HANOI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam posted budget collection of 997.6 trillion Vietnamese dong (43.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of this year, up 12.4 percent on-year, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance.
Domestic revenue grew 13.9 percent from the same period last year to 808.8 trillion Vietnamese dong (35.2 billion U.S. dollars), while revenue from import-export activities rose by 10.3 percent to 147.2 trillion Vietnamese dong (6.4 billion U.S. dollars), local daily newspaper Vietnam News cited the ministry's latest data as reporting on Monday.
Between January and August, Vietnam's budget spending stood at roughly 901.4 trillion Vietnamese dong (39.2 billion U.S. dollars), up 2.8 percent on-year. Specifically, spending for investment and development totaled nearly 161.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (over 7 billion U.S. dollars), down 8.8 percent, while interest payments reached roughly 76.8 trillion Vietnamese dong (3.3 billion U.S. dollars), up 1.6 percent, and regular spending stood at 649.9 trillion Vietnamese dong (28.3 billion U.S. dollars), up 5.8 percent.
Vietnam aims to lower its budget deficit to 220 trillion Vietnamese dong (9.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, or 3.6 percent of gross domestic product projected for this year, down from 3.7 percent last year, according to the country's top legislature.
