Finance minister Ngô Văn Tuấn: About 200,000 hectares of land and 3.3 quintillion dong backlog

Finance Minister Ngô Văn Tuấn assesses that backlog projects are both bottlenecks and a major resource for growth. Initial data show that about 200,000 hectares of land and about 3.3 quadrillion dong are currently backlog. Compared with total public investment for 2026 of about 1.1 quadrillion dong, the scale of this resource is three times larger. Continuing the program of the First Session, the National Assembly, on the morning of 21 April, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the five-year socio-economic development plan for 2026‑2030; thrift and anti-waste measures in 2025 and progress on achieving the national gender equality target in 2025. [Image] Minister Ngo Van Tuan of Finance speaks at the session - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac In accepting and explaining the opinions raised by National Assembly deputies, the Finance Minister stated that regarding a growth target of 10% or higher, the deputies’ opinions are very thoughtful; this is an extremely challenging target but the only path to becoming a developed, high-income country by 2045. The minister cited data from the World Development Report: from 1946 to present, only 13 countries or territories have successfully achieved sustained growth of 10% or more for more than ten years to move from a poor country to a developed one. Looking back over more than 40 years of renewal in Vietnam, we have only two years with growth above 9% and never reached double digits. Nevertheless, the head of the Finance Ministry affirmed that this path has been chosen with broad consensus. Following the Party Congress resolutions, Politburo strategic resolutions, and the Central Committee’s conclusions, the Government has issued 59 sectoral targets, 11 groups of tasks and solutions for the coming period, and especially 92 very specific tasks for 2026. To realize the high growth target, the involvement of the entire political system is required; this is not a task for a single agency or sector. Organizing implementation, supervision, evaluation, and timely adjustment will determine the ability to achieve the target. S four tax laws, raise the ICOR coefficient, and reform the capital market To achieve a growth target above 10% this year, the remaining quarters must grow at 10–11%. In response, the Finance Ministry proposed to the Government several key measures. First is to review and update growth scenarios, assigning specific duties to each ministry, sector, locality, and business in line with the new context. Along with that, the Ministry will closely coordinate fiscal and monetary policies, ensuring capital supply to the economy while maintaining macroeconomic stability. In particular, fiscal policy will focus on refining tax policy to ensure fairness, sufficiency, and timeliness, while creating maximum conditions for business development, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises – a sector accounting for about 96% of enterprises and contributing over 50% of GDP. Regarding disbursement of public investment, the minister said the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister are being implemented decisively. This week the Prime Minister will chair a nationwide conference on disbursement of public investment to ensure the 2026 target is met. Another core solution is to address backlog projects. The minister评 estimates backlog land and other backlog projects as both bottlenecks and a large growth resource. Initial data show about 200,000 hectares of land and about 3.3 quadrillion dong in backlog. Compared with total public investment in 2026 of about 1.1 quadrillion dong, this resource is three times larger. Therefore, the National Assembly’s continued inclusion of land-related backlog projects and other projects under Resolution 170 into the session’s program is crucial to remove bottlenecks and unlock development resources. Additionally, the Finance Ministry will focus on addressing institutional bottlenecks. At this session, the Government will propose amendments to four tax laws: Personal Income Tax, Corporate Income Tax, Value-Added Tax, and Special Consumption Tax, to remove barriers and stimulate production and business. Regarding mobilizing resources for development, the minister said that the next phase requires raising total social investment from about 33.1% of GDP to a higher level, while the required capital needs are expected to rise 2.2 times; the central budget to rise 3.4 times and attracting FDI by about 1.7 times. Expressing strong agreement with deputies’ views on thrift and efficiency in investment, the minister noted that if ICOR (capital-output ratio) cannot be improved, achieving double-digit growth would require total social investment to reach 70% of GDP. Therefore, the mandatory target is to bring ICOR to 4–4.5. However, this level remains high when compared with the acceleration pace of other Asian economies in the same period (GDP per capita from around $5,000 to over $10,000) such as China at 2.7, Japan at 3.2, and Korea at 3. To lower ICOR, the Finance Ministry agrees with deputies’ proposals to tighten from project preparation, portfolio selection, to strengthening supervision and scrutiny, accelerating capital deployment in a phased manner. On the capital market, the economy still relies heavily on the monetary market, while long-term capital should come from the capital market, including the bond and stock markets. The minister said the stock market has an opportunity to upgrade from frontier to emerging. For Government bonds, 2025 mobilized about 800 trillion dong; this year aims for 900 trillion. To develop a sustainable capital market, reforms must be comprehensive from institutions and infrastructure to market participants, especially professional investment institutions; create safe funding channels for retail investors, and strengthen monitoring, cash flow control, and capital recovery.