VND26 trillion Support Package: Right person, Right procedure
On July 7, 2021, the Government of Vietnam ratified Resolution No. 68/NQ-CP to approve the support package of VND26 trillion (equivalent to USD1.2 billion) for those affected by the pandemic. With the motto of simplifying, cutting procedures, and minimizing time, the support package can reach the right people quickly and conveniently.
The processing time of this support package will be shortened to only 4 days and be added 3 days for disbursement. This means that people and businesses can receive support up to 7 days from applying, especially only 4 days for the tour guide group. In addition, the support package also reduces the requirements of the period of suspension and unpaid leave to 15 days. It will remove regulations on tax declaration revenue less than VND100 million/year for business households, stipulate that the business stops operating for 15 consecutive days or more; and reduce the conditions for temporary suspension of contributions to the retirement and death fund from 50% of employees to 15% of employees.
Other highlights of the support package include:
- For employees who temporarily suspend the labour contracts or take unpaid leave, the one-time support level is VND1.855 million to VND3.71 million (equivalent to 43-160 USD) per person.
- Employees who stop working for medical isolation or in blocked areas will receive one-time support as 1 million VND (43 USD) per person.
- Employees who must quit their jobs but are not eligible for unemployment benefits will receive one-time support of VND 3.71 (160 USD) million by cash.
- F0, F1 cases who are children under 16 years old receive food allowance of 80,000 VND per day during treatment and isolation period (no more than 21 days for F1 case, 45 days for F0 cases; children are F0, F1 cases will receive an additional 1 million VND (43 USD) per child).
- Public employees performing arts activities in public non-business units (except for those in the armed forces), tour guides with cards (with expiry date) receive one-time support of VND 3.71 million (160 USD).
- Business households with tax registration that must stop operating for 15 days or more will receive 3 million VND.
- Enterprises borrow loans with a 0% interest rate from the Bank for Social Policies to pay wages for stopping work and restoring production.
ActionAid Vietnam welcomes this strategic move of the Government of Vietnam. It believes that this support package will reach those most affected, including workers not yet supported in the 2020 package, such as tourism workers, informal workers, quarantined people (including children).
With a tight budget, this support package is a great effort from Vietnam. Although it still needs time to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy, the Resolution has reassured many people.
The pandemic has crushed the national budget, while multinational companies have benefited from many tax incentives, stressing the budget input. According to ActionAid's estimation, the tax incentives that the world's three biggest technology companies enjoyed in 2019 in Vietnam are enough to pay a yearly salary for 35,000 nurses. The data requires the Government to take careful consideration when deciding on tax incentives for such companies. These multinational enterprises also need to fulfil their social and ethical responsibilities when doing business in Vietnam.
Despite Vietnam’s initial success in the efforts to control the first three outbreaks in 2020 and early 2021, the country has recently been hit hard by the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic since April 27th 2021. In response to dire circumstances and in hope of assisting the people in need during these difficult times, the Meals of Hope – Decent food for those needed due to COVID-19 initiative was created to support the groups most in need in Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and Ho Chi Minh City with one-month worth of food and nutrition needs.
Please join ActionAid Vietnam in helping the most vulnerable Vietnamese people to bounce back stronger from the pandemic via THIS LINK or the QR code below:
