New economic policies take effect from September 2024

Workers from Power Transmission Company 1 inspect equipment at Xuan Mai 220 kV substation.

Guide to the method for determining the average electricity selling price.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has issued Circular No. 09/2024/TT-BCT dated July 30, 2024, regulating the calculation of the average electricity selling price.

Circular 09/2024/TT-BCT guides Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) to calculate the average electricity price according to the provisions of Article 4 of Decision No. 05/2024/QD-TTg dated March 26, 2024 of the Prime Minister regulating the mechanism for adjusting the average retail electricity price.

The Circular consists of 3 chapters and 15 articles, applicable to EVN and its member units, relevant organizations and individuals. In particular, the Circular provides detailed instructions on the method of establishing the average annual and annual electricity price as well as the calculation formula to get the final electricity price result.

Accordingly, the average annual and annual electricity selling price is calculated based on the costs of power generation, costs of power system auxiliary services, costs of purchasing power transmission services, power distribution - retail, power system dispatch and electricity market transaction management, and industry management - operation costs in the average annual/annual electricity selling price.

To have a basis for calculation, the Circular also provides specific instructions on the method of establishing total costs of the following stages: Power generation; transmission; power system ancillary services; power distribution - retail services; power system dispatching services and electricity market transaction management; industry management - operation costs and standard profits...

The Electricity Regulatory Authority is responsible for leading and coordinating with relevant agencies to report to the Minister of Industry and Trade on the inspection, review, and monitoring of the average electricity selling price plan developed and adjusted by Vietnam Electricity Group in accordance with Decision No. 05/2024/QD-TTg.

Vietnam Electricity Group is responsible for implementing the provisions of Decision No. 05/2024/QD-TTg and the provisions of this Circular.

The Circular officially takes effect from September 14, 2024.

Guidelines for managing environmental restoration deposits in mineral exploitation

The Ministry of Finance has just issued Circular No. 57/2024/TT-BTC dated August 1, 2024, guiding the management and use of deposits for environmental improvement and restoration in mineral exploitation activities and waste burial activities at the Environmental Protection Fund.

According to the Circular, the Depositor is an organization or individual engaged in mineral exploitation and waste landfill activities in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection and relevant guiding documents.

The deposit recipient is the Environmental Protection Fund.

The deposit is the amount of money the depositor deposits into the deposit recipient to ensure the responsibility for implementing environmental improvement and restoration projects and handling risks and environmental pollution risks arising from mineral exploitation activities and waste burial activities according to the provisions of law and this Circular.

The deposit recipient must deposit all the deposit into a separate deposit account opened at a commercial bank. The deposit account is an account independent from other accounts at the commercial bank of the deposit recipient and tracks the details of the deposit and interest arising from the deposit of each project, organization, and individual depositing.

Funds from the escrow account may only be disbursed when all conditions stipulated in Article 37 and Article 76 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP, any replacement or amendment documents to Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP (if any), and the internal regulations on the management and use of escrow funds of the escrow recipient are met.

The deposit and interest arising from the deposit are deposited by the depository at commercial banks.

Interest on the deposit that the depositary must pay to the depositor.

Interest on deposits payable to the depositor for mineral exploitation activities shall be in accordance with the provisions of point d, clause 5, Article 37 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP and any replacing or amending legal documents (if any).

Interest on deposits payable to the depositor for waste landfill activities shall be in accordance with the provisions of point e, clause 2, Article 76 of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP and any replacing or amending legal documents (if any).

Every six months (before July 31st of the reporting year and March 31st of the year following the reporting year), the depositor must send a notification of the deposit balance and interest payable to the depositor as of June 30th and December 31st of the reporting year, in accordance with Appendix 3 of this Circular, and publicly disclose it on its website or at the depositor's headquarters. For the annual report, the depositor must include the audited financial statements.

The management and use of the deposit must be explained in detail in the increase and decrease in the annual financial report of the deposit recipient. The deposit recipient must conduct an audit of the annual financial report in accordance with the provisions of law.

Auditing, inspection, and supervision of the management and use of deposit funds by the deposit recipient shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law.

This Circular takes effect from September 14, 2024.

Amending regulations on foreign currency purchase and sale between official foreign exchange reserves and the state budget

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued Circular 43/2024/TT-NHNN dated August 9, 2024, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular 01/2014/TT-NHNN dated December 10, 2014, guiding the organization and implementation of state foreign exchange reserve management activities.

Circular 43/2024/TT-NHNN amends and supplements Article 9 of Circular 01/2014/TT-NHNN on the purchase and sale of foreign currency between official foreign exchange reserves and the state budget as follows:

1- Buying foreign currency from the state budget:

Based on the annual foreign currency sale plan of the state budget and the document requesting foreign currency sale of the Ministry of Finance and/or the directive documents of the Prime Minister, the State Foreign Exchange Reserve Management Department shall purchase foreign currency to supplement the state foreign exchange reserves from the state budget at the prescribed exchange rate.

2- Selling foreign currency to the state budget:

Based on the Ministry of Finance's document requesting the purchase of foreign currency to meet the foreign currency demand for the state budget, the State Foreign Exchange Reserve Management Department shall coordinate with the Monetary Policy Department to develop a plan to balance the sale of foreign currency for the state budget, submit it to the Governor of the State Bank for approval and notify the Ministry of Finance.

Based on the foreign currency sales balance plan approved by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, the State Foreign Exchange Reserve Management Department shall sell foreign currency to the state budget at the prescribed exchange rate.

3- Foreign currency buying and selling rates of the State Bank:

In case of buying and selling US dollars, the buying and selling rates of foreign currencies are equal to the spot buying and selling rates in the intervention plan; if at the time of implementation there is no intervention plan or the intervention plan does not contain any content on the spot exchange rate, the buying and selling rates of foreign currencies shall be applied at the central exchange rate announced by the State Bank applicable to the date of transaction (*).

In the case of buying or selling foreign currencies other than the US dollar, the buying and selling exchange rates applied are based on the cross-exchange rate of the rate determined in point (*) above and the average exchange rate of the buying and selling prices between the foreign currency being bought or sold and the US dollar, as listed on the international foreign exchange market through the Refinitiv or Bloomberg information network systems before 10:00 AM on the trading day.

This circular takes effect from September 23, 2024.

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/nhung-chinh-sach-kinh-te-moi-co-hieu-luc-tu-thang-9-2024-391364.html