Viet Nam: Small Scale Technical assistance for Capacity Building of Ministry of Finance to Support Tariff, Industry and Subsidy Analysis for the WTO Accession

The study provides the Ministry of Finance (MOF) of the Government of Vietnam with quantitative tools to carry out industry-level assessments of tariff and subsidy reforms that will both support the country’s WTO accession negotiations and provide needed capacity for analyzing alternative policy reforms. It elaborates modeling tools for production shift analysis and the calculations of trade tax revenue effects associated with tariff reform policies. It also uses effective rates of protection (ERP) estimates to examine industry-level output and employment adjustments likely to take place under a variety of tariff reforms. It further addresses subsidy issues and their incidence in different industries. The results provide detailed product and industry-specific information on the effects of implementing changes in the structure of protection and, as such, the emphasis is on a practical, action-oriented plan, rather than an academic study.