Vietnam sticks with lower VAT to shore up consumer spending

HANOI -- Vietnam has postponed a planned increase to its value-added tax for the third time, a move that reflects the weakness of the country's domestic consumption despite rosy economic numbers.

Vietnam lowered the VAT by 2 percentage points to 8% in July 2023 to combat an economic slowdown. Hanoi originally intended to restore the previous 10% rate at the end of 2023.