HCM City (VNA) - HCM Citywitnessed a sharp fall in budget collections in the first nine months of thisyear as a result of COVID-19, which will pose problems in fulfilling the annualtarget.

The southern economic hub was assigned tocollect nearly 405.83 trillion VND (17.5 billion USD) for the State budget thisyear.

But only 60.5 percent of the figure, or 245.36trillion VND, was collected between January and September, a decline of 14.6percent year-on-year, according to the municipal Statistics Office.

Revenue from domestic sources was 161.87trillion VND (down 11.2 percent), crude oil 8.49 trillion VND (down 50.4percent), and export-import activities 75 trillion VND (down 14.8 percent).

While collections from State-owned enterprises fell1.5 percent from a year earlier, the figure from non-State enterprises tumbled 16.2percent.

Though budget revenue from personal income tax stillrose in the first eight months, by 6.13 percent year-on-year, it was the slowestgrowth since 2017. Revenue from individuals’ production and business activitiesfell 1.69 percent and from asset leasing 2.93 percent, data reveals.

Experts said that as HCM City’s main productionand business activities are in the industry, construction, and trade andservice sectors which have been heavily affected by COVID-19, an adverse impacton budget revenue was inevitable.

Le Duy Minh, Director of the municipal TaxationDepartment, said collections have been down since April when the coronavirus firstbegan to leave a sizeable mark.

If trends continue, the city may complete just 82.66percent of this year’s target, he noted.

To give the task a boost, the municipal People’sCommittee recently requested that local agencies press on with urgent solutionsto assist pandemic-hit taxpayers over the remaining months of the year, step upadministrative reform, and increase the provision of online public services.

It also asked the tax and customs departments toenhance measures to manage budget collections, fight transfer pricing, andcollect tax arrears./.