Improvement in revenue collection sought

Improvement in revenue collection sought

Although Laos faced revenue shortfall in the first quarter of this year, the figure was an 18.5 percent improvement compared to the same period last year.

That was the message from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mr Somdy Duangdy speaking at the third ordinary session of the National Assembly’s Eighth Legislature that opened in Vientiane on Tuesday.
The Deputy PM described the positive aspect of the revenue collected from 200 business units under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance’s Tax Department.
“We can collect taxes regularly from the 200 business units in the first quarter of 2017. Specifically, revenue collected from 25 major firms was as high as 820.25 billion kip,” he said.
Lao Brewery Company is ranked the largest tax payer recorded in the first quarter of this year, with the total amount of 354 billion kip, according to Mr Somdy.
In addition, 14 companies paid more than 10 billion kip each in taxes.
Concerning 40 hydropower projects, 17 of them have been made operational and tax obligations paid to the government and the remainder are under construction.
“Various taxes including profit tax and consumption tax have been collected, accounting for 20 percent of the annual plan,” Mr Somdy said.
The Deputy PM confirmed that the revenue from tariffs increased by 32.5 percent compared to the same period last year and amounted to 24.3 percent of the annual plan.
The increase in revenue collection in tax and tariffs enabled the government to respond to its budget expenditure needs, particularly timely payment of the salary of state employees.
According to the Ministry of Finance’s recent report, revenue collected from January to March reached 4,621 billion kip, equal to 77.89 percent of the quarter plan or 19.3 percent of the yearly plan.
Of the total 4,621 billion kip, domestic income amounted to 4,183 billion kip, equating to 77.7 percent for the quarter and 19.4 percent of the yearly plan.
The remainder was sourced from Official Development Assistance (ODA), amounting to 438.2 billion kip, equal to 78.87 percent of the quarter plan or 17.68 percent of the annual plan.
Budget expenditure was disbursed at 5,579.3 billion kip, equal to 75.69 percent of the quarter plan or 17.2 percent of the annual plan.
Of the total 5,579.3 billion kip, about 2,566.7 billion kip had been disbursed for salary and allowances of state employees.
The government reiterated that the budget would prioritise education, health and salary payments for government officials.
The rest is spent on administrative affairs and State investment projects.
Deputy Minister of Finance Mr Bounchom Ubonpaseuth told Vientiane Times last week that revenue collection has seen some improvement over the past few months since the government imposed a number of measures to boost income.
With the government putting stronger measures in place to fight corruption and promote transparency, the country is expecting greater increases in revenue as the year progresses.

Over the entirety of 2017, the government plans to collect 23,941 billion kip in revenue with expenditure set at 32,402 billion kip.

vientiane times