## tarea2025081-source-pdf - Preface and Executive Summary (content unit)

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### Mission, scope, and context
- TA mission on Government Finance Statistics (GFS) and Public Sector Debt Statistics (PSDS) delivered in Hanoi, Vietnam during March 3–7, 2025.
- Goal: assist authorities to continue progress on GFS and PSDS compilation and dissemination according to the GFS Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014) and the PSDS Compilation Guide 2013 (PSDS Guide 2013).
- Project funded by the Government of Japan (JSA4) and administered by the IMF’s Statistics Department (STA) in coordination with the regional CD Office in Thailand (CDOT).
- Mission team: Mr. Deon Tanzer, Resident GFS Advisor at CDOT; Mr. Philip Stokoe, Senior Economist, Government Finance Division, STA.
- Mission activities included a 4-day interactive workshop focused on classifying the general government sector, practical classification exercises on Vietnamese SOEs, and meetings with SBD, DIFS, VST, General Department of Taxation, MOF, and SBV.
- Near-term data sharing objective: NSO and VST to informally initiate discussions to establish data sharing protocols by April 2026.

### Executive summary — background and priorities
- Vietnam aims to adhere to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) by 2030.
- NSO developing comprehensive sequence of sector accounts in line with SNA 2008 covering full non-financial and financial accounts across sectors: nonfinancial corporations, financial corporations, government, NPISH, households, and external sector.
- Classification of public sector units (PSUs) into public corporations or general government is a key starting point.
- NSO prepared Guidelines for classifying institutional units referencing SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 and conducted surveys:
  - Annual surveys sent to 2,000 Vietnamese SOEs and 12,000 state PSDUs and associations.
  - Economic census every 5 years covering all enterprises, PSDUs, and nonprofit institutions (NPIs).
  - Trialed classification questions in 2023 annual survey; response rate to trials: around 95-99 percent, but many responses incomplete or inadequate.
- Priority recommendations (three):
  - April 2026: NSO establishes a dedicated unit to develop and maintain a centralized inventory of (private and) public sector units, with collaboration from SBV, SBD, DFIE, and VST.
  - Starting with the 2026 Economic Census: NSO refines Guidelines and questionnaires in line with current groupings (enterprises, PSDUs, and NPIs) with customized assessments on public sector control and (non) market classification.
  - April 2026: NSO and VST establish data sharing protocols tentatively by April 2026, where the GFS Advisor can contribute to potential remedies of TABMIS data shortcomings.

### Findings on public sector structure and data gaps
- Vietnam’s public sector is large and complex: SOEs, administrative agencies, PSDUs, some government-controlled NPIs, and Extrabudgetary Financial Funds (EFFs).
- State PSDU list (divided into four groups by financing models) is available from DFIE, MOF and should be used by SBV, NSO, and MOF compilers.
- Past decade of efforts focused on SBD had limited success due to budget execution data limitations; NSO-led sector accounts and MOF restructuring may provide new opportunity to develop GFSM 2014-aligned government sector data.
- Budget Execution Report limitations:
  - Finalized Budget Execution Report published 18 months after fiscal year-end.
  - Report does not follow time of recording aligned with SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 (neither adjusted accrual nor cash approach).
  - Expenditure detail inadequate (only total expenditure, interest, and net-investment in nonfinancial assets reported).
- TABMIS data sharing recommended as near-term objective: NSO to liaise with VST to derive budgetary government data from TABMIS and supplement with public sector survey and Economic Census data to capture extrabudgetary units.

### Key numeric and scope references
- Comprehensive assessment target: 54,000 public sector units (this includes 2,000 state-owned enterprises; 52,000 state PSDUs and associations — excluding 32,300 administrative units that are wholly part of the Government sector).
- NSO Economic Census coverage: all over 6 million entities in the Vietnam economy, including:
  - about 700,000 enterprises;
  - more than 90,000 administrative units, PSDUs and associations;
  - 50,000 NPIs;
  - over 5.2 million individual household-enterprises.
- Annual survey: sent to 100,000 enterprises.
- Market threshold for economically significant prices: 50 percent.
- Trial survey response rate: around 95-99 percent.

### Recommendations to streamline classification and surveying
- Create a centralized inventory/database of all (private and) public sector units; proposed database fields:
  - Identity: Name; Address; Business registry / tax number; Etcetera.
  - Typology: Legal form; Principal and secondary activities; Financing form; Shareholders in %; Etcetera.
  - National accounts coding: (Sub-)sector; VSIC; Region.
- Institutional arrangements:
  - NSO to lead with a dedicated classification team working with SBV, VST, and MOF; objective for all macroeconomic statistics users to use the central database.
  - Use central database to pre-fill survey and census questionnaires; respondents validate or amend pre-filled data.
  - Assess unit typology every 5 years rather than annually; use ad hoc surveys for significant changes.
- Survey design refinements:
  - Pre-fill identity and typology from administrative databases and ask respondents to validate.
  - Frame questions to align with respondents’ financial knowledge; prompt specific chart-of-accounts items so ESP and support measures can be calculated automatically.
  - Apply Pareto principle: focus detailed surveys on largest units (the 10 percent or 20 percent largest units of each sector).
  - Derive ESP ratio and government financial support measures from financial statement data already surveyed; avoid duplicative questions.

### Market / nonmarket classification: method, indicators, and sequencing
- Primary and secondary indicators follow GFSM 2014 paras 2.65 to 2.75; sequencing emphasized by the Guidelines.
- Box 1 — Six Market/Non-market Indicators (Primary and Secondary)

  Primary Indicators:
  - First indicator: if an SOE’s only customer is government, it is deemed nonmarket (GFSM 2014 para 2.45 and para 2.72); no other indicators need assessment.
  - Second indicator: Economically Significant Prices (ESP).
    - ESP ratio = sales divided by (compensation of employment + purchase of goods and services + consumption of fixed capital (depreciation proxy) + taxes paid on production).
    - Interpretation:
      - If the ESP ratio is <50%, the unit is nonmarket;
      - If the ratio is >50% and <100%, the indicator tends market, especially closer to 100%;
      - If the ratio is >100%, the indicator assesses market;
      - Ratios > 50% would need to be weighed with the government financial support indicator.
  - Third indicator: Government financial support. Government support types: operating subsidies, nonfinancial investment transfers, intermittent capital injections, guarantees, concessional lines of credit (loans). Negative equity in equity statement signals likely need for future transfers.
    - Average ratios over the last 3 years indicating government financial support as nonmarket (one or more):
      - When >50% of the debt is backed by government through on-lending and/or guarantees
      - When >30% on revenue composes transfers
      - When >current transfers cover 30% operating expenses
      - When >capital transfers cover 50% capital investment expenditure
    - Blanket pledges by government to assure continuity imply assessment as nonmarket.

  Secondary Indicators:
  - Profitability:
    - Rule of thumb: 3 years’ of accumulated losses would indicate nonmarket for this indicator.
  - Competition:
    - Limited competition indicates nonmarket — qualitative assessment required.
  - Prices set by government:
    - Binary assessment: if government determines pricing specifically for the unit, the indicator assesses nonmarket.

- Sequence for assessment (stand-alone indicators):
  - (i) If SOE only provides goods/services to government, assess nonmarket; stop.
  - (ii) If ESP ratio <50%, assess nonmarket.
  - (iii) If ESP ratio between 50% and 100% and one government financial support ratio indicates nonmarket, assess nonmarket.
  - (iv) If ESP ratio >100% and two government financial support ratios indicate nonmarket, assess nonmarket.
  - (v) If neither (iii) nor (iv) assess nonmarket and 2 of the 3 secondary indicators assess nonmarket and/or the unit collects taxes, assess nonmarket.

### Recommended grouping-based classification rules
- Control classification rules:
  - For the largest representative SOEs: assess and document all indicators of control (except golden shares not in play in Vietnam).
  - For all other SOEs: assess shareholding where a majority share by collective central and local government plus potentially other public sector units will indicate control by the public sector.
  - For State PSDUs: assume units are controlled by government (financing dependence, government-appointed management, or specific legislation).
  - For NPIs: religious and belief organizations are deemed part of NPISH (GFSM 2014 para 2.61); other NPIs assessed via law, appointment powers, and majority financing from government.
- Market / nonmarket classification rules by typology:
  - Largest representative SOEs: use primary indicators only (government-only customer; ESP; government financial support) in the sequence above.
  - All other SOEs: ESP ratio threshold — below 50% nonmarket; above 50% market.
  - State PSDUs: group classification by DFIE funding categories [A], [B], [C], [D]:
    - Units whose recurrent expenditures are fully covered [D] or mostly covered [C] by government → classify as nonmarket (general government).
    - Self-financed [A] or mostly self-financed [B] → classify as market (public corporations), subject to revenue nature (e.g., compulsory charges may imply government).
  - NPIs by main revenue source:
    - Mainly sales → non-financial corporation;
    - Government-only customer or compulsory fees → government unit;
    - Mainly voluntary fees or transfers/donations → NPISH.

### Specific units and EFFs
- Public sector financial institutions and specific banks require separate assessment per SNA 2008, GFSM 2014, and MFS 2016 in collaboration with SBV (includes deposit insurance, development banks, agricultural banks).
- Extrabudgetary Financial Funds (EFFs): funding vehicles fully funded by the government or through lending guaranteed by the government; likely part of the government sector (examples: Investment Support Fund, Environment Protection Fund, Forest Protection and Development Fund). PEFA assessment noted around 22 EFFs and included all EFFs in the government sector.
- NSO is correctly classifying some NPIs as part of government (e.g., Communist Party of Vietnam, the Fatherland Front, and Youth Union).

### Data requirements for ESP and government support measures
- Proposed data fields to request (aligned with Vietnam universal chart of accounts where possible):
  - For ESP ratio calculation:
    - Sales
    - Wages and salaries
    - Purchase of goods and services
    - Depreciation (as a proxy for consumption of fixed capital)
  - For government financial support:
    - Current transfers received (transactions)
    - Total revenue (transactions)
    - Capital transfers received (transactions)
    - Net increase in non-financial assets (transactions)
    - Lending from/through government (stock)
    - Government guaranteed debt (stock)
    - Total liabilities (stock)

### Operational recommendations and sequencing (A.1–A.5, B.1)
- A.1 NSO establishes a dedicated unit to develop and maintain a centralized inventory of (private and) public sector units, with collaboration from SBV, VST, DFIE, and SBD, starting with a list of PSDUs by type from the DFIE by April 2026. The centralized inventory will include identity, typology, and national accounts coding fields.
- A.2 NSO uses the centralized database to pre-fill questionnaires with responding units’ identity and typology information that respondents will validate and/or amend where needed, starting with the 2026 Economic Census.
- A.3 NSO refines its Guidelines and questionnaires in line with current groupings (enterprises, PSDUs, and NPIs) with customized assessments on public sector control and (non)market classification, starting with the 2026 Economic Census.
- A.4 NSO directly assesses some sub-groupings (of PSDUs and NPIs) as one group based on typology, eliminating the need for assessment questions in the questionnaire.
- A.5 NSO separately assesses the (non)market classification of public sector financial institutions by following specific SNA 2008, GFSM 2014 and/or MFS 2016 guidance together with SBV.
- B.1 NSO and VST establish data sharing protocols tentatively by April 2026, where the GFS Advisor can contribute to potential remedies of TABMIS data shortcomings.

### Workshop and engagement
- The workshop included IMF and NSO presentations and practical exercises classifying Vietnamese SOEs.
- Officials met during the mission and workshop included senior staff from NSO, VST, MOF departments, SBV, and IMF Resident Representative Office for Vietnam (full lists recorded in the report).

_Implied source: IMF | Technical Report – Vietnam GFS and PSDS | Preface and Executive Summary (content unit)._

### Preface ................................................................................................................

### tarea2025081-source-pdf - Preface

### Preface and Mission Overview
- TA mission on Government Finance Statistics (GFS) and Public Sector Debt Statistics (PSDS) delivered in Hanoi, Vietnam during March 3–7, 2025.
- Goal: assist authorities to continue progress on GFS and PSDS compilation and dissemination according to the GFS Manual 2014 (GFSM 2014) and the PSDS Compilation Guide 2013 (PSDS Guide 2013).
- Project funded by the Government of Japan (JSA4) and administered by the IMF’s Statistics Department (STA) in coordination with the regional CD Office in Thailand (CDOT).
- Mission delivered by Mr. Deon Tanzer, Resident GFS Advisor at CDOT, and Mr. Philip Stokoe, Senior Economist, Government Finance Division, STA.
- Mission activities:
  - 4-day interactive workshop focusing on classifying the general government sector, with presentations from the mission and the National Statistics Office (NSO), and hands-on exercises to classify specific Vietnamese State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
  - Meetings attended by representatives from State Budget Department (SBD), Department of Informatics and Financial Statistics (DIFS), Vietnam State Treasury (VST), General Department of Taxation, Ministry of Finance (MOF), and State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).
  - Separate meeting on the final day with VST and NSO to discuss potential for improved data sharing.

### Acknowledgements and Participation
- Mission thanks Vietnamese institution staff, including:
  - Ms. Nguyễn Diệu Huyền, Deputy Director; Ms. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hương, Deputy Director; Ms. Vũ Thị Hải Anh, Senior Officer of the NSO; Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien, Deputy Director of the VST.
  - Ms. Nguyen Van Anh, Economist in the IMF Resident Representative Office for Vietnam.
  - Interpreters Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hang and Ms. Hoang Hanh Ly.
- This was the sixth mission under the GFS CD project; previous missions focused on SBD with limited success.
- First mission to work primarily with NSO; NSO’s project to compile comprehensive sector accounts provides a new opportunity to make progress on GFSM 2014 data, given similarities with SNA 2008.

### Executive Summary — Background
- Vietnam aims to adhere to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) by 2030.
- NSO developing comprehensive sequence of sector accounts in line with SNA 2008, covering transactions, other economic flows, and closing stocks for full non-financial and financial accounts across sectors: nonfinancial corporations, financial corporations, government, NPISH, households, and external sector.
- Classification of public sector units (PSUs) into public corporations or general government is a key starting point.
- NSO prepared Guidelines for classifying institutional units referencing SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 and conducted surveys:
  - Annual surveys sent to 2,000 Vietnamese SOEs and 12,000 state PSDUs and associations.
  - Economic census every 5 years covering all enterprises, PSDUs, and nonprofit institutions (NPIs).
  - Trialed classification questions in 2023 annual survey.
  - Response rate to trials: around 95-99 percent, but many responses incomplete or inadequate.

### Executive Summary — Workshop and Focus
- Interactive workshop focused on classifying PSUs as public corporations (market) or general government (nonmarket).
- Included IMF and NSO presentations and practical exercises classifying Vietnamese SOEs.

### Executive Summary — Findings (selection)
- Vietnam’s public sector is large and complex: SOEs, administrative agencies, PSDUs, some government-controlled NPIs, and Extrabudgetary Financial Funds (EFFs).
- State PSDU list (divided into four groups by financing models) is available from Department of Finance and Industrial Economics (DFIE), MOF; should be used by SBV, NSO, and MOF compilers.
- Recommendation: NSO to work with VST, SBV, SBD and other departments to compile a comprehensive inventory of (private and) public sector-controlled units by April 2026, with fields on identity, industry, other typology, and national accounts codes.
- Recommendation: establish a dedicated sector classification team to develop and maintain the inventory and document assessments.
- Streamline classification process by:
  - Assessing units only every five years rather than annually.
  - Pre-filling identity and typology information from a central inventory in questionnaires.
  - Adopting different classification approaches for largest representative SOEs, all other SOEs, PSDUs, and NPIs.
- For largest representative SOEs:
  - Scrutinize classification manually using financial statements and notes.
  - Determine public control via GFSM 2014 Box 2.1 indicators of control.
  - Assess nonmarket vs market using an economically significant prices (ESP) test and government financial support test; mission provided detailed guidance on inputs and outputs for these tests.
- For all other SOEs:
  - Simplified approach: control determined by shareholding (above 50 percent public ownership → public sector; otherwise private).
  - Then assess ESP test (above 50 percent → market; below 50 percent → nonmarket).
- For PSDUs:
  - Classify groups by funding typology rather than individual assessment.
  - All state PSDUs assumed controlled by government and part of the public sector.
  - PSDUs mostly financed from the budget generally classified nonmarket (general government).
  - PSDUs generating most of their own revenue generally classified market (public corporations), subject to operational and revenue nature.
- For NPIs:
  - Classify according to main source of revenue:
    - Broad market sales or voluntary fees → market unit.
    - Compulsory fees and majority funding from donations or government transfers → government unit.
    - Religious and belief NPIs → part of NPISH.
- Financial institutions and some specific units require separate assessment per SNA 2008, GFSM 2014, and MFS 2016 guidance.
- Extrabudgetary Financial Funds (EFFs): funding vehicles serving policy purposes, fully controlled by government and likely part of the government sector.
- Past efforts over ten years focused on SBD with limited success due to budget execution data limitations; NSO-led sector accounts and MOF restructuring may provide new opportunity to develop GFSM 2014-aligned government sector data.
- Near-term data sharing goal: NSO and VST to share TABMIS-derived budgetary government data; NSO and VST informally initiated discussions to establish data sharing protocols by April 2026.

### Executive Summary — Priority Recommendations (three)
- April 2026: NSO establishes a dedicated unit to develop and maintain a centralized inventory of (private and) public sector units, with collaboration from SBV, SBD, DFIE, and VST. Responsible: NSO, coordinated with SBV, SBD, DFIE and VST.
- Starting with the 2026 Economic Census: NSO refines its Guidelines and questionnaires in line with current groupings (enterprises, PSDUs, and NPIs) with customized assessments on public sector control and (non) market classification. Responsible: NSO.
- April 2026: NSO and VST establish data sharing protocols tentatively by April 2026, where the GFS Advisor can contribute to potential remedies of TABMIS data shortcomings. Responsible: NSO and VST.

### I. Detailed Technical Assessment and Recommendations — A. Review of Guidance and Surveys
- NSO five-year workplan to develop comprehensive sector accounts consistent with SNA 2008 to support Vietnam’s SDDS ambitions by 2030.
- Sector Accounts implementation sequence: production account, primary income account, secondary income account, capital account, and so on.
- NSO developed guidelines and survey questionnaires targeting enterprises, PSDUs, and NPIs; questionnaires to be updated and finalized by July 2025 for the 5-yearly Economic Census in 2026.
- Trial surveys in 2023 and 2024 had high response rates but many incomplete questionnaires; mission reviewed guidelines and forms and found them largely sound with potential improvements.

### I. Detailed Technical Assessment and Recommendations — Findings on Public Sector Typology
- SOEs: corporations with varying government/SOE shareholding structures:
  - Fully owned by government
  - Limited liability
  - Joint-stock companies
  - Examples: Vietnam Airlines, Viettel Post, Vietnam Railway Corp, Vietcombank, Vietnam Development Bank, Petro Vietnam, Vietlot.
- PSDUs: operate with mix of own revenues and government grants; DFIE maintains list of state PSDUs divided into 4 funding categories:
  - Self-financed units [A]
  - Units whose recurrent expenditures are self-financed [B]
  - Units where part of their recurrent expenditures are self-financed [C]
  - Units whose recurrent expenditures are covered by the State Budget [D]
- PSDU examples:
  - PSDUs covered by the state budget [D] include kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools (largest group).
  - Self-financed PSDUs [A] include Vietnam’s 4 largest public hospitals, such as Cho Ray Hospital and Bach Mai Hospital.

*IMF | Technical Report – Vietnam GFS and PSDS | Preface and Executive Summary (content unit).*

### 25.        NPIs cover entities that operate on a not-for-profit basis serving a wider set of social and

### 25.        NPIs cover entities that operate on a not-for-profit basis serving a wider set of social and economic goals. These include the Real Estate Association, Blind Association, Red Cross Association, Bar Association, and Union of Scientific and Technological Associations.

### Definitions and examples of public-sector unit types
- NPIs: entities that operate on a not-for-profit basis serving a wider set of social and economic goals. Examples: Real Estate Association, Blind Association, Red Cross Association, Bar Association, Union of Scientific and Technological Associations.
- Extrabudgetary financial funds: units set up to serve specific funding needs of policy goals (examples: Investment Support Fund, Environment Protection Fund, Forest Protection and Development Fund). These funds are fully funded by the government or through lending guaranteed by the government.

### NSO Guidelines to classify public sector units
- NSO developed Guidelines for Statistics by Institutional Sector of Vietnam in 2021 aligning broadly with SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 to assess which units are controlled by the government and/or public sector.
- The Guidelines provide:
  - Overview of approach to sector accounts in other countries.
  - Summary of key concepts in SNA 2008.
  - Detailed guidelines and decision trees to classify institutional units in Vietnam, following the decision tree illustrated in Figure 4.1 of SNA 2008 (see Appendix I).
- The decision process follows four key GFSM 2014 steps to classify nonfinancial public sector units:
  - Is the unit a resident of the Vietnam economy?
  - Is the unit an institutional unit?
  - Does government and/or public sector units control the entity?
  - Is the unit a market entity or nonmarket entity?
- Applying GFSM 2014 specific guidance implies some Vietnamese entities currently classified outside general government (example: Vietnam Development Bank (VDB) and Deposit Insurance of Vietnam) should be reclassified inside general government.

### Market / nonmarket classification approach (method and indicators)
- The Guidelines assess market vs nonmarket largely following an approach used in Australia, assessing 3 primary and four secondary indicators based on GFSM 2014 paras 2.65 to 2.75. Main changes in sequencing:
  - First primary indicator: check if a public sector unit’s only customer is government.
  - Most important primary indicator: economically significant prices (ESP) test.
  - Last primary indicator: level of government financial support.
  - If primary indicators are inconclusive, secondary indicators are used: (i) profitability, (ii) competition, (iii) prices set by government.
- For SOEs, the Guidelines currently use level of shareholding as the only indicator of control (shareholding >50 percent indicates public sector control), although SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 describe 8 indicators of control (see Box 2.2 GFSM 2014). Relevant additional indicators include: (i) control of the board; (ii) regulation and control; (iii) borrowing through government.
- For PSDUs and NPIs, three indicators of control are assessed:
  - (i) the right to appoint and dismiss the head of the unit;
  - (ii) whether the State decides on important aspects of the unit's operational policies;
  - (iii) the unit's sources of operating funds.
- Overarching principle: government/public corporations’ ability to determine the general policy or program of an institutional unit constitutes control.

### Box 1 — Six Market/Non-market Indicators (Primary and Secondary)
Primary Indicators:
- First indicator: if an SOE’s only customer is government, it is deemed nonmarket (GFSM 2014 para 2.45 and para 2.72); no other indicators need assessment.
- Second indicator: Economically Significant Prices (ESP).
  - ESP ratio = sales divided by (compensation of employment + purchase of goods and services + consumption of fixed capital (depreciation proxy) + taxes paid on production).
  - Interpretation:
    - If the ESP ratio is <50%, the unit is nonmarket;
    - If the ratio is >50% and <100%, the indicator tends market, especially closer to 100%;
    - If the ratio is >100%, the indicator assesses market;
    - Ratios > 50% would need to be weighed with the government financial support indicator.
- Third indicator: Government financial support. Government support types: operating subsidies, nonfinancial investment transfers, intermittent capital injections, guarantees, concessional lines of credit (loans). Negative equity in equity statement signals likely need for future transfers.
  - Average ratios over the last 3 years indicating government financial support as nonmarket (one or more):
    - When >50% of the debt is backed by government through on-lending and/or guarantees
    - When >30% on revenue composes transfers
    - When >current transfers cover 30% operating expenses
    - When >capital transfers cover 50% capital investment expenditure
  - Blanket pledges by government to assure continuity imply assessment as nonmarket.

Secondary Indicators:
- Profitability:
  - Privately controlled corporations generally aim for profitability; for SOEs, public interest may prevail.
  - Rule of thumb: 3 years’ of accumulated losses would indicate nonmarket for this indicator.
- Competition:
  - Limited competition indicates nonmarket — e.g., sole provider in a market or SOEs as only other providers in overlapping markets; qualitative assessment needed.
- Prices set by government:
  - Binary assessment: if government determines pricing specifically for the unit, the indicator assesses nonmarket; if government regulates a market with multiple providers, the indicator does not assess nonmarket; if no pricing regulation, indicator assesses market.

Sequence for assessment (stand-alone indicators):
- (i) If SOE only provides goods/services to government, assess nonmarket; stop.
- (ii) If ESP ratio <50%, assess nonmarket.
- (iii) If ESP ratio between 50% and 100% and one government financial support ratio indicates nonmarket, assess nonmarket.
- (iv) If ESP ratio >100% and two government financial support ratios indicate nonmarket, assess nonmarket.
- (v) If neither (iii) nor (iv) assess nonmarket and 2 of the 3 secondary indicators assess nonmarket and/or the unit collects taxes, assess nonmarket.

### Survey design, implementation issues, and recommended refinements
- NSO questionnaires:
  - Annual survey: sent to 100,000 enterprises.
  - Every 5 years, economic census: sent to all over 6 million entities in the Vietnam economy. The 6 million entities include:
    - about 700,000 enterprises;
    - more than 90,000 administrative units, PSDUs and associations;
    - 50,000 NPIs;
    - over 5.2 million individual household-enterprises.
  - Questionnaires are customized by unit type and include identifying information, typology, background operation data (including employment), classification assessment questions, and financial data. Respondents are instructed to self-evaluate classification responses. NSO cross-verifies significant portions against administrative databases.
- Implementation challenges:
  - 2023 and 2024 trial annual surveys (to enterprises) and 2023 to PSDUs returned many incomplete or inadequate classification answers.
  - One potential reason: technical nature of questions (e.g., ESP calculation requires distinguishing sales vs other revenue and detailed production cost components) — respondents often lack specialist training.
- Recommended questionnaire refinements and guiding principles:
  - Pre-fill existing information from administrative databases and ask respondents to validate, rather than require full respondent completion of identity and typology fields.
  - Frame questions to align with respondents’ financial knowledge rather than macroeconomic specialist questions — prompt specific chart-of-accounts financial items so automatic calculations (ESP, government support) flow from responses.
  - Apply Pareto principle: focus detailed surveys on the largest units (the 10 percent or 20 percent largest units of each sector may cover 90 percent or 80 percent of the value of all units). Smaller SOEs can be surveyed with simple classification questions or grouped by typology.
  - Derive ESP ratio and government financial support measures from financial statement data already surveyed; avoid duplicative questions.

### Central inventory of units and institutional recommendations
- Proposal: NSO to establish a central inventory/database of all (private and) public sector units, collating existing lists into a single database on a step-by-step basis.
- Proposed database fields:
  - Identity: Name; Address; Business registry / tax number; Etcetera.
  - Typology: Legal form; Principal and secondary activities; Financing form; Shareholders in %; Etcetera.
  - National accounts coding: (Sub-)sector; VSIC; Region.
- Institutional arrangements:
  - NSO to lead and establish a dedicated classification team to maintain the database in collaboration with SBV, VST, and MOF.
  - Objective: all units involved in Vietnam macroeconomic statistics use the central database (including financial institutions’ standard report forms and financial surveillance information).
  - Ideal scenario: NSO publishes list of public sector units with sector, VSIC, and region codes for broad user access.
- Operational proposals:
  - Use central database to pre-fill survey and census questionnaires; respondents verify or amend pre-filled data.
  - Investigate discrepancies flagged by respondents; NSO may take over data correction depending on entity size.
  - Assess unit typology every 5 years rather than annually; use ad hoc surveys for significant changes.

### Data and calculation guidance for ESP and government financial support
- Proposed data fields to request (aligned with Vietnam universal chart of accounts where possible):
  - For the ESP ratio calculation:
    - Sales
    - Wages and salaries
    - Purchase of goods and services
    - Depreciation (as a proxy for consumption of fixed capital)
  - For government financial support:
    - Current transfers received (transactions)
    - Total revenue (transactions)
    - Capital transfers received (transactions)
    - Net increase in non-financial assets (transactions)
    - Lending from/through government (stock)
    - Government guaranteed debt (stock)
    - Total liabilities (stock)

_Implied source: IMF | Technical Report – Vietnam GFS and PSDS_

### 42.        The mission notes that there is considerable room to reduce duplication and repetition for

### Assess public sector units according to typology

### Assessment approach
- The mission recognizes that a comprehensive assessment of 54,000 public sector units will be burdensome and recommends that the NSO refines the assessment procedure by assessing units according to their (legal) typology — i.e. enterprises, PSDUs, and NPIs — in targeted and distinct ways.
- Assessing by typology allows NSO to streamline classification assessment questions and to use separate approaches for groups of units for nonmarket/market and control classification.

### Control classification (recommended grouping and rules)
- For the largest representative SOEs, assess and document all the indicators of control, except on golden shares which are not in play in Vietnam.
- For all other SOEs, assess shareholding where a majority share by the collective central and local government plus potentially other public sector units will indicate control by the public sector.
- For State PSDUs, assume units are controlled by government since they are dependent on financing by government, have their managements appointed by government, and/or have specific legislation designating establishment and operations of these units.
- For NPIs, religious and belief organizations are deemed part of the NPISH sector in line with GFSM 2014 para 2.61.
- For other NPIs, assess control based on whether (i) a specific law mandates an NPI’s existence, (ii) government appoints the board and/or chief executive officer, and (iii) the NPI receives a majority of financing from government.

### Market / nonmarket classification (recommended grouping and rules)
- For the largest representative SOEs, assess only the primary indicators: (i) government only customer, (ii) economically significant prices, (iii) financial support in the sequence discussed in Box 1.
- For all other SOEs, assess economically significant prices where a ratio below 50 percent will indicate the unit is nonmarket and above 50 percent is market.
- For State PSDUs, assess groups of units according to financing model. Follow the 4 categories that APSDD groups state PSDUs under:
  - Self-financed units [A]
  - Units whose recurrent expenditures are self-financed [B]
  - Units where part of their recurrent expenditures are self-financed [C]
  - Units whose recurrent expenditures are covered by the State Budget [D]
- Classification rules for PSDUs:
  - Units whose recurrent expenditures are fully covered [D] or mostly covered [C] by government should be classified as nonmarket (inside the general government sector).
  - Self-financed [A] or mostly self-financed [B] units can be classified as market (public corporations), although some may need classification inside general government depending on the nature of their revenues (e.g., compulsory charges that are effectively taxes).
- For NPIs, assess groups according to main sources of revenue:
  - If mainly sales, classify as a non-financial corporation; if government is the only customer, classify as a government unit.
  - If fees are compulsory, classify as a government unit; if main source is voluntary fees, classify as NPISH.
  - If mainly dependent on transfers (grants + donations), classify as NPISH.

### Classification of specific units and cases
- Public sector financial institutions: Assess (non)market classification separately following specific SNA 2008 and/or MFS 2016 guidance in collaboration with SBV. This includes financial protection schemes, deposit insurance corporations, development funds/banks, and agricultural banks.
- Custom (non)market assessments are needed for units like management boards, associations, and religious organizations; the Guidelines should include an overview of such units requiring custom assessments in line with SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014.
- Questions to NPIs about whether entities “are engaged in solving social and environmental problems” and if “units’ operations are for social security purposes” are not relevant for sector classification and likely confuse respondents. The Social Security Fund subsector has a specific definition (GFSM 2014 Appendix 2).
- EFFs should likely be classified as general government units. Example: Gasoline Prize Stabilization Fund (GPSF) is assessed to be classified inside the general government sector. The PEFA assessment noted around 22 EFFs and included all EFFs in the government sector.
- NSO is correctly classifying specific Vietnam NPIs as part of government (e.g., Communist Party of Vietnam, the Fatherland Front, and Youth Union).

### Key numeric and scope references
- Comprehensive assessment target: 54,000 public sector units (this includes 2,000 state-owned enterprises; 52,000 state PSDUs and associations — excluding 32,300 administrative units that are wholly part of the Government sector).
- Market threshold for economically significant prices: 50 percent.

### Recommendations (A.1–A.5)
- A.1 NSO establishes a dedicated unit to develop and maintain a centralized inventory of (private and) public sector units, with collaboration from SBV, VST, DFIE, and SBD, starting with a list of PSDUs by type from the DFIE by April 2026. The centralized inventory will include identity, typology, and national accounts coding fields.
- A.2 NSO uses the centralized database to pre-fill questionnaires with responding units’ identity and typology information that respondents will validate and/or amend where needed, starting with the 2026 Economic Census.
- A.3 NSO refines its Guidelines and questionnaires in line with current groupings (enterprises, PSDUs, and NPIs) with customized assessments on public sector control and (non)market classification, starting with the 2026 Economic Census.
- A.4 NSO directly assesses some sub-groupings (of PSDUs and NPIs) as one group based on typology, eliminating the need for assessment questions in the questionnaire.
- A.5 NSO separately assesses the (non)market classification of public sector financial institutions by following specific SNA 2008, GFSM 2014 and/or MFS 2016 guidance together with SBV.

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### Integration of Sector Accounts and GFS Data

### Background and current issues
- Vietnam has drafted a Vietnam-specific GFS compilation manual to compile government sector data in line with GFSM 2014 customized to the Vietnam context.
- Implementation is inadequately in line with GFSM 2014: Vietnam GFS is a one-on-one translation of the finalized Budget Execution Report. Line-item revenue classification reasonably aligns with GFSM 2014 revenue classifications, but expenditure data remains only at a high level (only total expenditure, interest, and net-investment in nonfinancial assets reported).
- The finalized Budget Execution Report is available annually and is published 18 months after the fiscal year-end, making it unsuitable for frequent and up-to-date analysis.
- The Budget Execution Report does not follow a time of recording aligned with SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 (neither the preferred adjusted accrual nor the less preferred cash approach).
- Restricted and confidential nature of data from some ministries poses challenges for data sharing across Ministries.

### Near-term recommendation: TABMIS data sharing
- The mission recommends NSO liaise with VST to share budgetary government data derived from the TABMIS system as a key near-term goal. TABMIS data should provide adequate detail to comprehensively compile government sector data.
- TABMIS data should be supplemented with public sector annual survey and Economic Census data to compile extrabudgetary government sector data (nonmarket SOEs, PSDUs, NPIs).
- NSO and VST have informally initiated discussions on deriving suitable budgetary government data from TABMIS. Considerations include:
  - VST translating TABMIS data into SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 in parallel.
  - Compiling sufficiently granular data while addressing confidentiality issues for Ministries of Defense and Public Order (e.g., aggregated data for all ministries instead of ministry-by-ministry data).
  - Using estimates as an alternative means to compile government sector data in line with SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014.

### Longer-term development
- VST is developing financial statements in line with Vietnam Public Sector Accounting Standards. By following these standards, VST will comprehensively compile government sector data (including budgetary government and a select portion of public sector units) using an accrual approach aligned with SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014, and provide sufficient data on balance sheet stocks and other economic flows.

### Findings on SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 linkage
- SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 are fundamentally aligned as methodological frameworks:
  - Alignment exists on sector classification; delineation between revenue, expense, expenditure, and financing transactions; definition of other economic flows; definition of closing stocks in the balance sheet; valuation principles; and valuation of transactions and stocks.
- Key differences and reconciliation points:
  - Coding structure: SNA 2008 coding structured by sequence of accounts; GFSM 2014 coding structured by split of revenue, expense, and balance sheet. Coding structures can be linked, especially when developing a bridge from the chart of accounts to SNA 2008 and GFSM 2014 codes.
  - Recording approaches: SNA 2008 may record repetition or split transactions according to account sequence (example: FISIM is split and recorded as intermediate consumption and adjusted in interest), whereas GFSM 2014 may ignore the FISIM estimate. Different recording approaches still lead to the same outcome for net-lending / net-borrowing and can be reconciled.
- Compilation approaches:
  - NSO can compile GFSM 2014 compliant data as a parallel process when compiling SNA 2008 government sector accounts, or translate sector accounts into GFSM 2014 at the end of compilation (with less-than-perfect coding translations).
- Current data limitations affecting SNA 2008/GFSM 2014 compliance:
  - NSO currently receives final Budget Execution Report data broken down into a Vietnam-specific functional classification (state management, health care, education, science and technology, culture and information) but the data are inadequate to compile SNA 2008 (e.g., consumption of fixed capital cannot be estimated), making GDP estimation inconvenient.

*Source: IMF Technical Report – Vietnam GFS and PSDS*

### 60.        As part of its work to develop financial accounts, VST is collecting financial statement data

### tarea2025081-source-pdf - 60.        As part of its work to develop financial accounts, VST is collecting financial statement data

### Financial statement data collection
- VST is collecting financial statement data of State PSDUs.
- These data are consolidated into the data of the administrative agency to which the PSDU belongs, except for independent PSDUs.
- Future work can investigate:
  - the suitability of these consolidated data to compile government sector accounts; or
  - if any adjustments could be made in the data collection and consolidation procedure to suit GFS compilation.

### Recommendations
- B.1 NSO and VST establish data sharing protocols tentatively by April 2026, where the GFS Advisor can contribute to potential remedies of TABMIS data shortcomings

### Officials Met During the Mission (Closing meeting and Workshop)
- Closing meeting
  1. Đỗ Thị Ngọc — Deputy Director — NSO
  2. Nguyễn Thị Mai Hạnh — Director — System of National Account Department – NSO
  3. Nguyễn Diệu Huyền* — Deputy Director — System of National Account Department - National Statistics Office
  4. Duong Thi Kim Nhung — Deputy Director — Statistical Policy, Strategy and Data Department - NSO
  5. Nguyễn Thị Hiền* — Deputy Director — State Accounting Department - State Treasury
  6. Luu Dinh Quy — Team leader — Statistical Survey Data Collection and Processing Team, Statistical Survey and Census Department - NSO
  7. Lam Thi Hong Hanh — Deputy Team leader — State Budget Settlement Team, State Accounting Department - State Treasury
  8. Vũ Thị Hải Anh* — Senior Statistician — System of National Account Department - NSO
  9. Tăng Thị Thanh Hòa* — Senior Statistician — System of National Account Department - NSO
  10. Nghiêm Thị Vân* — Senior Statistician — System of National Account Department - NSO
  11. Ngô Như Vẻ* — Statistician — System of National Account Department - NSO
  12. Trần Việt Thúy* — Statistician — System of National Account Department - NSO
  13. Đặng Ngọc Tú* — Statistician — System of National Account Department - NSO
  14. Trần Thị Luyến* — Statistician — Statistical Policy, Strategy and Data Department - NSO
  15. Dương Thị Cầm* — Statistician — Statistical Survey and Census Department - NSO
  16. Pham Thi Huyen — Senior Expert — State Financial Reporting Synthesis Team, State Accounting Department - VST
  17. Đỗ Thi Kim Dung — Senior Expert — State Financial Reporting Synthesis Team, State Accounting Department - VST
  18. Vu Thi Quynh Chau — Senior Expert — State Financial Reporting Synthesis Team, State Accounting Department - VST
  19. Tran Thi Thu Ha — Expert — State Financial Reporting Synthesis Team, State Accounting Department - VST
  20. Duong Thi Thuy Ha — Expert — State Financial Reporting Synthesis Team, State Accounting Department - VST

- Workshop
  1. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hương — Deputy Director — System of National Accounts Department - NSO
  2. Nguyễn Thị Huyền — Senior Expert — System of National Accounts Department - NSO
  3. Nguyễn Thùy Dương — Senior Expert — System of National Accounts Department - NSO
  4. Hoàng Hải Anh — Expert — System of National Accounts Department - NSO
  5. Nguyễn Thị Hậu (B) — Expert — System of National Accounts Department - NSO
  6. Nguyễn Thị Hậu — Senior Expert — System of National Accounts Department - NSO
  7. Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Mai — Expert — System of National Accounts Department - NSO
  8. Đặng Thị Bích Hồng — Expert — System of National Accounts Department - NSO
  9. Lê Thị Phương — Expert — System of National Accounts Department - NSO
  10. Đỗ Thu Hòa — Expert — Foreign Statistics and International Cooperation Department - NSO
  11. Nguyễn Thị Minh Ánh — Expert — Institute of Statistical Science - NSO
  12. Nguyễn Thị Thanh Huyền — Expert — Integrated Statistics and Statistical Information Dissemination Department - NSO
  13. Nguyễn Phi Long — Expert — Statistical Data Collection and Information Technology Application Department - NSO
  14. Đinh Sỹ Nguyên — Expert — Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Statistics Department - NSO
  15. Nguyễn Thùy Dương — Expert — Industry and Construction Statistics Department - NSO
  16. Nguyễn Quang Huy — Expert — Trade and Service Statistics Department - NSO
  17. Tạ Hồng Thái — Senior Expert — Department of Tax Declaration and Accounting - GDT
  18. Diêm Thị Thu Trang — Expert — Forecasting & Statistics - Monetary & Financial Stabilization Department - SBV
  19. Hà Nguyên Vũ — Expert — Department of Informatics and Financial Statistics - MOF
  20. Vũ Phương Trang — Expert — Department of Informatics and Financial Statistics - MOF
  21. Vũ Linh Chi — Expert — Department of State Budget - MOF
  22. Lưu Thị Kim Anh — Expert — Department of State Budget - MOF

### Appendix A — Government control of nonprofit institutions (Box 2.1 of GFSM 2014)
- Control of an NPI is defined as the ability to determine the general policy or program of the NPI.
- Five indicators of control (most important and likely factors to consider):
  - The appointment of officers
  - Other provisions of the enabling instrument that effectively allow the government to determine significant aspects of the general policy or program of the NPI
  - Contractual agreements that may allow the government to determine key aspects of the NPI’s general policy or program
  - Degree of financing by government — An NPI that is mainly financed by government may be controlled by that government
  - Risk exposure — government exposure to a large proportion of the financial risks associated with an NPI’s activities may constitute control
- A single indicator could be sufficient to establish control in some cases; in other cases multiple indicators may collectively indicate control. Decisions are judgmental and should be consistent across similar cases.

### Appendix B — Government control of corporations (Box 2.2 of GFSM 2014)
- Control of corporations is defined as the ability to determine the general corporate policy of the corporation.
- Eight indicators of control (most important and likely factors to consider):
  - Ownership of the majority of the voting interest
  - Control of the board or other governing body
  - Control of the appointment and removal of key personnel
  - Control of key committees of the entity
  - Golden shares and options — may indicate control if powers confer ability to determine general corporate policy under existing circumstances
  - Regulation and control — regulatory involvement may or may not constitute control depending on extent and discretion retained by the entity
  - Control by a dominant public sector customer or group of public sector customers
  - Control attached to borrowing from the government — government-imposed controls through lending or guarantees may indicate control
- As with NPIs, a single indicator could be sufficient in some cases; multiple indicators collectively may indicate control. Decisions based on the totality of indicators are judgmental and should be applied consistently.

*IMF | Technical Report – Vietnam GFS and PSDS | pages 23–27*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/tar/2025/english/tarea2025081-source-pdf.pdf_