Sept. 23 – Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed raising import duties on cars in addition to a luxury tax on mobile phones to help alleviate the country’s trade deficit.

The General Statistics Office says that although the country’s trade gap during the first eight months of the year reached US$5.1 billion -a decrease of 67 percent from a year earlier – in July and August alone the shortfall was 44 percent higher than the total figure for the first six months.

Thanh Nien News reports that a 10 percent tax hike on imported cars of under 15 seats from the current 81 percent and a new special consumption tax on mobile phone will help curb imports and reduce the country’s trade deficit.

The ministry also said that the government should end auto sales incentives since it has been providing huge cuts in value added tax on cars and vehicle registration fees.