As of May, the Government's revenue from dividends remained low at only VND13.5 trillion (US$602 million), equal to only 25 per cent of the estimates for the year. — Photo tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — As of May, the Government's revenue from dividends remained low at only VND13.5 trillion (US$602 million), equal to only 25 per cent of the estimates for the year.

Nguyen Van Phung, director of the Tax Management Department of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), said that this year the dividend estimates gained from enterprises that the State holds a stake in would be roughly VND55 trillion.

Currently, the State has authorised the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) to represent the State's interests in enterprises. As of December 31, 2015, SCIC's portfolio comprised 197 enterprises, with the State capital's book value being more than VND20 trillion, accounting for 23 per cent of the charter capital and a market value of nearly VND95.7 trillion.

Phung attributed the low earnings from dividends in the first five months to many of the enterprises not having organised annual shareholders' meetings.

Phung affirmed that State income sources from dividends at enterprises could not be lost as there are many supervisory mechanisms, especially the supervision of those who represent the State in these enterprises.

However, he also said that the payment of dividends depends on decisions made at the shareholders' meetings of the enterprises.

He said that the tax authorities could not make ‘rough interventions' to the dividend payment, but must follow the law besides using the vote made by persons who represent the State in the enterprises.

Statistics from the MoF showed that State budget revenues in the first five months this year was VND396.2 trillion, equal to only 39.1 per cent of the annual estimate, while budget spending reached VND466.3 trillion, equal to 36.6 per cent of the annual estimate.

In the first five months, the country spent VND64.55 trillion on foreign debt settlement, up 5.3 per cent year-on-year. It also disbursed VND68 trillion for development projects and VND332 trillion for national defence and administrative governance.

Tumbling crude oil prices cut budget revenue considerably in the period, with revenue from oil in the first five months of 2016 falling sharply by 48.1 per cent to VND15.9 trillion, accounting for only 4 per cent of total budget revenue. — VNS