At the Standing Committee's September thematic meeting, Le Thanh Quan, Director of the Department of Local and Territorial Economy (Ministry of Finance), reported that 33 localities have issued resolutions on the allocation of revenue sources and expenditure tasks between provincial and commune-level budgets.
As of 5/9, 55,293 commune-level units have opened accounts at the State Treasury, while 552 have not. According to the report, 54,077 commune-level units have disbursed salaries for August, equivalent to 96.7% of the total. However, 1,768 units have not yet disbursed last month's salaries, accounting for nearly 3.4%.
According to a representative of the Ministry of Finance, the reason is that these units have not yet submitted their dossiers to the State Treasury to request account openings and salary disbursements for August.
At the meeting, many attendees mentioned difficulties due to the shortage of financial and accounting personnel at the commune level. Specifically, many commune-level units do not have enough leaders and staff with specialized expertise in their respective fields, especially meeting the standards and conditions for appointing accountants and chief accountants. This has led to many places being unable to open accounts at the treasury for budget disbursement.
In addition, some officials and civil servants have not yet grasped the guidelines or proactively coordinated with competent agencies and units to resolve these issues.
![]() |
Le Thanh Quan, Director of the Department of Local and Territorial Economy, reports at the meeting. Photo: MOF |
Le Thanh Quan, Director of the Department of Local and Territorial Economy, reports at the meeting. Photo: MOF
Regarding the arrangement of working offices, the Ministry of Finance said localities have approved plans for arranging offices for communes, wards, and special zones to ensure smooth operation when changing the organizational structure of government and administrative boundaries. The general principle is to maximize the use of existing offices, prioritizing centralized arrangements or exchanging offices with units in the area. Many former district offices have been repurposed for new communes.
Localities are also allocating resources for renovating and repairing workplaces, initially focusing on areas that frequently interact with and resolve issues for people and businesses.
According to the National Assembly's Resolution on the arrangement of provincial-level administrative units, from 1/7, the country has been reduced to 34 provinces and cities. Commune-level administrative units have been reduced from over 10,000 to over 3,300, a decrease of about 67%. Local government has been streamlined from three levels (province, district, commune) to two (province, commune).
Finance Minister Nguyen Van Thang said the financial sector needs to continue supporting localities in overcoming difficulties. The State Treasury must urge localities to direct budget-using units to open accounts quickly to pay salaries, policy regimes, social security, and development investments.
The Department of State Budget is reviewing and reassessing the actual and necessary funding for the activities of the new model to propose timely budget supplements. They also need to guide localities on procurement, revenue and expenditure, and budget management. The Department of Legislation is reviewing and completing regulations on the organization and operation of the two-level local government, creating favorable conditions for localities to implement them.
Phuong Dung