It will continue to apply the State managed market-based price mechanism, especially for electricity, coal, oil-petrol and public services.

Finance Minister Vuong Dinh Hue unveiled the sector’s new tasks at a conference in Hanoi o­n December 24.

More attention will be given to tightening State management of market prices in 2012, he said.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) will work closely with the Government Inspectorate and State Audit to keep a close rein o­n sensitive commodities such as electricity and coal and make their operations more transparent.

It will coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to implement a Government master plan o­n economic restructuring, targeting State-owned enterprises (SOEs), public investments and development investment credits, with the aim of completing SOE equitisation by 2015.

He said greater efforts will be made to improve tax collection and bring budget overspending down to less than 4.8 percent of the GDP.

In 2011 the financial sector has collected more than VND674 trillion in taxes, surpassing the annual set target by 13.4 percent, and spent VND796 trillion, up 9.7 percent compared to the estimate. As a result, the State budget deficit was kept at 4.9 percent of GDP, 0.4 percent lower than the estimated level.

By December 31, public debts are estimated at 54.6 percent of GDP, government debts at 43.6 percent and national debts at 41.5 percent, which are within the safety limits, according to the financial leader.