficit approved by the National Assembly.

According to Mr. Phuc, this expenditure is essentially an investment in basic construction projects and public investment projects. But letting the Social Security Fund invest in this or that project would be very risky and in fact has been risky.

The Deputy Prime Minister also affirmed that the budget fund deposited in banks is a temporary deposit: “We only leave a very small portion in a number of state-owned commercial banks. This issue has been highly agreed upon by inspection, auditing and Party inspection agencies.”

Autonomy in the style of self-care, patients and students have to bear the bank interest

Autonomy in the style of self-care, patients and students have to bear the bank interest

National Assembly delegate Hoang Van Cuong warned that if hospitals and universities are left to be autonomous, to take care of themselves by borrowing capital, paying interest and paying principal, then patients and students will have to bear the consequences of high service costs.
Delegates impatient with 10,000 billion hospital project shelved for 2 terms

Delegates impatient with 10,000 billion hospital project shelved for 2 terms

National Assembly deputies are impatient with the Bach Mai and Viet Duc Hospital 2 projects in Ha Nam, which have been stalled for more than 10 years with an investment of 10,000 billion VND. The deputies said that this is "the most typical example of waste" and needs to be urgently resolved as requested by the General Secretary.
Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs: Unemployment rate within allowable threshold

Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs: Unemployment rate within allowable threshold

Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said that the current unemployment rate among young people is 7.92%. This is an acceptable figure.