This Public Expenditure Review (PER), prepared jointly by the Government of Vietnam and donors, examines the country's public expenditure policy, and management, and, proposes ways to improve the results of its public spending program. Cross-cutting issues examined, are fiscal sustainability and transparency, expenditure management processes, and fiscal decentralization, analyzing public spending on agriculture, health, education, and transport from the perspective of growth, poverty reduction, and gender equity. The report identifies the following areas requiring action: reversing the Government's declining revenue share in GDP, and developing a medium-term fiscal outlook
improving budgetary data, and increasing the transparency of data and information
ensuring an effective process for prioritizing public expenditures
enhancing "pro-poor" bias of public expenditures
and, assessing where services can be provided by the private sector, to reduce the budgetary burden. Considering these issues, the Government can build on the extensive consultative process, already developed for this PER, and, in addition to its National Assembly, and local governments, consultations with civil society, and media representatives could also be considered by the Government.