The Prime Minister requested to reduce income tax for small and medium-sized enterprises as soon as 2026

At the regular Government meeting on August 3, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung assigned the Ministry of Finance to propose tax measures to promote production and business, especially for small and medium enterprises, individuals, and business households. This agency needs to soon research and report to the National Assembly to amend the Corporate Income Tax Law, in the direction of reducing taxes for this group, applying this year.

In addition, the Prime Minister requested to study and add individuals and business households to the scope of the proposed Law on Small and Medium Enterprise Development. The goal is to create a mechanism to encourage business households to convert into enterprises, especially one-person business models.

Government leaders’ request to promote production and business in a context where the economy is under pressure to maintain double-digit growth.

According to the report at the meeting, the macro economy in the first 7 months of the year continued to remain stable. The consumer price index (CPI) in July is estimated to decrease by 0.12% compared to the previous month, with an average increase of about 4.39% for the 7 months. State budget revenue reached over 1.83 million billion VND, equivalent to 72.5% of the year’s estimate.

Disbursement of public investment capital reached about 425,300 billion VND, equivalent to 41.9% of the plan, higher than the same period in both absolute value and implementation rate. Meanwhile, newly registered FDI capital reached more than 38 billion USD, an increase of 58%. Import-export turnover in 7 months is estimated at nearly 660 billion USD, up 28.1% over the same period.

Industrial production continued to be a bright spot when the IIP index in July increased by 14.5% – the highest level in many years. Fruit and vegetable exports exceeded the one billion USD mark in a month for the first time, while the number of international visitors reached nearly 14 million, the highest ever.

However, the Prime Minister said that the economy still faces many pressures. In particular, the double-digit growth target requires both promoting growth and maintaining macroeconomic stability. The financial and monetary market is still under pressure on capital, interest rates and liquidity, and import and export still depend heavily on the FDI sector. Many enterprises and business households still face difficulties, while the disbursement progress in some ministries, branches and localities has not met requirements.

According to the head of the Government, the macro economy in the last months of the year still faces many challenges when world growth is forecast to slow down, inflation is at risk of increasing, and the country is entering the peak of the rainy season.

To achieve the growth target of 2026, the Prime Minister requires ministries and localities to periodically update growth scenarios, ensuring 100% disbursement of assigned public investment capital plans. The Ministry of Finance must pilot the scoring of ministries, branches and localities on the progress of disbursement of public investment capital, continue to reduce specialized inspection costs and complete investment procedures for projects using medium-term capital.

The State Bank is required to manage monetary policy in the direction of stabilizing interest rates, ensuring system liquidity, reducing lending interest rates and capital costs of the economy. At the same time, the banking industry needs to control credit in risky areas, handle bad debts and restructure credit institutions.

The Prime Minister also assigned Deputy Prime Ministers to directly work with ministries, branches and businesses to remove difficulties and obstacles in each area of ​​responsibility.

In addition to economic tasks, the Prime Minister requested ministries and branches to complete action programs to implement the resolutions of the 3rd Central Conference before August 10. Agencies accelerate the development of legal projects to submit to the National Assembly in upcoming sessions, while continuing to reform institutions, perfect planning, digital transformation, science and technology and improve administrative efficiency.

At the regular Government press conference on the same day, Leaders of the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank also mentioned solutions to achieve the growth target of over 10% this year. According to Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi, fiscal policy in the coming time will continue to follow the direction of expansion but with focus and focus. Solutions include extending the deadline for paying value-added tax, corporate income, personal income and land rent to support cash flow for businesses and people.

The operator also flexibly adjusted tax policies on gasoline and jet fuel according to world price developments. Public investment continues to be identified as one of the important growth drivers. The Government has completed the allocation of increased central budget revenue in 2025 and the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2026-2030 to ministries, branches and localities to accelerate disbursement.

In addition, the Government plans to increase the base salary in 2026 after preparing resources. This year’s budget revenue target is also set to increase by at least 10% compared to last year. The Government requires ministries and branches to maximize growth potential, restructure the economy and consider science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation as new growth drivers.

According to Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha, the State Bank continues to operate monetary policy in a flexible manner, ensuring system liquidity, and at the same time flexibly manage the exchange rate to reduce the impact of external shocks.

He said that up to now, the basic exchange rate is stable, with the Vietnamese Dong increasing slightly compared to the end of 2025. Compared to many currencies in the region, VND is still among the most stable, contributing to limiting imported inflation and fully meeting the economy’s legal foreign currency needs.

Regarding credit, the State Bank continues to prioritize capital for key infrastructure projects, social housing, industrial park real estate and priority fields. From August 1, this agency also increased the proportion of State Treasury term deposits at commercial banks included in total deposits from 20% to 50% for a period of two years to create more capital for banks to expand credit. At the same time, four state-owned commercial banks have registered for a preferential loan package of VND 220,000 billion for small and medium-sized enterprises and priority sectors.

By July 29, outstanding credit debt across the economy reached 20.15 million billion VND, an increase of 8.38% compared to the end of last year. The State Bank said it will continue to coordinate with fiscal policy to both support growth, control inflation and stabilize the macroeconomy.