South Korea shares fiscal reform experience with Vietnam

A senior delegation from Vietnam's Ministry of Finance visited South Korea's Ministry of Planning and Budget to examine the country's budget formulation and fiscal management systems.

The Ministry of Planning and Budget said Monday it met with a delegation led by Nguyen Duc Chi, Vietnam's deputy finance minister, to share South Korea's experience in public financial management reform and discuss avenues for bilateral cooperation. The delegation also included representatives from the Vietnamese National Assembly's Committee on Economics and Finance, the Government Office of Vietnam and the World Bank.

Vietnam is pursuing public financial management reforms aimed at strengthening fiscal discipline and improving the efficiency of government spending. Closer alignment between fiscal policy, budgeting and public investment is also among the reform objectives. The visit was arranged through the World Bank.

The delegation will visit the Ministry of Planning and Budget and the KDI Public and Private Infrastructure Investment Management Center through Oct. 1. The group is set to examine South Korea's national fiscal management plan, the top-down budgeting system, the fiscal program performance management regime, the digital budget and accounting system known as dBrain, and the public investment system.

Kang Young-gyu, director general of the ministry's Future Strategy Planning Bureau, briefed the delegation on efforts to align medium- and long-term national strategies with fiscal management, as well as the key investment priorities of the 2027 budget proposal. The ministry said it plans to build on the visit to sustain exchanges with Vietnam in the fiscal field and identify new areas for cooperation.