Circular No. 33/1999/TT-BTC guiding the management and allocation of operating funds for the National Program to Eradicate Poverty

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for managing and allocating funds for public services

The National Program to Eradicate Poverty and Reduce Hunger

Pursuant to Decision No. 05/1998/QĐ-TTg dated January 14, 1998 of the Prime Minister on managing the National Target Program and Decision No. 531/TTg dated August 8, 1996 of the Prime Minister;

Pursuant to Decision No. 133/1998/QĐ-TTg dated July 23, 1998 of the Prime Minister approving the National Target Program to Eradicate Poverty and Reduce Hunger for the period 1998-2000;

Pursuant to Decree No. 87/CP dated December 19, 1996 and Decree No. 51/1998/NĐ-CP dated July 18, 1998 of the Government on decentralization, management, preparation, implementation, and settlement of the State budget; Circular No. 103/1998/TT-BTC dated July 18, 1998 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of decentralization, preparation, implementation, and settlement of the State budget;

The Ministry of Finance provides guidelines for the management, allocation, and use of the budget for the National Program to Eradicate Poverty and Reduce Hunger as follows:

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1- Each year, the central budget allocates a necessary amount of funds to achieve the goal of eradicating poverty and reducing hunger. The program's budget for eradicating poverty and reducing hunger is allocated by the Program Management Board in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment, submitted to the Government for approval, and announced in the annual budget estimates of ministries, sectors, central agencies, and localities.

2- In addition to funds allocated from the public service budget, the poverty reduction and hunger eradication program also receives investment from the construction budget (with separate guidance documents). Each year, ministries, sectors, central agencies, and localities need to mobilize existing resources of ministries, sectors, central agencies, and localities, as well as self-generated resources of the people, to implement the goal of eradicating poverty and reducing hunger.

3- Other national target programs that have expenditures related to the goal of eradicating poverty and reducing hunger must be integrated with the poverty reduction and hunger eradication program's budget to effectively achieve the intended purpose without duplication.

4- Projects funded from the public service budget are directly allocated by the Ministry of Finance to participating ministries, sectors, and agencies, and authorized through the Provincial Department of Finance and Price Control to implement poverty reduction and hunger eradication tasks at the local level.

5- The poverty reduction and hunger eradication program's budget must be strictly managed, spent according to its intended purpose and beneficiaries; reports and settlements must comply with current regulations.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

1- Projects funded from the public service budget under the central government's budget include:

- Settling and resettlement projects, migration, and new economic zones.

- Support projects for ethnic minorities in difficult circumstances.

- Guidance projects for the poor on how to earn a living and agricultural, forestry, and fishery promotion.

- Projects to improve the quality of staff working on poverty reduction and hunger eradication and village cadres in poor communes.

- Production support and industry development projects.

- Education support projects.

- Health support projects.

2- Financial management mechanisms for projects:

2.1- Settling and resettlement projects, new economic zones:

- Public service funds for settling and resettlement are provided by the state budget to support ethnic minorities in areas outside project zones to increase production and stabilize their lives.

The management mechanism for settling and resettlement funds follows Circular No. 3262/TC/HCSN dated September 19, 1996 of the Ministry of Finance.

- Public service funds for migration to new economic zones aim to assist households voluntarily moving to build new economic zones, regions approved by competent authorities, project areas through integration or self-arrangement and accepted by the receiving locality, regions for land clearance, migration to border areas according to the annual migration plan assigned by the state to stabilize lives and develop production, strengthen national defense and security.

The management mechanism for migration to new economic zone funds follows Circular No. 15/LĐTBXH dated July 1, 1995 of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs.

2.2- Support projects for ethnic minorities in difficult circumstances: These projects aim to support ethnic minorities and other ethnic groups in particularly difficult areas to stabilize their lives, develop production, increase income, and gradually eradicate poverty and reduce hunger.

a/ Beneficiaries of the project's support are:

- Households belonging to ethnic minorities in difficult circumstances residing in high mountainous areas, remote, and isolated regions, border areas with an average monthly per capita income below 13 kilograms of rice; backward production levels, low literacy rates, and rudimentary infrastructure.

- Households of ethnic groups in particularly difficult areas according to Circular No. 41/UB-TT dated January 8, 1996 of the Ethnic Minorities Commission due to unfavorable climate, soil, and transportation conditions or affected by war consequences, leading to difficult living conditions, lack of drinking water, crop failures.

b/ Expenditure items and expenditure limits:

Funds for the project supporting ethnic minorities in difficult circumstances are allocated for the following purposes:

- One-time living support for households of particularly disadvantaged ethnic minorities including: foodstuffs, daily necessities (clothing, bedding, pots, pans, plates, bowls...), each household from 300,000 to 500,000 dong, the specific support level for each household is determined and proposed by the Ethnic Minority Board or the organization responsible for ethnic minority affairs at the provincial level and decided by the provincial People's Committee.

- Support for increased household production in the form of interest-free loans including: purchasing seedlings, livestock, agricultural supplies to develop household gardens, small production and processing equipment, the maximum support limit is one million dong per household.

- Support for training fees for voluntary technical guidance staff on cultivation, animal husbandry, planting techniques for the people, the maximum expenditure does not exceed 500,000 dong per person per month based on contracts and actual working time.

- Research, application, and construction of models for production transformation.

- Management and directive expenses including: conference and seminar expenses for disseminating policies, discussing implementation measures, bookkeeping and record-keeping expenses for management work, propaganda expenses, inspection and directive expenses... The maximum expenditure does not exceed 5% of the project budget.

c/ Procedures for reviewing living support and production development loans:

- As for living support funds: Based on the subjects and conditions stipulated in point a, Section 2.2 above, the People's Committee of the commune shall disseminate to each village for the people to review and assess, then compile a list to send to the People's Committee of the district for consolidation and submission to the People's Committee of the province for examination and decision. The list of households receiving subsistence allowances decided by the People's Committee of the province shall be sent to the People's Committees of the district and commune for implementation.

- As for production loan funds: Households requiring capital for increased production must submit an application detailing the reasons for borrowing, with confirmation from their village, to be sent to the People's Committee of the commune where they reside for collection and submission to the People's Committee of the district for consolidation and submission to the People's Committee of the province for examination and decision, and notification of the list of borrowers to the Department of Finance and Prices and the Treasury where the borrowers are located.

d/ Organization of funding distribution, loan provision, and debt recovery:

- Living support funds are distributed to beneficiaries through the People's Committee of the commune and the People's Committee of the district. These agencies are responsible for disbursing funds to individual households and are accountable for settling the living support funds according to current state regulations. Any misuse of these funds for purposes other than intended is strictly prohibited.

- For production development loan funds: Based on the approved loan list by the People's Committee of the province, the Department of Finance and Prices shall transfer the full loan amount to the Treasury of the county where the borrowers are located for the Treasury to organize the disbursement of loans to individual households and to recover debts when due. County Treasuries must open separate accounts to monitor the issuance and recovery of loans, and any surplus balance on December 31st of each year must be remitted to the state budget.

- For funding allocated to voluntary staff, model construction, and management fees, the agency responsible shall prepare a budget with the financial department at the same level for consideration and resolution according to regulations.

The Department of Finance and Prices is responsible for settling the delegated support funds for ethnic minorities in difficulty with the Ministry of Finance. The Ethnic Minorities Commission, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs will cooperate with the Ministry of Finance to audit and settle the expenditure of support funds for ethnic minorities in difficulty from local Departments of Finance and Prices.

2.3- Project guiding the poor on how to earn a living and promoting agriculture, forestry, and fisheries:

To achieve the overall objectives of the National Program to Eradicate Poverty and Reduce Poverty, the project guiding the poor on how to earn a living aims to provide knowledge on earning a livelihood and applying scientific and technological advancements in production and business operations to all 100% of food-insecure households and 50% of poor households, enabling them to gradually improve their living standards during the process of developing a market economy.

a/ Target groups and scope of benefits:

- Households that are food insecure and do not know how to earn a living, and are unaware of how to apply scientific and technological advancements in agricultural, forestry, and fishery production and business operations.

- The project guiding the poor on how to earn a living will be implemented nationwide, but with a focus on poor communes and regions.

b/ Contents of expenditures under the project:

- Expenditure on publicizing methods of earning a living through mass media such as television, radio, newspaper columns, leaflets, etc.

- Expenditure on training on organizing small-scale production, trading, services, animal husbandry, and crop cultivation.

- Expenditure on training volunteer instructors to guide poor households in earning a living.

- Expenditure on pilot models for transferring agricultural and horticultural cultivation techniques.

- Expenditure on project guidance and management.

c/ Levels of expenditure:

- Expenditure for summary meetings, mid-term reviews, and training sessions according to the current regulations stipulated in Circular No. 93/1998/TT-BTC dated June 30, 1998, issued by the Ministry of Finance regarding meeting expense regulations.

- Expenditure for training volunteer instructors to guide poor households in agricultural and livestock techniques shall not exceed 500,000 dong per person per month according to the contract and actual working time of the instructor.

- Other allowances for instructors.

- Expenditure for pilot applications of scientific and technological advancements in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries according to the approved project.

- Expenditure for project guidance and management shall not exceed 5% of the total project budget.

d/ Allocation of project funds supporting guidance for the poor on how to earn a living and promoting agriculture, forestry, and fisheries:

- For central ministries and agencies: The Ministry of Finance shall directly allocate funds through the first-level financial agencies of the ministries, sectors, and central agencies.

- For localities, the funds shall be delegated to the Department of Finance and Prices for allocation to units based on tasks assigned by the Provincial People's Committee.

2.4- Project enhancing the capacity of poverty eradication cadres and cadres of poor communes:

a/ Target groups and scope of implementation:

- Specialized cadres engaged in poverty eradication work at four levels: central, provincial, district, and commune.

- Village chiefs and village heads in poor communes.

- The project will be implemented nationwide.

b/ Contents of expenditures under the project:

- Expenditure for training poverty eradication cadres at four levels (central, provincial, district, and commune) includes:

+ Payment for lecturers, payment for foreign experts (if any) according to current regulations.

+ Support for meals, accommodation, and travel expenses for trainees during the training period according to Circular No. 94/1998/TT-BTC dated June 30, 1998, of the Ministry of Finance on travel expense regulations and Circular No. 93/1998/TT-BTC dated June 30, 1998, of the Ministry of Finance on meeting expense regulations (trainees do not receive lodging allowances during training).

+ Organizational costs for training classes including decoration of conference halls, renting conference halls, drinking water for trainees and lecturers, travel expenses for lecturers...

+ Printing and compiling teaching materials for training classes.

- Project management and guidance costs shall not exceed 5% of the total project budget.

2.5- Projects supporting production and industry development; Education support projects; Health support projects: Separate guidelines will be provided.

3- Budget preparation for poverty reduction projects:

- Annually, based on the Prime Minister's directive on developing economic and social plans; Circulars guiding and allocating inspection numbers for state budget expenditure estimates issued by the Ministry of Finance; the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs will coordinate with project managers (ministries and sectors managing projects) to allocate inspection numbers to central ministries, sectors, and localities, which will be submitted to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment for consolidation and submission to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly and the Government for approval and notification of expenditure tasks to central ministries, sectors, and localities.

- Pursuant to the provisions of Circular No. 103/1998/TT-BTC dated July 18, 1998 of the Ministry of Finance on guiding the decentralization, preparation, implementation, and settlement of the State budget, the detailed budget estimates according to the items of expenditure and the State budget classification shall be prepared by units allocated funds under the poverty reduction program and submitted to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (Office for Poverty Reduction), the project management agency, the Ministry of Finance, and the Central Treasury. For localities, the budget estimates according to items must be sent to the Department of Finance and Price Control, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and the Provincial Treasury.

The Ministry of Finance, Departments of Finance, the Central Treasury, and the Provincial Treasury have the responsibility to review the content of the budget estimates. If they find that the budget estimates are incorrect or inappropriate, they shall require the unit to adjust them.

4- Allocation of funds for the poverty reduction program:

Funds for the poverty reduction program from the operating budget shall be directly allocated by the Ministry of Finance to central ministries, agencies, and organizations participating in the program according to the approved budget and progress of tasks, and delegated through the provincial Departments of Finance and Price Control to implement the program's tasks within the responsibility of the locality.

Based on the notified funds, central ministries, agencies, and organizations allocate and notify the detailed budget estimates to the direct participating units. At the local level, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs collaborates with the provincial project management agency to develop plans for implementing tasks and detailed budget estimates to be submitted to the People's Committee for decision-making as the basis for the Department of Finance and Price Control and the Treasury to provide funds and control expenditures according to regulations.

The allocation of budgets to secondary budget units and subordinate units must ensure consistency with the total amount and detailed national budget allocations.

Based on the budget estimates assigned by the competent authority, units prepare quarterly budget estimates divided by month and item, which are submitted to the supervising agency, the same-level financial agency, and the Treasury where the unit conducts transactions as the basis for providing funds and controlling expenditures according to regulations.

5- Reporting on the implementation and settlement of program funds:

Units using funds for the poverty reduction program must report on the implementation and settlement of program funds according to the accounting system for public institutions issued by Decision No. 999/TC-QĐ-CĐKT dated November 2, 1996 of the Minister of Finance and the reporting and settlement regulations stipulated in Circular No. 103/1998/TT-BTC dated July 18, 1998 of the Ministry of Finance.

III. IMPLEMENTATION:

1- The project management agency (ministry or agency managing the project) has the responsibility to urge and inspect participating units to fully comply with the financial management regulations of the project as stipulated in this Circular and related documents. They must periodically report to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities, and the Provincial Poverty Reduction Work Steering Committee on the progress of implementation and the use of project funds.

2- The Provincial Poverty Reduction Work Steering Committee of centrally-administered cities must aggregate the implementation of funds for poverty reduction projects and related projects in their jurisdiction and periodically report to the National Poverty Reduction Work Steering Committee, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Finance.

3- Units participating in the poverty reduction project have the responsibility to use funds for the intended purpose and target group and periodically report on the use of funds to the project management agency, simultaneously sending reports to the same-level financial agency.

4- This Circular takes effect fifteen days after its signing. Any conflicting provisions are hereby repealed.

5- In the course of implementation, if there are difficulties, they should be reported to the Ministry of Finance for timely supplementation and amendment to ensure compliance.