HANOI, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam imported some 97,000 automobiles in the first 11 months of 2016, down 12.9 percent year-on-year, due to tax rise, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO) on Tuesday.
From January to November, the country spent 2.083 billion U.S. dollars on auto imports, down 19.6 percent year-on-year.
The declines in auto imports were attributed to the changes in Vietnam's tax policy.
Specifically, from January 1, 2016, a new special consumption tax on cars with 24 seats and below has been imposed, based on the importers' price, instead of the previous calculating way of cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) value plus current import tariff.
The new calculation method is estimated to cause an estimated 5-percent increase in the price of imported cars.
Also, from July 1, 2016, the special consumption tax applied on cars with larger engines has risen remarkably. To certain car types, the tax has increase from 60 percent to 150 percent.
Under such decreases in both volume and value so far, Vietnam's auto imports in 2016 are forecast to stay lower than the previous year, said local insiders.
In 2015, Vietnam spent nearly 2.97 billion U.S. dollars on importing 125,000 autos, up 87.7 percent in value and 76.6 percent in volume year-on-year, said the GSO.
