The Tamesis
April 21, 2026
Hanoi – Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Van Thang has directed the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to urgently review and incorporate feedback from relevant ministries to finalize plans to decentralize administrative procedures, reduce compliance costs and processing times, and eliminate all unnecessary business conditions.
While chairing a working meeting with the two agencies in Hanoi on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Tang stressed that reform efforts must be substantive and consistent with the government’s directives to simplify regulations and improve the business environment.
He called on the Treasury and the Central Bank to take full responsibility before the government and the Prime Minister, stressing that agencies must not use industry-specific characteristics as a reason to delay or avoid reforms.
The official called on the Treasury and the central bank to take full responsibility before the government and prime minister, stressing that agencies must not use industry-specific characteristics as a reason to delay or avoid reforms.
The two agencies were required to absorb reasonable opinions from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Science and Technology to finalize the plan for decentralizing administrative procedures. These include reducing administrative compliance costs and processing times by at least 50% and abolishing 100% of unnecessary business conditions. The revised proposal must be submitted to the Ministry of Justice immediately after the meeting.
The two agencies are also required to draft and finalize government resolutions on reducing, decentralizing and simplifying administrative procedures, in close coordination with the Ministries of Justice and Finance.
In addition, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for taking the lead in formulating a plan to reduce conditional business units, which will also be finalized in April 2026 in accordance with Document No. 423 issued by the Prime Minister.
The Minister of Finance and the Governor of the National Bank have been instructed to take strong and proactive measures to accelerate the digitization of administrative records and results, publish electronic outputs in administrative procedures and, in particular, promote the reuse of digitized data in accordance with government requirements.
The Deputy Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Justice to study and absorb relevant suggestions from the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance, compile a report and submit it to the Prime Minister for review and decision.
He acknowledged the strong efforts made by ministries, especially the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank in recent years. However, he pointed out that decentralization is still limited and some reforms have not yet achieved practical results and have not achieved the ambitious goals set in Conclusion No. 18-KL/TW of the Party Central Committee.
He stressed that while many administrative procedures and business conditions remain in place, reforms must focus on eliminating unrealistic regulations while individually assessing industry-specific requirements that are truly necessary.
According to a report submitted by Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyễn Thị Bích Ngọc, as of April 15, 2026, the ministry is responsible for overseeing 738 effective administrative procedures in 25 departments. This is one of the largest and most complex departments of the government, directly affecting citizens and businesses.
Treasury proposes to reduce the number of business units and occupations it manages to seven, achieving a ratio of 36.8% (exceeding the target of six departments or 30%).
It is planned to reduce and simplify 821 administrative procedures, which is expected to reduce compliance costs by a total of 41.46 trillion VND, accounting for 54.96%, and reduce the total processing time by 6,678 days, accounting for 54.35%.
Regarding the State Bank of Vietnam’s 2026 plan, Deputy Governor Pham Thien Dung said that 93 administrative procedures are expected to be reduced and simplified, and the processing time is expected to be reduced by 734 days. In 2025, the central bank will eliminate 260 of the 260 unnecessary operating and investment conditions, with a completion rate of 100%. —VNA/VNS
